NATIONAL BEVERAGES. 331 



a name for it, toddy being only a corruption of the 

 Sanskrit word " tade." Had, therefore, the Polynesians 

 once known the process by which they might have ob- 

 tained, not only a strong liquor, but also sugar, vinegar, 

 and yeast, they would have operated as readily upon 

 the cocoa-nut tree in the South Sea, as the people of 

 Southern Asia did when the cocoa-nut tree came to their 

 shores. Taking, probably, its departure from Western 

 America, the cocoa-nut was drifted by prevailing winds 

 to Polynesia, where its toddy-yielding properties were 

 not suspected ; thence it drifted on towards Asia, and 

 there was perceived to be as capable of yielding a fa- 

 vourite beverage as the Palmyra, the wild date-tree, 

 the Arenga saccharifera, and the various species of the 

 singular Caryota palms had done from time immemorial. 



