Is boiled down until all watery
particles are evaporated, and the melted fat is turned out into a
shallow vessel to cool. It has a pleasant, though , perhaps, a
rather faint aromatic smell, and is very delicious as an adjunct
in the culinary art. In addition to this it possesses gentle
aperient properties, which render it particularly wholesome.
Castor oil is also obtained by the natives by boiling, and it is
accordingly excessively rank after long keeping. The castor-oil
plant is a perfect weed throughout Ceylon, being one of the few
useful shrubs that will flourish in such poor soil without
cultivation.
Margosse oil is extracted from the fruit of a tree of that name.
It has an extremely fetid and disagreeable smell, which will
effectually prevent the contact of flies or any other insect. On
this account it is a valuable preventive to the attacks of flies
upon open wounds, in addition to which it possesses powerful
healing properties.
Mee oil is obtained from the fruit of the mee tree. This fruit
is about the size of an apricot, and is extremely rich in its
produce; but the oil is of a coarse description, and is simply
used by the natives for their rude lamps. Kenar oil and
meeheeria oil are equally coarse, and are quite unfit for any but
native purposes.
