262 A SUGAR-CANE PRESS 



thirteen species of beetle, ten species of butterfly or moth, seven 

 species of hemiptera (aphides, water-beetles, etc.) ; four species 

 of hymenoptera (bees, wasps, ants, etc.), of which one was a 

 sand-wasp, nearly an inch long ; twelve species of diptera 

 (mosquitoes, flies, etc.), two grasshoppers, two dragonflies, and 

 one spider." The water contained in the pitchers apparently 

 contains some acid or other solvent, by which the insects are 

 slowly digested by the plant ; and from the above account it 

 will be seen what a great variety of insect life is entrapped, 

 including even the largest and strongest insects. 



On one of the afternoons when we were detained near Van- 

 gaindrano, hearing a sugar-cane press at work at one end of 

 the village, we went to look at it in operation. Like many others 

 we saw on this coast, it consisted of a long hollowed-out trough, 

 one end being left solid for a foot or two, thus forming a slightly 

 convex surface, with a channel cut on either side for the ex- 

 pressed juice to run into the trough. Over this and across it 

 was a rounded tree trunk, seven or eight feet long, with three 

 short handles fixed into it ; this is turned backwards and 

 forwards over small pieces of cane placed on the convex surface, 

 the juice being expressed by the mere weight of the round 

 trunk. The freshly expressed juice makes a pleasant drink ; 

 after a day or two it begins to ferment, and is then much like 

 fresh cider ; but it rapidly becomes too heady and intoxicating. 

 A good deal of tdaka (rum) is made, and is a cause of much evil 

 among the coast tribes ; but the people here appear not to 

 understand the manufacture of sugar. Their still is as rude a 

 contrivance as their press ; an earthen pot to boil the juice, and 

 a piece of iron piping fixed through a vessel of cold water so as 

 to condense the steam which forms the spirit. 



The people in this part of the country, who are called Taisaka, 

 all wear mats, as do the Tanala and the Taimoro. To fasten 

 the mat sack about their waists, they use a girdle of bark cloth. 

 Some of this cloth (called fdnto) is made by stripping off the 

 bark of certain trees, so that the whole comes off in one piece, 

 forming a kind of long bag, but open at each end. Another 

 kind is made in a sheet of about six feet long by four wide. It is 

 prepared by being hammered for a considerable time with a 

 wooden mallet, the face of which is cut in cross lines. This is 

 chiefly women's work. Very few of the people had any garment 



