This
remains undisturbed for twenty-four hours, from sunrise to
sunrise on the following morning; the toddy-drawer then reascends
the tree, and lowers he chatty by a line to an assistant below,
who empties the contents into a larger vessel, and the chatty is
replaced under the productive branch, which continues to yield
for about a month.
When first drawn the toddy has the appearance of thin milk and
water, with a combined flavor of milk and soda-water, with a
tinge of cocoa-nut. It is then very pleasant and refreshing, but
in a few hours after sunrise a great charts takes place, and the
rapidity of the transition from the vinous to the acetous
fermentation is so great that by midday it resembles a poor and
rather acid cider. It now possesses intoxicating properties, and
the natives accordingly indulge in it to some extent; but from
its flavor and decided acidity I should have thought the stomach
would be affected some time before the head.
>From this fermented toddy the arrack is procured by simple
distillation.
This spirit, to my taste, is more palatable than most distilled
liquors, having a very decided and peculiar flavor. It is a
little fiery when new, but as water soon quenches fire, it is not
spared by the native retailers, whose arrack would be of a most
innocent character were it not for their infamous addition of
stupefying drugs and hot peppers.
The toddy contains a large proportion of saccharine, without
which the vinous fermentation could not take place. This is
procured by evaporation in boiling, on the same principle that
sugar is produced from cane-juice. The syrup is then poured into
small saucers to cool, and it shortly assumes the consistence of
hardened sugar. This is known in Ceylon as "jaggery," and is
manufactured exclusively by the natives.
Cocoa-nut oil is now one of the greatest exports of Ceylon, and
within the last few years the trade has increased to an
unprecedented extent. In the two years of 1849 and 1850, the
exports of cocoa-nut oil did not exceed four hundred and
forty-three thousand six hundred gallons, while in the year 1853
they had increased to one million thirty-three thousand nine
hundred gallons; the trade being more than quadrupled in three
years.
The manufacture of the oil is most simple. The kernel is taken
from the nut, and being divided, it is exposed to the sun until
all the watery particles are evaporated. The kernel thus dried
is known as "copperah." This is then pressed in a mill, and the
oil flows into a reservoir.
This oil, although clear and limpid in the tropics, hardens to
the consistence of lard at any temperature below 72 Fahrenheit.
