Book I. 



AGRICULTURE IN ASIA. 



147 



which had oozed out, being congealed, is scraped off. This operation is generally repeated three times on 

 each capsule ; and then the capsules are collected for their seed. The raw juice is kneaded with water 

 evaporated in the sun, mixed with a little poppy oil, and lastly, formed into cakes, and covered with leave* 

 of poppy, and packed in chests with poppy husks and leaves. 



886. Tobacco in Hindustan is cultivated in the same manner as in Europe ; the soil must be rich and 

 well pulverized ; the plants transplanted, and the earth stirred during their growth ; the main stems are 

 broke off, and the leaves are dried l^y being suspended on beds of withered grass by means of ropes, and 

 shaded from the sun and protected from nightly dews. The leaves afford a much weaker odour than those 

 of the tobacco of Europe or America. 



887. The mustard, sesamum oricntafis, Jiax, jialma christi, and some other plants 

 are grown for their seeds, which are crushed for oil. The use of the flax as a cloth- 

 ing plant is not understood in India, hemp supplying its place. The mustard and 

 sesamum are sown on the sand left by the overflowings of the rivers without any other 

 preparation or culture than that of drawing a bush over the seeds to cover them. The 

 palma christi is sown in patches three or four feet apart, grows to the size of a little tree, 

 and is cut down with an axe when the seeds are to be gathered. The mill for bruising 

 the seeds of these plants is simply a thick trunk of a tree hollowed into a mortar, in which 

 is placed the pestle, turned by one or two oxen. 



888. Palm trees of several species are in general cultivation in Hindustan. The 

 most useful is the cocoa-nut tree (Cocos imci- 



Jera, fig. 135.) which grows almost perfectly 

 straight to the height of forty or flfty feet ; and 

 is nearly one in diameter. It has no branches, 

 but about a dozen leaves spring immediately from 

 the top : these are about ten feet long, and nearly 

 a yard in breadth towards the bottom. The leaves 

 are employed to cover the houses of the natives ; 

 and to make mats either for sitting or lying upon. 

 The leaf when reduced to fine fibres, is the mate- 

 rial of which a beautiful and costly carpeting is 

 fabricated, for those in the higher ranks ; the 

 coarser fibres are made into brooms. After these 

 useful materials are taken from this leaf, the stem 

 still remains, which is about the thickness of the 

 ancle, and furnishes firewood. 



889. The wood of this palm, when fresh cut, is spongy ; 

 but becomes hard, after being seasoned, and assumes a dark- 

 brown color. On the top of the tree a large shoot is pro- 

 duced, which when boiled resembles brocoli, but is said to 

 be of a more delicate taste ; and though much liked, is seldom used by the natives ; because on cutting 

 it off the pith is exposed, and the tree dies. Between this cabbage-like shoot and the leaves, there spring 

 several buds, from which, on making an incision, there distils a juice differing little from water, either 

 in color or consistence. It is the employment of a certain class of men to climb to the top of the trees 

 In the evening, with earthen pots tied to their waists, which they fix there to receive the juice, which 

 is regularly carried away before the sun has had any influence upon it. This li(iuor is sold at the bazars 

 by the natives, under the name of toddy. It is used for yeast, and forms an excellent substitute. In this 

 state it is drank with avidity, both by the low Europeans and the natives ; and it is reckoned a cooling and 

 agreeable beverage. After being kept a few hours, it begins to ferment, acquires a sharp taste, and a 

 slight intoxicating quality. By boiling it, a coarse kind of sugar is obtained ; and by distillation, it yields 

 a strong ardent spirit, which being every where sold, and at a low price, constitutes one of the most 

 destructive annoyances to our soldiers. The name given to this pernicious drink by Europeans, is pariah 

 arrack, from the supposition that it is only drank by the pariahs, or out-casts, that have no rank. 



890. The trees from which the toddy is drawn do not bear any fruit, on account of the destruction of 

 the buds ; but if the buds be left entire, they produce clusters of the cocoa-nut This nut, in the husk, 

 is as large as a man's head ; and when ripe falls with the least wind. If gathered fresh, it is green on 

 the outside; the husk and the shell are tender. The shell, when divested of the husk, may be about 

 the size of an ostrich's egg, and is lined with a white pulpy substance, which contains about a pint and a 

 half of liquor like water ; and though the taste be sweet and agreeable, it is different to that of the toddy. 



891. Ill propoi-tion as the fruit groivs old, the shell hardens, and the liquor diminishes, till it is at last 

 entirely absorbed by the white milky substance; which gradually acquires the hardness of the kernel of 

 the almond, and is almost aS easily detached from the shell. The natives use this nut in their victuals ; 

 and from it they also express a considerable quantity of the purest and best lamp oil. The substance 

 which remains after this operation supplies an excellent food for ixjultry and hogs. Cups and a variety 

 of excellent utensils are made of the shell. 



8it2. The hus/c of Vie cocoa-nut is nearly an inch thick, and is, perhaps, the most valuable part of the tree ; 

 for it consists of a number of strong fibres, easily separable, wliich furnishes the material for the greatest 

 part of the Indian cordage ; but is by no means the osly substitute which the country affords for hemp. 

 This the natives work up with much skill. 



893. The palmyra, a species of corypha, is taller than the cocoa tree ; and affords still 

 greater supplies of toddy; because its fruit is of little request from the smallness of its 

 size ; the produce of the tree is therefore generally drawn ofT in the liquid state. This 

 tree, like the cocoa, has no branches ; and, like it too, sends forth from the top a number 

 of large leaves, which are employed in thatching houses, and in the manufacture of 

 mats and umbrellas. The timber of the tree is much used in building. 



894. The date tree (Phcenix dactyUfera), being smaller, makes not so conspicuous a 

 figure in the Indian forest as the two last described. Its fruit never arrives at maturity 

 in India owing to the heat : toddy is drawn from it, but not in such quantity, nor of so 

 good a quality, as that which is produced by the other species of the same genu?. 



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