Chapter XIII: Water, and the Sap of Plants (2)

The explorer, or settler, will not unfrequently have to sink wells for the obtainment of water for himself and his animals. It will often happen that Nature has commenced the formation of a well, which merely requires the labours of man to complete. The crowbar and pick will, in such cases, very quickly enable the traveller to deepen it sufficiently to meet his temporary needs. Where a long-continued residence is intended, and a regular and continuous supply of water is required, apart from that obtained from rivers or lakes, wells of greater or less depth, according to the nature of the ground and water supply, must be undertaken.

The Indians manage to construct walled wells of great depth in loose sandy soil in the following ingenious manner: They first mark a circle, the size of the intended well, on the earth. They then dig a groove, or trench, of the width of the intended thickness of the lining wall of the well, much as our masons sink a foundation for a house. They now proceed to build a circle of masonry in the groove, and carry it up to a few feet in height above the surface. Other Indians now get inside the wall, and, with short-handled hoes and fire-hardened sticks, dig away the sand from beneath the foundation of the wall round the entire circle. As the sand is loosened and dug out, it is taken up in cane baskets and thrown outside. As the wall sinks into the earth by being undermined, it is constantly added to by building above until the required depth is reached.

The Chinese sink very narrow and deep wells by the use of a kind of jumper, or boring bit. This is hung suspended from the end of a long bamboo spring beam, which is constantly worked up and down, thus causing the bit to constantly drop and pick, so to speak, on one spot. The bit is hollow, and when it becomes full of sludge produced by its incessant tapping, it is withdrawn from the hole, cleared out, and entered again. A little water added from time to time much assists the operation, and tends to keep the bit from becoming heated. As it will be seen this method, although very useful as a makeshift, is tedious to a degree.

Much fear was entertained at the commencement of the Abyssinian war that there would be a great scarcity of water in consequence of the comparatively limited number of wells and indifferent quality of the water to be found in that portion of the country over which our troops had to march shortly after their arrival; and there is little doubt but that serious inconvenience, if no worse, would have been experienced, had not a contrivance, known as the "American tube well-borer," the invention of Mr. Norton, been brought to the notice of the Government authorities. The wells formed by these deeply-penetrating sets of tubes were found to supply water freely and expeditiously in that country. How far the perforated end of the tube would be effective, if driven through clay, we have had no means of ascertaining; but we are of opinion that for reaching deeply-buried water-yielding deposits of ordinary character the tube-borer will be found most valuable. Its action is simplicity itself.

The foregoing illustration represents the contrivance fixed on the ground and ready for use. B, B, B are the legs of a triangle, C is the striking point for the monkey (D), which is raised by the pulley ropes (E, E) until it reaches the head of the triangle when it is allowed to fall on C, which is secured to the joint of tube F, which, having a sharp arrow headlike point, readily enters the earth. Joint after joint are added, like those of a fishing rod, until the required depth has been reached, when a small pump is attached, as in the annexed cut, which shows the position of the set of tubes in the earth after the water-yielding bed, or deposit, has been penetrated. When very large quantities of water are needed, as for the use of troops, troop horses, and baggage animals, several tubes can be driven in at one spot and coupled together at the top, when one pump can be made to draw from all.

The weight of such an arrangement as that represented would be by no means great, and the cost a mere trifle when compared with the costly process of Artesian well boring as usually carried out. Should it be decided on to abandon a well, the tubes can be drawn up and driven elsewhere.

With regard to the quantity of water which tube wells of a certain diameter of bore are capable of bringing to the surface, Mr. Norton informs us that some of his 1-1/4in. wells yield as much as 900 gallons of water per hour, whilst some of the large bores have poured forth as much as 10,000 gallons per hour.

The modes by which water can be raised from common pit or shaft wells are numerous. Some of them we have described; others, such as the old-fashioned bucket and rope, are too well known to need description.

