tfo. 62.— 1909.] 



NOTES ON DELFT* 



343 



cultivated along with varaku. The dry grains cultivated are 

 mondi (Andropogon sorghum), varaku (Paspalum scrobi- 

 culalum) , and saru (Panicum miliaceum). Mondi was 

 formerly cultivated in Valikamam West, but has been super- 

 seded there by paddy ; it is said to be wholesome. In Delft, 

 rice, which was at one time a luxury, is now becoming a general 

 article of food. Milk and its products also contribute to the 

 food of the well-to-do in the island. In the pasture lands 

 there are usually about 150 stone enclosures in which dry 

 grains are cultivated, " aggregating an area of about 6,000 

 lachams, with an average annual yield of about 8,000 bushels." 

 (Jaffna Catholic Guardian, July 19, 1902.) 



Toddy is in fact one of the chief articles of food of the Delft 

 people. The following is an extract from the report of the 

 Maniyagar for May, 1904 : — " Health of people very good. All 

 the people are fattened with toddy, and are quite drunk 

 from morning till night, men, women, and children without 

 exception." In 1905 he reported the health of the people to be 

 good " as usual at this season, when all Delft is drunk but not 



disorderly All looking quite hale and hearty with the 



toddy." But according to the parish priest it makes them 

 quarrelsome, if not disorderly. To quote him : — " Unlike 

 other places, here all the castes are climbers, and 

 during the toddy season everybody drinks toddy — men, 

 women, and even boys and girls before they set out for school 

 in the morning. It is, in fact, their food. The toddy draw- 

 ing season lasts from January to September, and while it 

 lasts the toddy-drinking makes the people most quarrel- 

 some : husbands quarrel with wives, parents with children ; 

 in fact, everybody quarrels with every one else, but when 

 there is no toddy the people are well behaved and peaceful." 

 This blissful period of the absence of toddy is only for 

 three or four months in the year. The toddy also is said to be 

 stronger than toddy elsewhere, owing to its being drawn in 

 ola baskets instead of pots. 



Such was the burden of the parish priest's complaint, and 

 the remedy he proposes is either to restrict the drawing of 

 toddy to the male palmyra tree, which would reduce it by 

 more than half, as there are fewer male than female palmyra 



