place, when a person plants a garden, the trees are considered as his property, he paying one half of the produce to the state; in another, they are let in lots at the rate of £40 per annum. Those are again farmed to some of the inferior villagers, who extract and distil the juices. Could the jaggory from the sugar cane, observes Buchanan, be generally converted either into a palatable spirituous liquor or into sugar, the barren plains of the Carnatic might be rendered productive. The former suggestion appears to be not impracticable, and deserves attention in the way of experiment. If it should answer, the whole of the grain distilled in Europe might be saved for food.* On the same principle, Heber is of opinion that almost the whole of the Deccan might be cultivated with vines; and that it would be wise in the British government to encourage a speculation of that kind, were it only for the purpose of obtaining a better beverage for the troops than the brandy now in use. The grapes of Nusseerabad are said to equal those of Shiraz, and the vineyards there are become famous all over India: a sufficient encouragement to make the plantation of the vine more general in that quarter. Such speculations would be well repaid by the employment of so vast a population as occupy those regions:

Throughout the Carnatic, the distillation of rum or brandy is carried on by a particular caste; and the process observed in some of the provinces is described as follows. From the Topala, (Mimosa leucophlea,) a tree common in the country, the bark is taken and cut into chips, of which about four pounds are added to the twenty-four pounds and quarter of sugar-cane jaggory, with a quantity of water equal to twice the bulk of this sweet substance. The mixture is made in an earthen jar kept in the shade; the fermentation, commencing in about twenty-four hours, is completed on the twelfth day, when the liquor is distilled by means of the following apparatus:-The body of the still (a a a) is a strong earthen jar, capable of containing three times the bulk of the materials. On this is luted with cow-dung a copper head (bbb) having on the inside a gutter (cc) for collecting the vapour that has been condensed into spirit by a constant small stream of water, which falls on the head at (ƒ). This water is conveyed away by the pipe (g), while the spirit is conducted into a jar by the pipe (d). The mode of condensing the spirit is very rude; and the liquor, which is never rectified by a second distillation, is execrable. The natives allege that the bark of the Topala, which is very insipid to the taste, is

Buchanan, vol. p. 6. † Heber, vol. iii. p. 123.

† Buchanan, vol. i. p. 39,

useful, by diminishing the too great sweetness of the jaggory. "To me, however," observes Buchanan, "it appears to be rather of use, by regulating the fermentation, which in such a warm climate would be apt to run suddenly into the acetous."

In the first volume of the Asiatic Researches, there is a description of a method of distillation practised at Chatra, in Ramgur, and other provinces in India, differing but little from that now described. Through the kindness of a gentleman for some years resident in that quarter, I have been favoured with the drawing of a still, which with the section of that used in the Mysore district, as above described, is subjoined.

When the material for distilling, whether rice, molasses, or the simple fermented juice of the cocoa-nut tree, is ready, a hole is dug in the earth suited to the size of the still or jar to be employed; and level with the bottom of this hole there is an underground communication made for the purpose of feeding the fire with atmospheric air; near the edge of the hole a chimney is erected, which serves as well for the supply of fuel, as for the discharge of smoke. A fire of dry wood is first kindled in the pit, and, when the ground is thoroughly heated, the still is fixed in it, and so bound round with earth, that

This idea was probably taken from the ancient mode of baking bread in the East. Instead of what we call ovens, they dug a hole in the ground, in which they placed a kind of earthen pot, and to its interior surface, when sufficiently heated, thin cakes were stuck and speedily done.

no heat can escape. When the jar begins to boil, and the steam to ascend, an Indian with a pot or kettle pours a gentle stream of water upon the head of the still already described, or on the broad and thin surface of a plate of tin or copper (with a gutter for the water to run off, represented above), which is fixed on a pan, with a hole in the bottom, luted to the neck of the still, and serving as a condenser. The extreme cold excited by the evaporation of the water on so broad a surface, occasions the vapour from the still to be immediately condensed, and to run in a trickling stream into the receiver.

