The Toledo chronicle. [volume] (Toledo, Tama County, Iowa) 1873-1924, 1875-04-22
The Palmyra Palm.

TIE value of the palms to the natives
of the tropics may be estimated by the
fact that one single species, the Pal
myra, and that by no means the richest,
affords the means of living to one entire
caste Of people. The Shanars, number
ing several hundred thousand, and living
along the southeastern coast of the In
dian Peninsula, subsist entirely upon the
products of this single tree, cultivating
no other crop, following no other craft,
and finding food, clothing and shelter,
all from its prolific crest. The chief
value of the tree is its sap; which is OBJ
tanned by cutting off the end or upper
tufts of the stalk of buds and blossoms
that crown the summit of the tree, and
collecting in earthen pots the liquid as it
distills drop by drop from the cut surface.
| While new the sap is sweet, and if
boiled down yields excellent sugar; but
| after standing it ferments and becomes
! toddy, an intoxicating beverage very
popular in the East. In addition to
what is sold in this form a great deal is
distilled and furnishes much stronger
| liquor, known as ar1ack. 1t is by the
| sale of arrack and toddy that the Shanars
supply themselves with the comforts of
life; and their whole time is spent in col
lecting, boiling and distilling this liquor,
the new harvest being in process of prep
aration while the last is in market. 1t
is busy, laborious life for both men and
women, but the Shanar is as much at
home among the leaves and blossoms of
his tall Palmyras as farmer in his
fields, while the wife's vocation of boil
ing, straining and selling her husbands
crop seems the Joy and pride of her life.
But let me tell you something of this
tree and the naodus eperandi of collecting
the juice. The Palmyra is less graceful
in form and foliage than the banana, CO.
coanut and most of its sister palms; but,
like the others, it has stiff, branches
trunk, that in the Palmyra rises to the
height of fully forty feet and termi-
mates in a cluster of fan shaped leaves.
Among these, forty feet from the ground,
the Shanar must seek his mine of wealth,
and his way of securing it is certainly
an original one. Awaiting himself of
the cool morning he sets forth at
early dawn with the implements of his
craft. That he may not be encountered
with surplus garments single strip of
cloth tied tightly around his waist is his
whole clothing; and that he rfsy lose no
time in going up and down he fastens
couple of earthen pots and his knife to
his girdle, so that while aloft he NAV
make the missions and place the vessels
for the sap, or may remove that which
has already been collected and leave the
other pots for the new. But now for his
manner of mounting that naked trunk,
too large to be encircled by his arms,
and which has neither twig nor branch
to furnish the slightest foothold. So to
obviate these difficulties he fastens a
piece of rope around his ankles to keep
his feet together, and strong band
around his body and the trunk of the
tree. The last IS left loose enough to
give the climber ample room for motion,
and thus equipped, resting his body upon
the band, with both feet braced against
the tree, he reaches the top rapidly and
safely; and thus seated he has both
hands free either to cut the flower and
place the pots or TO empty the sap if it
has been already collected. In this way
he climbs tree after tree, bringing down
full vessels and emptying the contents
into larger ones, which the wife sets
over a fire previously kindled among
the trees-that is, such portions of the
sap as are intended for sugar. That for
toddy is sold while new and the remain
der is distilled by a simple process into
d7rdck.
Thus the Shanars spend their lives
going over this same routine from youth
to old age, apparently well content with
the calling of their caste, and never
dreaming that change of vocation is
either possible or desirable.
But have not told you how the boys
and girls are kept busy until they are old
enough to assist their parents in tree
climbing and arrack making. They are
not suffered to be idle, assure you, and
this self-same tree furnishes them en-
ployment. The Palmyra leaves are
gathered every year, and children are
taught to trim and bind the edges. The
thousands of palm-leaf fans sold in India
some of them of enormous size-are all
made by boys and girls, and mostly
among the Shanars. Those brought to
the United States are usually made in
China, especially for our market; but in
the East the leaf is often left entire, and
the fan will be four or five feet in diane
ter, with handle of the same length, so
that servant may stand at one side of
dinner-table and keep twenty people
comfortably cool by the motion of his
huge pu,ata.
There is another circumstance of in
terest in connection with the Palmyra
palm. The tourist in Southern India,
especially as he nears Cape Comorin, will
often notice banyan tree with the leafy
crest of a Palmyra rising, apparently,
from tine very center of its trunk and
among its numberless branches, each of
which, by casting down its own roots,
forms tree, SO that a single banyan be-
comes in time stately and beautiful
grove. 1t looks odd enough to see the
crest of Palmyra rising out of such
group, but one does not have to look far
for the solution Of the enigma. The
moist top of the Palmyra furnishes a
fruitful soil, in which readily terminate
the banyan seeds, dropped by birds or
blown thither by the breeze; and the
rapid and luxuriant growth Of the inter-
loper soon SO completely envelopes the
Palmyra as to leave only its lovely,
fower-crowned summit visible.-Fannse
Roper Fendge, in Hearth and Home.
Important Decision on Life Insurance
Case.
A decision just rendered in the United
States Sunreme Court at Washington