The miner's pump will be found described at p. 266. A very useful and effective pump may be readily made by boring an auger hole through a tree-trunk, mounting it with a brake-piece and handle as at A in the annexed illustration; fixing on a valved sucker and plunger, as represented at B. C represents a barrel pump. This is made by fixing a short square wooden box in the bottom of a large strong cask in such a manner that a large bung-hole may be bored where the centre of the box comes. (The accompanying engraving will serve to show the nature of the arrangement.) Then outside the hole attach a long tube made of stout sail canvas. Wind a stiff rope into a spiral, round a spar or pole, which can be withdrawn when the coil is complete, and attach it here and there with stitches of twine. This spiral coil will keep the tube from collapsing when in use. Then in your square upright box fix a valved sucker, made as shown at D, and another valve in the bottom of the box, as at E. A brake and handle may be fitted to the side of the barrel, and a hard wood or iron plunger attached, when the pump will be ready for use. As the water flows out over the rim of the box it is caught in the barrel, to which a spout of leather, tin, or bark may be attached.

There are numerous trees and plants to be found in various parts of the world which yield, in addition to their fruits, large quantities of sap and other products, which often prove of inestimable value to the traveller. It would be next to impossible to separate arbitrarily the fruit-yielding members of the vegetable world from those which furnish juice or sap only. We shall therefore in this work treat of the most valuable and noteworthy, dealing with them as they happen to come under notice. Even in the most desert parts of South Africa the traveller ought not to despair of finding means to quench his thirst, even though water may not be obtainable. In some parts he may, perhaps, catch sight of small antelopes pawing the hard red soil, or may at least come on places that have been so scratched; and though in many instances this may have been done only to clean the hoofs, he will find that in others holes of several inches in depth have been made for the purpose of obtaining succulent roots looking very like small turnips. Sometimes these may be found partially eaten, or left behind entire, when the timid animal has been startled from his repast. The form of these roots should be carefully noted, together with that of their leaves, as the traveller can only discover the whereabouts of other roots by external indications, and cannot be guided--as the antelope probably is--by the scent of moisture beneath the ground.

The natives of nearly every separate district know of some peculiar root that is, perhaps, confined to their own locality; and it is always well to encourage them to bring a supply, not only of the root, but of its leaves, and to ask them to point out the plant, so that its appearance may be observed before it is disturbed. Some of these are small tubers, about the size of a pigeon's egg, on a long underground stem; others are much larger; and we have seen one of the kind called "marquæ," which measured in its longest circumference 3-1/2ft., and 2-1/2ft. in its shortest. The "marquæ," or "markhwæ," is properly of a flattened spherical figure, with an indication of tap-root below and a small conical protuberance above, from which the slender stem springs up. Its seeds are strung upon a skein of fibres in long round tapering pods, 4in. to 6in. long, and thicker than a goose-quill. The taste and appearance, when cut, would be something like that of a very fibrous watery turnip; but when thirst-quenching plants are sought for, we believe that the more tasteless they are the better. The smaller roots are more agreeable than those of larger size; and we have frequently found that the mastication of even a small portion of such a root affords more relief than the drinking of any quantity of water.

In certain countries, where rain seldom falls and the night dews are heavy, a very considerable quantity of water may be obtained from the grass and low bushes before sunrise, by shaking them over some wide shallow vessel; or a piece of waterproof cloth stretched across the prong end of a wide-forked stick. When properly put together an implement of this kind is not unlike a large dustpan. Sponges, or soft porous cloths, absorb a large quantity of water when brought in contact with wet plants or moist surfaces of any kind. They can be squeezed out as fast as they become charged with water.

After a long journey, when the throat is parched, the skin of the lips dried and cracking for want of moisture, the teeth fouled, and the tongue, with all its papillæ, dry and hard as the teeth of a rasp, rattling against them, there is no immediate relief in drinking water.

We have at times halted in a melon patch, and have selected and cut into slices the tasteless melons for our horses. The Hottentots and Bushmen collect these in quantities, and with a stick mash up the inside until it becomes a pulp; and, as the water exudes from the broken cells, they obtain perhaps a mouthful from each melon.

