THE LINE ISLANDS. 313 



have found a sale for their copra, they plant cocoa-nut trees 

 regularly, and in great numbers. 



It is impossible to give the exact population of these groups 

 of atolls on the Line ; but I do not think I am very far out in 

 estimating that of the Kingsmills at 3000. This shows a 

 great decrease over what it must once have been ; as their in- 

 veterate toddy-drinking, with its invariable sequel of a free- 

 fight and consequent loss of life, has thinned the islanders for 

 years. 



The natives do not seem to know how they first learnt to 

 make their terrible intoxicant, but I am inclined to believe 

 that the art was taught them by whalers, perhaps fifty years 

 ago. 



The modus operandi of a Line Island distillery is as follows : 

 The centre-shoot of the cocoa-nut tree is bent in an incline 

 towards the ground, and each morning the men pare off an 

 eighth of an inch, when the sap exudes, and drops into a bottle 

 suspended beneath. By this process two to three pints a day 

 are obtained. This liquid, if kept for twenty-four to thirty-six 

 hours, becomes very intoxicating, and if fermented produces 

 one of the strongest drinks in the world. A wine-glassful is 

 quite sufficient to make a powerful man, accustomed to plentiful 

 libations of whisky or other spirits, 'mad drunk.' The devotee 

 at this particular shrine of Bacchus always gets up a fight, and 

 will without the slightest provocation attack anybody and 

 everybody he may meet. When whole villages have been 

 having a ' sociable evening ' with this toddy, the result may 

 be imagined if the reader can realise the pastime of a horde 

 of demons. 



Being perfectly well aware of the results of a drop too much 

 being taken by a bosom friend, the Line islanders decline to 

 live, so to speak, on the ground-floor, and perch their houses on 



