Page:Life in India or Madras, the Neilgherries, and Calcutta.djvu/363

Rh of the cocoanut-palm, and on the continent principally of the palmyra. It is obtained by cutting off the end of the spathe, or stalk of flowering blossoms, and suspending from it an earthen pot to collect the liquid which distils, drop by drop, from the cut surface. When first obtained, it is sweet, and, if boiled down, yields a large quantity of sugar; if permitted to stand, it soon ferments and becomes intoxicating. From gardens near the towns and cities it is brought in this state to be sold in the liquor shops; but in places more remote from markets it is distilled, and yields a much stronger and more alcoholic liquor called arrack. This is a means of ruin not only to the natives, but also to European soldiers in India; thus there is inflicted upon the government a loss for which the revenue received by this traffic is very far from compensating. It is to be hoped that this will be seen, and a stop put to this great and sore evil, which threatens fearful mischief to a hitherto temperate people. According to Hindu rules, no man of good caste may touch intoxicating liquors; but the habit of drinking both home-made and imported spirits is rapidly increasing among natives even of high castes.