In some parts of the Kalahari Desert it is noticed that there are individual elephants, rhinoceroses, or other animals, that never drink water, having attached themselves to a locality in which they find melons and succulent roots as substitutes. Indeed, we believe that at least one tribe of Namaqua Hottentots live very comfortably in an absolutely waterless country, subsisting chiefly on the milk of their cattle, which in turn quench their thirst solely by eating water melons.

Our fellow traveller, Joseph Macabe, in his arduous journey to Lake Ngami, travelled long distances without water; and one day he had to drive his oxen ten miles to eat water melons, and then to drive them back to the waggons to perform their day's work. This privilege was duly purchased from the Bushmen who lived near, and who therefore might be supposed to look upon these wild fruits as their own. A line was traced upon the ground; but it required all the efforts of the Bushmen, and the herdsmen too, to make the thirsty cattle understand that they were only to eat within a certain limit.

The beautiful "traveller's tree" of Madagascar collects and retains through almost the driest seasons a welcome store of water. Its ample leaves point upward to the heavens; and all the rain, dew, or atmospheric moisture from their broad surfaces, is conducted down until it lodges in the hollow formed just above the junction of the midrib with the stem. The natives pierce the leaf-stalk with a spear; the water gushes out, and is caught in a vessel held under to receive it. So unfailing is the supply from these trees, that where one of them is seen no native will trouble himself to walk even a short distance to a river. The most valuable property, however, of this tree is that it may be tapped again and again without vital injury. It is most likely that the orifice will close, and the wounded leaf will again collect water; or, at most, the injured leaf will die off, leaving the others in full vitality. It is different with the collection of palm juice, in which the tree itself is materially injured and often completely destroyed.

On the low lands at the Delta of the Zambesi, where the various species of mangroves have fulfilled their office in winning from the dominion of the ocean the broad sand-banks annually deposited by the river, an abundant growth of the Doum palm and wild date begins to occupy the new formed land. The natives seek those that have grown to not more than a man's height, and, cutting off all the leaf-stalks with the exception of the merest sprout in the centre to continue the vitality, make a deep incision where the leaves should be, stick in it a bit of folded leaf as a spout, and hang an earthen pot under it by a strip of leaf, sheltering it from the sun by a kind of basket, loosely but ingeniously woven from another leaf in the manner shown in our sketch on p. 519.

In connection with the subject of water we may here appropriately notice the expedients used by many nations for the separation of juices from the fruit containing them, or for expressing from grain or fibrous substances the water in which they have been washed or steeped, and which may either be collected as holding in solution some nutritious matter, or thrown away as carrying off something distasteful or even poisonous.

In Kafirland the stem of a species of Zamia is laid for several days in a running stream, and we have generally seen it pointed in the direction of the current so that the moisture with which it is surcharged might drain gradually from the lower end, carrying with it the acrid or unpleasant juices, while the impact of the stream from above would force more water into its pores and continue to dislodge all that it was desirable to remove, leaving the farinaceous matter between the fibres.

Another plant, commonly known by the appropriately descriptive name of elephant's foot (_Testudinaria_ of Burchell, or _Tamus elephantopus_), is used as an article of food by the Hottentots, and on this account is often called Hottentot's bread. We have not actually seen the preparation of it, but believe that very little is required beyond cutting out the internal pith, which resembles the inside of a turnip, and baking it on the embers. The remarkable lump which rests upon the surface of the ground bears, in general shape and colour, some resemblance to the foot of an elephant, and averages nearly the same size; but we have seen some nearly 3ft. in diameter. It is covered with rough angular projections, reminding one of the scales on the shell of a tortoise.

On the Zambesi, near Logier Hill, we have seen the native women frequently washing a kind of cassava, cut into discs across the grain so thin as to leave the fibre as short as possible. These were put into the closely-woven baskets of the country, which, being about half immersed, were worked with a rotatory motion similar to that of gold washing--removing some acrid juice, and leaving what little nutriment might be contained in the fibre.

