Coconuts

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"The coconut has ten different uses. The young tree has a syrup, very sweet, and good to drink; [and] it can be made into wine by fermentation. The old coconut has flesh, from which they express oil, and make sugar, and make a foodstuff for eating. From the fibre which envelops the outside [of the nut] they make ropes for ship building. The shell of the coconut makes bowls and makes cups; it is also good for burning to ash for the delicate operation of inlaying gold or silver. The trees are good for building houses, and the leaves are good [Chinese text, p. 48] for roofing houses."

椰子有十般取用：嫩者有漿甚甜，好吃，又好釀酒；老者椰肉打油做糖，或做飯吃；外包穰打索造船；椰殼為碗為酒盅，又好燒灰打廂金銀細巧生活；樹好造屋；葉堪蓋屋。

- J. V. G. Mills, Ma Huan, Ying-yai sheng-lan, "The Overall Survey of the Ocean's Shores" [1433], (Cambridge: Hakluyt Society, 1970), Calicut chapter, pp. 137-146, esp. p. 143. (See this passage in context)