ROUGHING IT IN SOUTHERN INDIA 33 



treat to the men and animals, to each something they liked 

 — tobacco and grog to the former ; sweetened rice and 

 lumps of their ever- welcome jaggheri to the latter ; grog too, 

 for the elephants also relished half a cocoanut-shellful of 

 arrack ! ora tot of toddy ! It was by such little kindnesses 

 as this, costing nothing, that my husband was able to get 

 better work out of his people, and consequently out of their 

 charges, than other officers who were without his knack. 



That same toddy just mentioned is an intoxicating and 

 very easily procured native drink, being the liquor ob- 

 tained from the toddy palm. An incision is made at the 

 top of the tall, slender stem below its feathery crown, and 

 an earthenware pot containing a little lime is tied there 

 overnight that the sap may drain into it. You may often 

 see a grove of these palm trees all furnished with their pots. 

 In the early morning, before sunrise — for later the fermen- 

 tation would be too rapid, and so spoil the toddy — the men 

 climb up by means of big-toe notches, and a rope ring 

 enclosing themselves and the tree trunk so that they may 

 not fall, and bring away the potful of toddy, cleverly 

 balanced on their heads. 



Both in the tame and in the wild state elephants are 

 subject to strange attacks of frenzy — a sort of madness for 

 the time being — and while under its influence are dangerous 

 to all with whom they come into contact. This condition 

 is called ' must,' and needs special treatment for its cure. 

 The native method of subduing one thus affected is by semi- 

 starvation, and by ordering other elephants first to help 

 fasten the victim up securely and then to beat him into 

 submission with chains ; all of which they can, and do, 

 carry out. The result is that after such an attack and its 

 ' cure ' the patient is a mere wreck from blows and want of 

 food — more dead than alive. With rare exceptions Euro- 

 peans also follow this plan, at any rate by leaving the 



1 A sort of country rum. 

 C 