In many countries great and long-continued pressure is employed. Some vegetable substances contain, in addition to their nutritious properties, juices so acrid as to destroy almost every other fibre that might be used to contain them; and therefore, as in South America, particular kinds of palms or other trees are valued because pressure bags can be woven of them that will resist this action. These bags are of various shapes; but a very favourite one is that of a long double cone, loosely woven with the slips, which represent the threads, crossing each other in a long lozenge-like form, so that when the bag is filled it shortens up and greatly enlarges its central diameter; but when it is hung by one end to a tree, and a considerable weight is attached to the other, its elongation contracts its diameter and squeezes out the juices of whatever is placed inside it.

We have seen various forms of these bags, which were in use amongst the ancient Egyptians for expressing the remainder of the juice after the grapes had already been trodden in the wine-press. Both the ancient and modern contrivances appear to have been matted bags of elongated form, and with a very stout eye or loop at either end; and the chief difference is in their size. The upper one is worked by two men, who, inserting staves into the loops at the ends, twist them opposite ways; while the lower is worked by five--four of whom, having twisted it as tightly as they can, haul the staves apart, while the fifth, throwing himself between the upper ends, forces them apart still farther. The effect in each case is the flow of a copious stream of second quality wine, which pours from the twisted bag into the receptacle placed for it.

There is a plant, which much resembles the "bachelor's pillow" of our hothouses, found growing in Mexico and some other countries. When it is rooted in the earth it is more like a vegetable hedgehog than aught else, being covered with long pointed thorns, like those of the cactus. Hunters and travellers often collect these unpromising-looking productions for the sake of the water they contain. When freed from their attachment to the ground, they are taken on a forked stick, which is held in the left hand, whilst the thorn-covered rind is sliced off with a hunting-knife held in the right. The pulp, thus laid bare, affords enough moisture to quench the thirst of either man or horse.

The agave (_Agave Americana_) yields a very large quantity of sap. To obtain this, the crown is cut off, and a deep hole scooped out in the substance of the plant. This, in a short time, fills with fluid, which, when collected, fermented, and properly prepared, is the celebrated "pulque" of the Mexicans.

Large-sized bamboo canes not unfrequently hold bottled-up between their internodes a considerable quantity of water, the presence of which can be detected by giving the canes, one after another, a sharp sudden shake, when the imprisoned fluid gives out a hollow, gurgling sound easily recognised. To obtain the cane-water, it is only necessary to tap the joint or cut down the cane. This juice is not only an agreeable and refreshing drink, but is by the natives believed to be particularly wholesome and sanitary in its effects on the constitution.

It is somewhat curious that the silicious element found covering the outside of the cane like a hard varnish should be held in solution by this fluid; but that it is so there can be no doubt, as, when the liquid, or sap, is allowed to remain for any length of time in the tubular cavity of the cane, it either becomes absorbed altogether, or leaves a hard concrete substance far more like a mineral than a vegetable substance; possessing, in fact, all the attributes of an earth product. It is not acted on by any of the ordinary acids; it remains unaltered by fire; and forms, with the alkalies, a clear glass, just as flint would. This curious substance is the celebrated "tabascheer," which is renowned throughout the East for its marvellously curative qualities; and it is not improbable that this, like many other Oriental productions, may contain virtues little dreamed of by the medical practitioner at home.

In some of the forests of the tropics a large description of pitcher plant is found. The natural cups found on it not only contain a considerable quantity of water, but have the disadvantage of being natural traps for insects and all sorts of small creeping things, which, attracted by the moisture, fall in, and are drowned. Sometimes, however, a pitcher is found with perfectly clear and deliciously cool water in it, which well repays the thirsty searcher.

In many nations, the palm trees peculiar to them supply an almost inexhaustible variety of the necessaries or the conveniencies and luxuries of life, from timber for house or ship building to fine cloth for wearing apparel, as well as many articles of food and refreshing, or often intoxicating, drinks.

Nearly all the palms contain what is called a cabbage, or in other words a mass of young vegetable matter in taste, nearly resembling the heart of a cabbage stalk, and both in Australia and Africa we have occasionally availed ourselves of this. We do not advise it, except in cases of necessity, because the cutting of it out even from a young tree involves considerable labour, and it is always with some regret that a man feels himself obliged to destroy a noble tree, perhaps 40ft. or 50ft. in height to obtain hardly vegetable matter enough to serve him for a single meal.

