brandy. Their
fruit is not allowed to come to maturity; but the buds are slit open,
and the sweet sap is collected as it drips from them. It is then
allowed to ferment, and subjected to distillation. [66] As the sap
is collected twice a day, and as the blossoms, situated at the top
of the tree, are forty or fifty feet above the ground, bamboos are
fastened horizontally, one above the other, from one tree to another,
to facilitate the necessary ascent and descent. The sap collector
stands on the lower cross-piece while he holds on to the upper.

[Bought by government.] The sale of palm-brandy was at the time of my
visit the monopoly of the government, which retailed it in the Estanco
(government sale rooms) with cigars, stamped paper, and religious
indulgences. The manufacture was carried on by private individuals;
but the whole of the brandy was of necessity disposed of to the
administration, which, however, paid such a high price for it that
the contractors made large profits.

[Profit in manufacture.] I afterwards met a Spaniard in Camarines who,
according to his own account, must have made considerable and easy
gains from these contracts. He had bought palm-trees at an average
price of five reals apiece (they usually cost more, though they can
be sometimes purchased for two reals). Thirty-five palms will furnish
daily at least thirty-six quarts of tuba (sugar-containing sap), from
which, after fermentation and distillation, six quarts of brandy of
the prescribed strength can be manufactured. One man is sufficient to
attend to them, and receives for his trouble half the proceeds. The
administration pays six cuartos for a quart of brandy. My friend the
contractor was in annual receipt, therefore, from every thirty-five
of his trees, of 360 x 1/2 x 5 cuartos = $40.50. As the thirty-five
trees only cost him $21.875, his invested capital brought him in
about 200 per cent.

[Wine and liquor monopoly a failure.] The proceeds of this monopoly
(wines and liquors) were rated at $1,622,810 in the colonial budget for
1861; but its collection was so difficult, and so disproportionately
expensive, that it nearly swallowed up the whole profit. It caused
espionage, robberies of all sorts, embezzlement, and bribery on a
large scale. The retail of the brandy by officials, who are paid by a
percentage on the consumption, did a good deal to injure the popular
respect for the government. Moreover, the imposition of this improper
ta