324 VOYAGE IN SEARCH 



long {bring, which refted on the ground, and 

 was confined to a fmall piece of wood fixed in 

 the earth. 



I prefumed that they made ufe of fome al- 

 lurement to attract the game, but they told 

 me that they employed none ; and indeed they 

 acknowledged that they caught few birds. 



We faw riling from the foot of the hills fome 

 fine palms, which the natives call fagouer, and 

 which Rumphius has defcribed under the name 

 of faguerus. Vol. I. Fig. 13. From the pe- 

 duncles of their frefhly-cut branches was diftil- 

 ling a Very agreeable liquor, which was received 

 in pieces of bamboo attached to their extre- 

 mity. Under fo hot a fky this liquor ferments 

 very quickly, and would foon become acid, if 

 the inhabitants did not know how to employ 

 opportunely the wood of the fonlamea, which 

 lofes almoft entirely its great bitternefs by fcr- 

 mentation, and renders this liquor capable of 

 keeping for a length of time. 



One of thefe palms can furnifh, for upwards 

 of two months in the year, fix or eight liters of 

 liquor a day. Care is taken to renew the incifion 

 of the peduncle daily, in order to facilitate the 

 diftilliition. 



The heat of the fun promoting the rife of the 

 fap, we mould be inclined to think that this 

 tree ought to yield a greater quantity of liquor 



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