At Coepang, in Timor, we have seen the leaves of the fan palm converted into buckets or pails by simply drawing the points or leaflets together and securing them; while the lesser leaves or fronds were in the same manner made into exquisite little drinking cups, capable of containing one "doit's" worth of palm juice, which, when perfectly fresh, is most delicious and refreshing.

The large leaves of the palm may be used for the collection of dew or occasional showers. The water casks of one of the Dutch gunboats were set out upon the beach near her anchorage, and the stems of three or four palm leaves inserted in each bung-hole to conduct thither all the moisture that might fall upon their broad surface.

{Palms, to climb.}

The tall palm tree is usually climbed by the aid of a loop of loosely-twisted rope, or a hoop of any sufficiently strong and flexible material large enough to encircle the tree and the body of the climber, allowing him to lean back in it at such an angle that the pressure of his feet against the trunk is sufficient to support him. Short steps are taken upward, and the rope is jerked up skilfully a little at a time; but great care must be taken duly to proportion these motions, for if the feet be too high, the head and shoulders will project so far that the power of the arms will not suffice to bear the strain, while if they are too low they will not be pressed with sufficient force against the tree, and will slip downward.

The northern limits of the palms are--in Europe 43°, in Asia 34°, and in America 34° of latitude; the southern are--in Africa 34°, in New Zealand 38°, and in America 36°. The known species amount at present nearly to 600, but it is supposed that at least from 1000 to 1200 will be found. The stems of some do not rise above the ground, while others are 200ft. high; some are no thicker than a goose-quill, while others are as large as a hogshead; some are climbing plants, with long flexible stems; some are covered with fibrous network, and some have spines or thorns 8in. or 10in. long, that may be used for needles or arrows. Some of the leaves are 50ft. long and 8ft. wide--these are composed of numerous leaflets on a strong midrib; some are undivided, and yet are 30ft. long and 5ft. wide; and others again are fan-shaped. The fruits are generally small, the cocoa-nut being the largest of the family; the kernel is often too hard to be eaten, and the covering fibrous or woody; but in some the seeds are covered with a pulpy or farinaceous mass that offers sweet and nutritious food; one species on the Zambesi reminded us of gingerbread.

The cocoa-nut, especially in its green and immature state, is a most agreeable fruit, and the water, or milk as we call it, is then most cooling and refreshing; when it more nearly approaches to ripeness the kernel may be scraped or pounded upon its own liquor, and it then forms a very efficient substitute for milk in a cup of tea. A large amount of oil and other valuable products may be obtained from the tree and its fruit.

Each young nut, when in the true milk stage of its growth, will yield about a pint of fluid, cool, and of slightly acid taste. The younger nuts contain a soft, rich substance, not unlike blanc-mange, which can be easily scooped out. From the juices of these immature nuts the natives manufacture an indelible black dye. Toddy, cocoa-nut wine, arrack, or rack as it is sometimes called, is made from the sap of the cocoa palm. In favourable seasons the plumes of cocoa-nut blossom are shot out from amidst the fronds of the tree crown about every six weeks. Immediately on the appearance of the new flower spathe the toddy maker ascends the tree after the manner before described, or, as on the Malabar coast, by cutting a train of notches in the tree trunk. On arriving at the cluster of young fronds and the sheath containing the blossom, he binds the whole together with twine. He then makes a puncture in the stalk of the spathe with his toddy knife, raps the part well with the handle, and then hangs a chatty pot to receive the juice as it drains out during the night. Before sunrise he reascends the tree, lowers the full pot, which may contain from two to six pints, and replaces it with an empty one. Immediately on obtainment this juice is extremely cool and sweet to the taste. In the course of a very few hours fermentation sets in, and it becomes slightly acid. In twenty-four hours it becomes quite sour. Before too great a change takes place, however, the toddy man properly treats his brew by the aid of the true vinous fermentation, and then distils it in a rough, makeshift still, which among some of the Easterns is extemporised from a hollow stone, rock, or piece of hollow tree trunk, which forms the head of the still. A long hollow cane for a tube, and piece of bark, and some coir saturated with cold water for a condenser, almost any pot or jar will, with a little ingenuity, form a tolerably efficient still.

