SUGAR 55 



a small piece of lime or charcoal put into them to prevent 

 fermentation. In Konkan, Thana District, India, this Fan 

 Palm is the chief sugar-bearing tree, grows wild all over the 

 district, and is found by tens of thousands in the coast sub- 

 divisions. The palms are male (Talai) and female (,Tad), 

 and the juice of both is equally good. 



In twelve years it is ready to tap, yielding Toddy for 

 about fifty years. In the male tree the toddy is drawn 

 from the " lendis," which are lingerlike growths, 12 to 

 15 inches in length, in clusters at the top of the tree. 

 Each finger is beaten with a piece of stick along its whole 

 length, and all the fingers of the cluster are then tied 

 together. In three to four days the points of the fingers 

 are cut by the " aut," a sharply curved knife with a keen, 

 flat, broad blade, and are continued to be cut daily for two 

 weeks, as soon as the juice begins to flow. 



Under the tips of the fingers earthen pots are placed 

 into which the juice drops, and, to keep the crows away, 

 a sheath of straw is bound round the "lundis," so as to 

 close the mouth of the pot. The female tree gives out 

 spikes 12 to 15 inches long, with fruit seated all round the 

 side, as in a head of maize. When the juice begins to flow, 

 the fingers of the male and spikes of the females must 

 have their points cut morning and evening. 



The juice of the Palmyra Palm is richer in saccharine 

 matter than most other palms, and Forbes says that o (piarts 

 of juice makes 1 lb. of jaggery. When the toddy, before 

 fermentation, is boiled it becomes a thick syrup, and a small 

 (quantity of scraped coco-nut kernel is thrown in to ascer- 

 tain if it is of proper consistency ; it is then poured into 

 baskets of Palmyra leaf, where it cools and hardens. The 



