"
"Can we build a house?" said William.
"Oh, yes, sir, and with more ease than you would think. There's no tree
so valuable as the cocoa-nut tree; and the wood is so light that we can
easily move it about."
"Why, what are the great merits of the cocoa-nut tree?" said Mrs.
Seagrave.
"I'll tell you, madam: in the first place, you have the wood to build
the house with; then you have the bark with which you can make ropes
and lines, and fishing-nets if you please; then you have the leaves for
thatching your house; then you have the fruit, which, as a nut, is good
to eat, and very useful in cooking; and in the young nut is the milk,
which is also very wholesome; then you have the oil to burn, and the
shell to make cups of, if you haven't any, and then you can draw toddy
from the tree, which is very pleasant to drink when fresh, but will
make you tipsy if it is kept too long. There is no tree which yields so
many useful things to man, for it supplies him with almost everything."
"At all events, we've plenty of them," said William.
"Yes, William, there's no want of them; and I am glad of it, for had
there been but few, I should not have liked to destroy them.
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