Dr Cleghorn on the Coco-Nut Tree and its Uses. 181 
off the ground, and place them upon the trunk, by pressing 
his back against the rope, and his left hand against the tree. 
Immediately after this he moves up the vada-cour with 
his right hand, and fixes his left hand in a position higher up 
the tree. His left arm acts as a fulerwm as it were, on which, 
resting the weight of his body, he is enabled to set his legs 
free, and thus alternately to move up his arms and the upper 
part of his body, and to drag up his legs after them. When 
at the top of the tree, he lowers the vada-cour so far down 
from his shoulders, that he can sit upon it, and thereby ob- 
tains a rest, with his hands entirely disengaged to do any- 
thing that is required of them. It takes nearly a year’s prac- 
tice to make a man master of this curious mode of climbing, 
after which the loftiest trees are ascended in a minute with 
surprising ease, and with perfect security. After a hard morn- 
ing’s work, the left arm always aches more than the other 
limb, showing that there is more strain on it than anywhere 
else. When an accident befalls a toddy-drawer, it is usually 
occasioned by his left hand missing its hold on the tree and 
slipping aside, which brings him to the ground instantly, often 
with fracture or injury of that limb. 
When the spathe is a month or a month and a half old, the 
toddy-drawer begins his labours by binding the sheath to pre- 
vent its expansion, as represented in Plate II., after which he 
cuts about an inch off the end, and gently hammers the flowers 
which are thereby exposed. Finally, he binds up the end with 
a broad strip of fibre (Plate II.), and descends. This process 
he continues morning and evening for fifteen days, a thin slice 
being cut away on eaciu occasion. During this time, also, by 
shaving away a little of the under part of the sheath, he trains 
it to bend over. It is probable that the exact term of days 
during which the spathe undergoes this initiatory preparation 
varies in different places, and depends “ipon surrounding cir- 
cumstances. Mr Berthold Seemann, in his “ Popular History 
of Palms,” mentions five or six days as sufficient. Near Madras, 
a toddy-drawer assured me that fifteen days was the usual 
time. It is a matter of little moment, however, for the time 
when a spathe is ready to yield toddy will be easily known 
by the chattering of birds, the crowding of insects, the drop- 
NEW SERIES,—VOL, XIV. NO. 11.—ocrT. 1861, 2A 
