Page:Life in India or Madras, the Neilgherries, and Calcutta.djvu/360

312 while worldliness and deadness reign around, is drawing from unseen fountains that water of salvation which is within him, as a well of living water ever gushing forth unto everlasting life.

The cocoanut-tree is certainly one of the most remarkable of the many wonderful gifts of God to man. Of the variety of uses to which it may be applied there is almost no end; nor is there any portion of it which has not its peculiar use. The trunk, the leaves, the fruit, all contribute to the comfort and support of the Hindu. From its trunk he builds his hut, makes gutters for water, and cuts posts and canoes. From its leaves he makes mats for his floor, thatch for his roof, and screens for the front of his house; closely-platted, it gives him fish-bags, baskets, and even buckets for water. The stiff, strong stalk of the leaf answers for an oar for the fishermen, for the construction of fences, and for fuel; while the husk which surrounds the nut, when soaked and beaten into separate fibres, furnishes thread and twine from which to make his nets and ropes, as well as a swinging hammock for his babe, and a mattrass for himself. The fruit, when young and green, furnishes a refreshing drink from the water within it, and the kernel is then so soft that it