H. E. ANNETT. 359 



With regard to this point Brandis 1 says that preparatory to 

 the production of flowers and seed the parenchyma in the trunk 

 of Phcenyx is full of starch which at the time of flowering is trans- 

 formed into sugar. 



THE NATIVE REFINING PROCESS. 



The khandsaris (refiners) having purchased the gur from the 

 middlemen, break the pots and scrape out the contents. It is then 

 broken up and placed in big baskets, each of 2J maunds capacity. 

 The baskets, supported by bamboo triangles, are put over earthen- 

 ware pans and left in the open and the molasses allowed to drain for 

 3 4 days. The baskats are next put inside a shed over similar 

 pans and a layer 4 5 inches deep of moist pata shyali (Vallisneria 

 spiralis), a water weed, is put on the surface of the sugar. Moisture 

 drains down through the sugar, washing out the molasses. The weed 

 has the property of taking up moisture from the atmosphere and 

 thus keeps more or less damp for some time. It is also credited by 

 the natives with the property of bleaching the sugar. After a week 

 the shyali is removed and a layer of white sugar 3 4 inches deep has 

 been formed. This is then cut off by knives, broken up and spread 

 in the sun on grass mats to dry, being pressed with the feet of the 

 coolies from time to time (see Plate I). When dry it is beaten 

 up with wooden mallets to make it look whiter. The water weed 

 is then replaced by fresh weed and after a week 3 4 inches more 

 of sugar is removed. The contents of several baskets are then mixed 

 to make up one basket and the process repeated until all is 

 finished. At Kotechandpur sugar prepared in this way is called 

 Akrah. At other places it is called Dulloah or Dollo. The baskets 

 used in the process are boiled in water from time to time to 

 prevent fermentation of the sugar which would otherwise take 

 place. 



The molasses collected by simple drainage is called Agamata.- 

 That collected under the water weed treatment is called Farasu- 



1 Indian Trees, p. 643. 



