CHAPTER IX 



NARCOTIC AND STIMULATING ENJOYMENTS 



DRINKS USED BY THE MANOBOS 



Intoxicating drinks are of four kinds: Sugar-palm wine, 1 bd-hi toddy, 2 sugarcane brew, 3 and 

 mead. 4 



SUGAR-PALM WINE 



Sugar-palm wine is obtained by tapping the fruit stem of the cabo negro palm. The process 

 is very simple. At the time of efflorescence the spadix is cut off and the pithy stem is tapped. 

 This operation lasts from 15 to 30 minutes each day and is continued for from 7 to 14 days. 

 After the tapping the stem must be bent into a downward position. This is effected by inclining 

 it downward every day, a piece of rattan or vine being used to retain it in position. The gentlest 

 of force must be used in this operation, as a forcible strain will prevent the sap from flowing. 

 Once the sap begins to flow from the stem, it is caught in a bamboo receptacle, the mouth of 

 which must be carefully covered to prevent the entrance of the myriads of insects that are 

 attracted by the odor and sweetness of the liquid. Day after day the end of the stem must 

 be pared as otherwise the sap would cease to exude. A tree will produce daily anywhere from 

 10 to 30 liters according to the fertility of the soil and the humidity of the atmosphere. The 

 humidity determines the duration of time that the tree produces toddy. This time varies from 

 one to three months. 



The sap has the color and transparency of water to which a little milk has been added. 

 When fresh, it is a sweet, refreshing laxative, but the fermentation is so rapid that after a few 

 hours it acquires the inebriating qualities of ordinary coconut toddy. In order to promote 

 fermentation and to eliminate the laxative quality of the sap, the bark 6 of a tree is added. On 

 the third day acetification begins to take place, unless a handful of the ordinary native red 

 pepper is thrown into the beverage, in which case the further fermentation is withheld for 

 a period of about four more days. 



The palm from which this sap is obtained is found in great abundance on the eastern 6 side 

 of the lower and middle Agiisan Valley and is universally tapped in this region. On the western 

 side, however, it is not found with such frequency. The Manobo is therefore obliged to seek 

 other means of satisfying the craving which he, like a good many of his fellowmen the world 

 over, feels for a stimulant. 



BAHI TODDY 



Tung-gang is the sap of the bdhi palm. The method of extraction is identical with that of 

 the sugar-palm wine. It is neither as pleasant nor as strong as the previously described drink, 

 but it is not by any manner of means unwholesome. It is employed as a beverage only when 

 no other is obtainable. I have been reliably informed that sometimes the tree is cut down as 

 a preliminary to the extraction of the sap. ' Incisions are made in the trunk for the purpose 

 of permitting the flow of the sap. 



i Tuba or sai-yan or san, the sap of the hi-di-up (Arenoa saccharifera) commonly known in the Philippines as cabo negro. 

 ' The fishtaii palm (Caryola sp.). The extracted sap is called tuna-gang. 

 3 In4u9. 



* Ba-is or bi-ai-lis. 

 > Called ta-gud. 



• In the vicinity of Tudela, Simulau River, there are groves of sugar-palm. I estimated that they contained 5,000 trees. 



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