326 Natural Histmy of the Coco-nut Tree 



scrvatlons I have made, and praves the justness of the 

 adage before mentioned. 



Many travellers and celebrated naturalists have given 

 descriptions of the eogo-nut tree, audits produets; and 

 have spoken of its vinous liquor with more or less exact- 

 ness and truth ; but noae of them, at least as far as I 

 know, has described either the method in which the lat- 

 ter is extracted, or the preparatory processes follow ed by 

 the elianas of the peninsula of Hindostan, the only part of 

 India, except the island of Ceylon, where this practice is 

 in use, I shall therefore describe these processes, as well as 

 the instruments necessary for succeeding, such as I had an 

 opportunity of seeing them on the coasts of Malabar and 

 Coromandel ; and particularly in a plantation of six or 

 seven hundred coco-nut trees, within the walls ot Pondi- 

 chcrry, and which was adjacent to niy habitation in that 

 place. 



At the period judtred proper for makino; the liquor distil 

 from the spaths of t1ie coco-nut tree, the chaiin, to disen- 

 gage it conqiletelv, thins or prunes with a large knife the 

 bases of the petioles of the lateral palms, in order that 

 they may be more easily managed : detaching thta a piece 

 of the bark, torn off cjlong its whole length, from the un- 

 der side of one of the pahns, to the breadth of about eight 

 or ten lines, he affixes to it the whole of the spath, begin- 

 ning by its pedicles. He stront^ly compresses, and tiea 

 fast by mean^ < f knots, each annular mark, distant about 

 two finger breadths from each other, to prevent the bud 

 from blowing, either by it,-, eflorts in growing, or when it 

 is cut each time alter the calcni has been collected ; a la- 

 bour indispcn-;ahly necessary, and which I shall explain in 

 the course of this paper. 



Having; thus bound fast the spfith along its wliolc length, 

 it must be mctcuratcd with a bat made of hard wood, of 

 a conical form, giving it slight blows along its whole 

 length, and around the bud. Without this bruising, 

 which disposes the liquor to flow, and wliich I call tnacora- 

 tion, translating the word literally from that used by the 

 Hindoos, the spath, as is fully proved, would not produce 

 caloii. 



This operation, which takes up five or six minutes, must 

 be repeated regularly every moruinsr and evening for five or 

 six days, and must be resumed twice or thrice during the 

 time that the bud produces li(|uor. A spath subjected to 

 this process gives calw for t\\ enty or thirty days : coco- 



tiuts 



