Edible Products. 



218 



[March, 1910. 



Single palms or, at best, clumps of a 

 few, sown by the haphazard sprouting 

 of seeds cast by the agency chiefly of 

 birds, occur at intervals usually far : 

 so that the local exploitation of the 

 species for sugar is generally more 

 tedious than that of the Caryota. 

 Nevertheless, it is now regularly tapped 

 in the plains of the sub-arid regions of 

 Burma wherever it occurs in suitable 

 numbers and is vigorous enough for a 

 profitable yield. The practice of tapping 

 the Talipat in Burma is invested with 

 an element of peculiar interest parti- 

 cularly when it comes to be known that 

 the palm, as a source of toddy or sugar, 

 is unknown in the more favoured 

 regions of its growth. In the cool fer- 

 tile valleys of the lower Western Ghats, 

 — in Canara, Malabar, Cochin, Travan- 

 core,— where the species may be said to 

 be complete at home, crowning the 

 already stupendous sylvan vegetation, 

 its enormous panicle of myriads of 

 flowers bursts through the tough integu- 

 ments of the spathe to but " waste its 

 sweetness in the desert air." In Burma, 

 however, tbe Talipat is tapped for the 

 saccharine sap which is drawn from the 

 spadix. Varying with the factors of 

 the locality in which it grows, the Tali- 

 pat is said to reach exploitability between 

 the thirtieth and fortieth year of its 

 age. On the completion of the period 

 of its vegetative growth, it sends up, at 

 the top of the stem, a single spadix of 

 enormous size. Unlike the develop- 

 ment of the generality of other palm- 

 spadices, that of the Talipat is remark- 

 ably slow. It is said to attain to a 

 height of six feet and a basal girth of 

 from two to three feet in not less than 

 two months from the date of its emer- 

 gence. At the end of this period and 

 before the spathe bursts, the tapper 

 ascends the gigantic stem by means of 

 light ladders constructed of bamboo. 

 Frequently these ladders consist of 

 nothing more than single bamboos on 

 which portions of the arms are retained 

 to serve for rungs or steps. The bamboos 

 are securely lashed to the stem, one 

 beyond another, up to the top. At the 

 top and over the bases of the leaf stalks, 

 the tapper constructs a platform of 

 bamboo work immediately around the 

 base of the spadix. This done he 

 straightway proceeds to cut away the 

 whole of the spathe investing the 

 spadix. The latter is now bound round, 

 at intervals, with long strands of rattan 

 or other stout fibre, from its base to a 

 height reaching up to his head. The 

 intervals between the ties vary much 

 but are not usually greater than 6 or 8 

 inches. The ties are further tightened 

 by ramming, like wedges, short lengths 



of louud sticks between them and the 

 spadix. Care is taken, however, to see 

 that the skin of the smooth tender 

 spadix is not broken or bruised. The 

 top of the spadix is then cut with a dah 

 (in the present case a very sharp, light, 

 thin bladed knife) the cut-surface being 

 shaped in the form of a V. This incision 

 is practically the result of two-clean cuts 

 which, proceeding from right and left of 

 the upper periphery of the spadix con- 

 verge and meet to form the lower edge 

 of a more or less prismoid valley below. 

 Thereafter, a small, shallow, semicircular 

 notch is cut cn the spadix about 6 inches 

 below the edged base of the channel. 

 Into this is inserted one end of a slip of 

 palm leaf to serve as a conduit for the 

 sap. The slip is tied to the spadix with 

 string. The binding cf the epadix witli 

 strong ties of rattan serves to increase 

 the pressure inside it ; and when, after 

 the binding and wedging its top is cut 

 off, the toddy or sap trickles into the pot. 

 About three hours after this first 

 operation, the tapper ascends to the 

 platform again. The first pot will be 

 full ; so it is replaced by another and, 

 frequently much larger one. At the same 

 time, the cut-surface is carefully pared 

 by successively removing thin slices 

 from it. But for the parings the cut-sur- 

 face gets clogged and the free flow of sap 

 is impeded and hindered. The insides of 

 the pots that are used in the tappings 

 are previously freely exposed to the 

 smoke of lighted palm leaves, straw and 

 rubbish of sorts. This smoking is said 

 to prevent fermentation in the sap and 

 to clear it as it collects in the pot ; other- 

 wise it would be acid and turbid. Again, 

 in the pots to hold toddy for Jaggery- 

 making, handfuls of the powdered bark 

 of the T6 (Diospyros burmanica, Kurz ; 

 Diospyros pyrrhocarpa, Miq ; or Dio- 

 spyros montana, Roxb. ; or of the Ta- 

 naung (Acacia Leucophloea) are sprinkled 

 before they are slung on the spadix. 

 In spite of these most interesting pre- 

 cautions, the toddy obtained in the first 

 ten days or fortnight is scarcely drink- 

 able owing to its rank raw vegetable 

 flavour. But it soon becomes both sweet 

 and palatable, when it may safely be 

 drunk to any extent. Its internal ex- 

 hibition is, in fact, seldom attended with 

 inebriation thereby seemingly forming 

 an exception to the familiar inexorable 

 law of all toddies. By no means is it a 

 drunkard's drink ; but, for all the liquids, 

 juices or sap one can drink in the plains 

 on a burning hot day, commend me, 

 kindly, to that of the Talipat. In sweet- 

 ness it is, at the best of times, inferior 

 to the toddies at present obtained from 

 the rest of the Indian Palms that are 

 tapped ; but, as might be expected, 



