152 GIBBS. 



brought by the Spaniards to assist in reducing the natives. Before the arrival 

 of the Spaniards the aborigines had no intoxicating drink." He also states that: 

 "From the fermented liquor a kind of rum is distilled, called 'aguayente' 

 (aguardiente) by the natives of Guam and 'arak' in the East Indies. The 

 distilling of aguayente was the only industry in Guam up to the time of American 

 occupation. It has been prohibited by an official order on account of its evil 

 effects upon our men." 



TAPPING THE PALM. 



The method of collecting the sap in Madras is described by Cleghorn *' as 

 follows : 



"When the spathe is a month old, the flower-bud is considered sufficiently juicy 

 to yield a fair return to the {8dndr) toddy-drawer. * * * xhe spathe when 

 ready for tapping is 2 feet long and 3 inches thick. It is tightly bound with 

 strips of young leaves to prevent expansion, and the point is cut off transversely 

 to the extent of one inch. He gently hammers the cut end of the spathe to 

 crush the floAvers thereby exposed and to determine the sap to the wounded part, 

 that the juice may flow freely. The stfunp is then bound up with a broad strip 

 of fibre. This process is repeated morning and evening for a number of days, 

 a thin layer being shaved off on each occasion, and the spathe at the same time 

 trained to bend downwards. The time required for this initiatory process varies 

 from five to fifteen days in different places. The time when the spathe is ready 

 to yield toddy is correctly ascertained by the chattering of birds, the crowding of 

 insects, the dropping of juice and other signs unmistakable to the S&nar. * * * 

 When the juice begins to flow the hammering is discontinued. A single spathe 

 will continue to yield toddy for about a month, during which time the SanSr 

 moimts the tree twice a day and empties the juice * * *." 



Molisch *' states that, while working in Java, he could not obtain any sugar 

 sap from the coconut palm when he followed the directions of Semler *" and cut 

 the young flower stalk completely off. He followed the native method and bound 

 the young inflorescence as shown in text figure 3. 



Fig. 3. — Young inflorescence of coconut palm. (a) Base of the flower stalk; (6) 

 cut end from whicli the sugar sap flows ; (c) female flower. One-seventh 

 natural size. 



In the morning and evening a small slice about 0.5 centimeter long was cut 

 from the end 6 and after four or five days the sap began to flow. 



" Watt, George, A Dictionary of the Economic Products of India, Calcutta 

 (1889), 2, 449. 



*^ Sitzungsber. Akad. d. Wiss math-nat. Elasse Wien (1898), 107, 1256. 

 *» Die tropisehe Agrikultur, Wismar (1886), I, 596. 



