les.

On the border of the forest, or some hundred paces farther in, were
situated a number of huts belonging to the natives, approached by
picturesque paths running beneath shady avenues of trees. In
Bealeah, the people were very fanatic, while here the men were very
jealous. At the conclusion of my excursion, one of the gentlemen
passengers had joined me, and we directed our steps towards the
habitations of the natives. As soon as the men saw my companion,
they called out to their wives, and ordered them to take refuge in
the huts. The women ran in from all directions, but remained very
quietly at the doors of their dwellings to see us pass, and quite
forgot to conceal their faces while they did so.

In these parts, there are whole woods of cocoa-palms. This tree is
properly a native of India, where it attains a height of eighty
feet, and bears fruit in its sixth year. In other countries, it is
scarcely fifty feet high, and does not bear fruit before it is
twelve or fifteen years old. This tree is, perhaps, the most useful
one in the known world. It produces large and nutritious fruit,
excellent milk, large leaves that are used for covering in and
roofing huts, materials for strong cordage, the clearest oil for
burning, mats, woven stuffs, colouring matter, and even a kind of
drink called surr, toddy, or palm brandy, and obtained by incisions
made in the crown of the tree, to which, during an entire month, the
Hindoos climb up every morning and evening, making incisions in the
stem and hanging pots underneath to catch the sap which oozes out.
The rough condition of the bark facilitates considerably the task of
climbing up the tree. The Hindoos tie a strong cord round the trunk
and their own body, and another round their feet, which they fix
firmly against the tree; they then raise themselves up, drawing the
upper rope with their hands and the lower one with the points of
their feet, after them. I have seen them climb the highest trees in
this manner with the greatest ease in two minutes at the most.
Round their bodies they have a belt, to which are suspended a knife
and one or two small jars.

The sap is at first quite clear, and agreeably sweet, but begins, in
six or eight hours' time, to ferment, and then assumes a whitish
tint, while its flavour becomes disagreeably acid. From this, with
the addition of some rice, is manufactured strong arrack. A good
tree will yield above a gallon of this sap in fo