THE PALMYRA PALM. 



265 



Each tree has from twenty-five to forty fresh green leaves upon 

 it at a time, and of these the natives frequently cut off twelve or 

 fifteen annually, or a greater number once in two years, to be devoted 

 to various purposes, as well as to enable the fruit to ripen and in- 

 crease in size. When the leaves are intended for thatch, or for 

 making fences, they are placed flat on the ground in layers over each 

 other, and often with weights upon them to assist in the process 

 of flattening them. The thatch formed of these does not last longer 

 than two years, nor is it so handsome as that made from the plaited 

 cocoanut leaves. The leaves make very close and elegant fences. 



Toddy. — At the season when the inflorescence begins to appear, 

 when the spathes have had time to burst, the " toddy drawer " is at 

 work in the palmyra groves. His practised eye soon fixes on those 

 trees fit for the " scalping knife," and if they have not dropped the 

 foot-stalk of the leaves, the first operation, if the trees are valuable, 

 is to wrench them off. This done, the toddy drawer, armed with his 

 leathern protector for his breast, his raceme-batten of wood, his small 

 thongs, straight and crooked knives, with the side leather pouch to 

 contain them, procures a piece of tough jungle vine, or a strip of the 

 stalk of a young palmyra or cocoanut tree, which he converts into a 

 sort of loop, of such dimensions as to admit of his feet getting 

 through to a space large enough to allow them to clasp the tree. 

 This done, he puts his feet in this thong, stands close to the tree, 

 stretches himself at full length, clasps it with his hands, and pulls 

 his feet up as close to his arms as possible ; again he slides up his 

 hands, and repeats the process, until, by a species of screw process, 

 he ascends to the summit of the tree. An expert climber can draw 

 toddy from about forty trees in a few hours. In Jaffna a distinction 

 is made between toddy and sweet toddy, the former, called by the 

 Tamils " culloo," is the fermented, the latter the unfermented juice. 

 Toddy serves extensively as yeast, and throughout Ceylon no other is 

 employed by the bakers ; large quantities of it are also converted into 

 vinegar, used for pickling gherkins, limes, the undeveloped leaves of 

 the cocoanut and palmyra trees, and other substances; but by far 

 the greatest quantity is boiled down for jaggery or sugar. About 

 1000 tons are said to be manufactured of it in Ceylon. 



According to Forbes, three quarts of toddy will make 1 lb. of 

 jaggery. Malcolm remarks that jaggery resembles maple sugar, and 

 that in the neighbourhood of Ava, 1 lb. sells for the third of a penny. 

 In Jaffna 3 lbs. are sold for '^d. The usual process of making 

 jaggery, as pursued at Jaffna, is exceedingly simple. The sweet 

 toddy is boiled until it becomes a thick syrup, a small quantity of 

 scraped cocoanut kernel is thrown in that it may be ascertained 

 by the feel if the syrup has reached the proper consistency, and 

 then it is poured into small baskets of palmyra leaf, where it cools 

 and hardens into jaggery. In these small plaited palmyra baskets it 

 is kept for home consumption ; sent coastwise, chiefly to Colombo, or 

 exported beyond seas to be refined. To make vellum or crystallized 

 jaggery, which is extensively used as a medicine, the process is nearly 

 the same as for the common sugar, only the syrup is not boiled for so 

 long a period. 



