234 JOURNAL, E.A.S. (CEYLON). [VOL. II., PART II. 



contained in the sap ; the proportion of it, however, can be 

 nevertheless so adjusted as not to have a very destructive 

 effect ; still, it generally causes the liquor to get more or less 

 dark-coloured in the boiling, unless it be extracted by 

 employing tannin or albumen, as will be elsewhere explained 

 in my brother's paper on the manufacture of sugar, &c. 



The toddy is called in Tamil kallu when it is used for 

 drinking, and pdni when it is intended to make jaggery or 

 sugar. To obtain it the same method is practised here as in 

 other parts of the Island. Sometimes trees which are not 

 good bearers of nuts are selected for this purpose, which is 

 merely done I presume in order that they may not be so 

 unprofitable as if they only bore a few nuts — though a good 

 bearing tree, one with large well-developed pdlaikal or 

 flower stalks, is decidedly the best, and will of course yield 

 more sap than an inferior tree. Whatever tree may be 

 selected then, it is necessary that the pdlai should be well 

 matured and nearly ready to burst into blossom, at which 

 time only it is certain to have a good flow of saccharine sap. 

 The toddy drawer, called JOtalavan, a peculiar caste, watches 

 for this juncture, and at the proper time he ascends 

 the tree — in the case of mine a mere step off the ground on* 

 to the lowest branch ; but if the tree be lofty it is more 

 difficult. In this case he makes a small circlet or fillet of 

 palmyra leaf, leather, or coir rope, in which he inserts his 

 feet to prevent their slipping apart ; then, with the soles of 

 liis feet firmly pressed against the trunk and his arms 

 closely embracing it, he alternately bends and straightens 

 his back and thus climbs up the tall, snake-like stem. In 

 the southern and western parts of the Island they do not 

 require to ascend every tree separately, as there are ropes 

 stretched from one to the other, along which the men pass 

 safely and quickly at a great height from the ground, and 

 this enables them to attend to about fifty trees a day each 



