100 THE PALMS OF ASIA. 



detail the process of toddy drawing as practised 

 there. The extraction of this, juice is performed 

 bj' regular professional operators, who are called 

 " toddy drawers." We have said that the trees 

 are cultivated in " topes," that is, orchards or 

 plantations. "When it is intended to draw toddy 

 from a tope, the toddy drawer selects a tree of 

 easy ascent, near the centre of the plantation, 

 the stem of which he surrounds with a number 

 of bands, made of creepers, about a foot distant 

 from each other. Upon these bands he ascends 

 the tree ; and by means of the stems of creeping 

 plants or coir ropes, he proceeds tightly to con- 

 nect together the heads of a number of trees. 

 Along these ropes he can then pass readily 

 from tree to tree, without having to ascend 

 *them each separatel}'. The ordinary implements 

 of the toddy drawer are, a large broad knife, 

 which he carries in a basket hung on a cord 

 which is tied round him ; a mallet, consisting of 

 a piece of hard wood about twelve inches long; 

 and the shell of a large gourd, which is also 

 suspended from his waist. When a tree is in 

 a fit state for yielding sweet juice, the toddy 

 drawer ties the flowering spathe in different 

 places V)y means of the white leaflets of the 

 young leaves. This process has the cflTect of 

 preventing a bud from expanding. The spathe 



