Page:History of the Indian Archipelago Vol 3.djvu/366

 350 COMMERCIAL DKSCRIPTION OF able as edible oils, and as a burning oil that of the Talma Christi. The ground pistachio being the produce of considerable agricultural improvement, the oil is exported chiefly from Java and the other agricultural countries ; but the coco-nut grow- ing almost spontaneously, and depending for per- fection rather upon its vicinity to the sea than the fertility of the soil in which it grows, the oil of it is obtained in most abundance in the maritime countries, and is even an article of importation in- to Java, where the market price is usually about six Spanish dollars the picul. The ra'ii) cotton of the Indian islands has hither- to been almost entirely consumed on the spot. The most improved islands export cotton to their neighbours, as Java^ Bali^ Lomboc, Mmigarai, or Flores, Butung, &c. It may be remarked, that the production of cotton in considerable quantity, or, at least, in quantity for exportation, is confined to the islands which constitute the great chain which forms the southern barrier of the Archipela- go, beginning with Java, and ending with Timur- Lauty that portion of the Indian islands, in short, the geological formation of which is secondary rock. The price of Java cotton in the seed, the man- ner in which it is always produced for sale in the native market, may be estimated at from two to three dollars per picul. AVhen freed from the seed, an operation which deprives the inferior 12