1837.] Mechanical Instruments of the Nepalese. §57 



The tusd stands in the open air, either at the house of the cane- 

 grower, or more commonly in the field, where a small shed is erected 

 for covering the evaporating boiler, and storing the jars of giir. It is 

 formed as follows :— Two rough and strong posts 2§ feet apart, of any- 

 common wood, are sunk in the earth, to such depth as will secure their 

 fixedness under the heavy strain of the squeezing lever ; these posts, 

 which stand about six feet above the surface, are connected by two 

 horizontal beams, of considerable strength, the lower one being about 

 two feet from the ground. In front of these upright and horizontal 

 beams, and at about three feet distance, two other posts of three feet 

 above the surface are sunk, the space between them being occupied 

 by the shorter limb of the squeezing lever which plays on a wooden 

 axle, passing through the shorter limb, and the smaller posts. On 

 the top of the smaller posts, and on the lower one of the beams which 

 connect the larger posts, is laid a thick plank of heavy wood 2| feet 

 broad, and about six feet long, its surface being grooved transversely 

 at one end, and having a channel cut along the sides, for carrying off 

 the expressed juice, towards the opposite termination of it, which is 

 perforated and lies immediately over an earthen vessel sunk in the 

 ground for the collection of the fluid. Over the grooved end of the 

 lower plank, and under the upper beam which connects the larger 

 posts, a thick plank about two feet long is laid, which forms in fact 

 the upper millstone. The sugarcane being cut into pieces of a foot 

 long is placed between these thick planks, the upper one being pulled 

 down by the depression of the longer limb of the lever ; the upper 

 plank and the shorter limb of the lever connected by a strong rope 

 or strap of leather. The lever is precisely the same as that used in 

 Behar for emptying wells, without the addition of a weight at the ex- 

 tremity of the longer limb, and a rope for depressing it. The Newar 

 sugarcane-squeezer is content to climb up to the elevated limb and by 

 the weight of his body in the air and strength of his arms when he 

 reaches the ground, to depress it. 



The sugarcane juice is evaporated in common earthen vessels until 

 it assumes the proper thickness, when with scarce any purification it 

 is stored up for use. The dry juiceless cane is used as fuel by the 

 poorer natives. 



No. 2. — Chikou-sd, the oil-press of the Newars. This machine is 

 even more rude than the former, being actually little more than two 

 logs of wood so placed as to be capable of being separated, for a small 

 space at one end, and again approximated, without any mechanical aid 

 save the very poorest. The sdrmi (oil-maker) builds a house for his 

 6 F 



