MR. E. LOCKWOOD ON THE MAHWA TREE. 89 



nourishing qualities of the Mahwa, supplemented with venison 

 and other wholesome game which the woods supply. 



During the season of scarcity which prevailed at Behar during 

 1873-74, the Mahwa crop, which was unusually abundant, kept 

 thousands of poor people from starving ; and all famine-officers 

 will recall its peculiar odour as they passed through the villages 

 where it had been collected. The residue of the Mahwa which is 

 not eaten is taken to the distilleries, and there, with the aid of 

 rude pot-stills, is converted into a strong-smelling spirit, which 

 bears considerable resemblance to whisky. The Government 



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holds a monopoly of spirit-manufacture; and when I first went to 

 Monghyr in 1873 the custom was to charge a duty of eight shillings 

 for every cwt. of the raw material as it entered the distillery, on 

 the supposition that so much Mahwa would only yield three gallons 

 of proof spirit. Subsequently, in consequence of experiments 

 made by the officers under me, this duty was somewhat raised ; 

 but in England I find that over six gallons of proof spirit can be 

 produced from a hundredweight of Mahwa. The Government of 

 India should be made aware of this fact; and it would probably 

 be advantageous to introduce patent stills in the place of the rude 

 machines now in use. 



The amount of Mahwa which nominally paid Government duty 

 yearly in Monghyr, was 1750 tons ; but with patent stills under 

 Government control, the Mahwa would probably yield a much 

 larger revenue to the State. An Italian gentleman who was living 

 at Monghyr when I was there, took out a patent for removing by a 

 very simple process the essential oil, or whatever it is, which gives 

 the Mahwa spirit its peculiar smell ; and for some time I thought 

 he would make a rapid fortune : orders poured in on him from 

 Calcutta, and the demand promised to be immense. But just as 

 the inventor had taken up a whole side of the Government 

 distillery, and got all his preparations complete, the rum-distil- 

 lers in Calcutta petitioned the Board of Revenue, and a prohibi- 

 tive duty was imposed, which completely put an end to the manu- 

 facture of scentless Mahwa spirit. A sample was sent to the 

 Chemical Examiner at Calcutta ; and he reported that the spirit 

 was pure and wholesome, and came very near good foreign brandy. 



But not only are the Mahwa flowers good for distilling spirit, 

 they are still more useful for feeding cattle. My father, the 

 rector of Kingham, has been feeding his pigs on the Mahwa 

 which I brought home, and Mahwa pork is beginning to be cele- 



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