OF THE COCO-NUT TREllo 
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planation, the words toddy^ ra^ mee-ra, and sur% may be 
used synonimously. Fresh drawn juice is sweet, and has a 
peculiar flavour, in consequence of some extractive matter 
it contains ; and, in general, it operates as a laxative. When 
it is intended to distii arrack from suri, the toddy-drawers 
seldom change or clean the pots into which it is received, 
hence the juice soon ferments, and emits an acid smell. 
In a half fermented state, suri is much relished by some 
Europeans. When it has become, by fermentation, highly 
intoxicating, the European soldiers, and the dissipated 
portion of the natives, drink it freely. To render this 
beverage acrid, the soldiers occasionally add green chillies 
( Capsicum frutescens) to it. 
Is it not very probable, that the strong drink mentioned 
in Scripture was mee-ra^ drawn from the flower of some of 
the palm tribe (palm- wine) ? In several of the Oriental 
languages, there appears to be an intimate connection be- 
tween the words which designate honey, sugar, sweetness, 
and the juice of the palm family of plants. Mee^ in the 
Singhalese language, means honey, sweet ; and the toddy, 
or juice extracted from palm trees, is called mee-ra. Juice 
drawn from the flower of the Sago-palm, is, by the Malays, 
denominated Aer (water) saguer. As the word saguer 
appears to be only a shght alteration from the Sanscrit 
adjective implying sweet, aer saguer will therefore literally 
mean sweet water, or the sweetest water. In the Javanese 
language, the juice of the Gornuti-palm is called lagen, 
which means the sweet material by distinction *. We 
learn from Shaw, that the Hebrew word rendered honey 
in Scripture, is, by some commentators, supposed to deno- 
minate the sweet juice procured from palm trees, as well as 
the honey of bees. He tells us that, in Barbary, the sweet 
juice extracted from date-palms, is called dipse ; and that 
• Chawfurd. 
