Page:Life in India or Madras, the Neilgherries, and Calcutta.djvu/362

314 form lanes completely shaded by their uniting leaves.

The fruit is sent to the large towns for sale; but in many parts of India these cocoanut topes are devoted to the production of intoxicating drinks; and the gift of God, for the comfort and enrichment of man, is made the means of his degradation and ruin. The license system of the English rulers of India fosters the traffic; and, while it brings a present revenue to government, is impoverishing the people from whom revenue is to be obtained. The privilege of selling the toddy and arrack in each district is sold to the highest bidder, who must then sell enough of these liquors to make it profitable to himself. By this system, the consumption of intoxicating drinks has been raised in many places from almost nothing to tens of thousands of gallons yearly; and, where a few years since the contract would not bring a hundred rupees, it now sells for thousands. The unavoidable consequence of this system is the increase of intemperance, crime, and poverty. Government, following the example of the woman in the old fable, is killing the goose to get the golden egg.

Toddy is the sap of the palm-tree; in Ceylon