Maria Graham, in her Journal of a residence in India, thus describes the working of a native still, which she had an opportunity of observing. The still, says she, was simply constructed. Round a hole in the earth, a ledge of clay, four inches high, was raised with an opening about half a foot wide, for the purpose of feeding the fire. Upon the clay a large earthen pot was luted; to its mouth was luted the mouth of a second pot; and where they joined, an earthen spout, a few inches long, was inserted, which served to let off the spirit condensed in the upper jar, which was kept cool by a person pouring water constantly over it. When she went into the cottage, or stillhouse, she found a woman sitting with a child on one arm, and with the other she was cooling the still, by pouring water on it from a cocoa-nut shell ladle. The woman informed her that she sat at her occupation from sunrise to sunset without scarcely a change of position; and while they were talking, her husband entered the cottage laden with toddy for distilling. He was a bandari, or toddy-gatherer. On his head was the common gardener's bonnet, resembling in shape the cap seen on the statues and gems of Paris, and from his girdle were suspended the implements of his trade.*

In 1782, two gentlemen, named Crofts and Lennox, constructed a distillery at Sooksagur, near Calcutta, at which spirituous liquors were distilled in the European manner, and with all the improvements of the day. As these spirits were applied to all the purposes of Batavia arrack, the establishment was found to be of much benefit to the province of Bengal.† If such undertakings were encouraged by the East India Company, they would not only be a means of enriching individuals, but a source of considerable revenue, particularly in a country where there are such abundance of fruits and grain of every description, and where the population, exclusive of Europeans, is estimated at 110,000,000; only ten millions of which

Foster's Journey from Bengal to England.

Journal of a Residence in India, 4to p. 25 and 26.

are Mahometans, who are not more strict in the observance of their religious duties than their brethren of the Ottoman empire. The Hindoos, it is well known, although forbidden to use ardent spirits, are not more abstemious in that respect than the natives of other countries. They account brandy an infallible medicine, and, under that impression, frequently rub their joints with this panacea. Even the Brahmins, whose ordinary drink should be water, sometimes run the risk of a loss of caste for an indulgence in the use of intoxicating liquors. Like the Turks, they drink in secret, and like them take every precaution to avoid detection; but their hypocrisy is sometimes discovered, to the no small amusement of their neighbours. From Heber, we learn that, in opposition to their respective religious creeds, both the Hindoos and the Indian Mahometans are great drunkards;* though, according to Hamilton, the civil as well as the ecclesiastical law forbids the use of wine and all distilled liquors. Duboist relates an anecdote of a Brahmin in the village of Tanjore, whose house took fire, and he being the only person of that caste in the place, the inhabitants flocked from all quarters to assist in the removal of his effects; but what was their astonishment, when, among other things, they discovered a large jar half full of arrack, with which this luxurious disciple of Vishnu had been in the habit of regaling. Tennant says that he, himself heard a Hindoo confess that he was drunk, who did not seem to be deserted by his companions on account of that misdemeanour. Notwithstanding the weakness of some, the Brahmins of high caste are very scrupulous in taking wine. Heber found much difficulty in conquering the doubts of two of them who refused taking physic when dangerously ill, for fear of its being mixed with wine, declaring they would rather die than taste it. Intoxication amongst the natives is not common, but at the time of the Hoolee, or Hindoo carnival, the people of central India indulge in all kinds of riot and festivity, and men may be there seen inebriated, as in other parts of the world, on similar occasions.

For what object laws were enacted in the East prohibitory of the use of all kinds of spirituous or intoxicating liquors, has not been explained on any civil or religious principle, whether for the sake of health, temperance, or morality. It is, however, a curious fact, that amidst the numerous class of gods in the Indian mythology, there is none to correspond with Bacchus, except Suradéri, the goddess of wine, who arose, say the Hindoos, from the ocean when it was

L

churned with the mountain Mandar; a notion which seems to indicate that the Indians came from a country in which wine was anciently made, and considered as a blessing; though the dangerous effects of intemperance induced their early legislators to prohibit the use of all spirituous liquors.* Picart says, the most probable reason that can be given for the prohibition of wine is the high sense entertained for virtue by some ancient Brahmins, who had the greatest aversion to any thing that might contribute to plunge them into irregularities, or disorder the senses. They considered that drink as highly pernicious which would extinguish a man's reason, and therefore found themselves obliged to inspire the people whom they governed with similar sentiments.†

The manufacture of arrack in India is carried on extensively; a fine description is distilled at Goa, from the Toddy of the cocoa-nut trees which grow abundantly in the neighbourhood. It is sold in casks of 21 gallons each, and the price differs according to its quality; but it is for the most part cheap. An idea of the importance of the arrack trade may be formed from the following account of the imports and exports of this article from part of the territory of Tippoo Sultan and other districts :

Imported by sea, from 1st January to 31st December, 1799, into

18

25

28

12

the Pye Nada District, viz.:—

Exported in 1799 and 1800, from the above district :—

Vide An Essay on the gods of Greece, Italy, and India, in the Asiatic Researches, vol. i. p. 250.

† Picart's Religious Ceremonies, vol. iii. p. 274.