Excellent vinegar is made as follows from the palm juice: After collection, the toddy or sap is placed in earthen pots and covered down for about four weeks. At the end of that time the fluid is strained and returned to the pots, with a few pods of capsicum, a piece of the fruit of the gamboge tree, and a pod from the Indian horseradish (_Hypertanthera moringa_) are thrown into each pot of fluid, which is then allowed to remain at rest for five weeks, when excellent vinegar, well adapted for the use of the settler, is the result.

If, instead of toddy or vinegar, sugar is required, it can be readily made from the palm sap, which, for this purpose, is treated before fermentation. It is, on being drawn from the tree, boiled in a suitable pot or other vessel until it becomes thick and stringy; a little lime is added; rough crystallisation takes place, and "jaggery," or palm sugar, is the result. Cocoa-nut oil is valuable for a great number of purposes. It is obtained from the ripe or mature nut in a variety of ways. The natives of many of the islands of the Eastern seas cut the kernels of the nuts in pieces, boil them with water in a large kettle; collect such oil as rises to the top with a sea-shell mounted on the end of a stick; then pound the boiled nut in a mortar made from a piece of hollow log with a wooden pestle; reboil the paste thus formed; skim again, and so on. The mills used for the expression of this and other oils, and the crushing of sugar-canes, we shall describe as our work proceeds. The shell of the cocoa-nut makes excellent cups and bottles. To extract the kernel to form the latter, the natives bore out one of the eyes, pour out the milk, fill the nut with sea-water, and bury it in the sand exposed to the sun's rays. In a short time decomposition is set up, and all the contents of the shell can be easily shaken out at the eyehole.

The fibrous husk from time immemorial has supplied the native craft of India, as well as our vessels trading there, with a cheap and generally useful kind of rope, called coir, which possesses the valuable property of being so light as to be of much less specific gravity than water, and which is, therefore, much used for buoy ropes, life lines, warps, and cables, and the ropes for the upper edges of fishing nets. Hats, bags, baskets, sandals, and many other things, are made from it; its leaves form the covering of huts, and its leaf-stalk form their framework, and serve any purpose for which light elastic wands are required.

The date palm, both wild and cultivated, furnishes fruit more or less delicious according to the species from which it is taken. The Arab and his horse, and camel too, upon emergency, will live upon it; and without it the deserts, to which it is indigenous, would be uninhabitable.

An African species (_OEleis guianensis_) affords palm oil, which is the basis of our candles. A vessel taking in palm oil once started it into a tank built in the hold, but the task of digging it out when it reached England was so arduous that nothing was saved by not providing casks.

Sago is the produce of a palm, which in the East yields the food of thousands; it is the pithy centre of the stem, requiring scarcely any preparation to fit it for food, and a single tree sometimes yields 600lb. weight. Those which furnish the so-called cane for chair bottoms are a species of calamus; they hang on trees by long hooked spines, and are sometimes 600ft. or 1000ft. long. These are often used as stays or standing rigging among native vessels, and sometimes we believe as cables. When split into smaller sections and twisted they form tolerable, but not perfectly flexible, ropes; and slips of them, as is well known, are commonly used by the Chinese for tying up various packages. The helmet which we wore through the Indian campaign is composed of this material closely woven.

Many varieties all over the world yield a sugary sap from their yet unopened spathes or from their stems, and this, when partly fermented, is the palm wine of Africa and, as we have shown, the toddy of the East Indies; while similar beverages are obtained by the South Americans from the _Mauritia oinifera_ and others.

A nation at the mouth of the Orinoco River live almost entirely on a palm (probably _Mauritia flexuosa_); they build their houses elevated on the trunks, and live upon the fruit, sap, and such fish as the waters around them may afford.

Resins and wax are produced by some species. The fruits of a calamus, in the Eastern Archipelago, are covered with a red resinous substance, which, in common with the produce of other trees, is the dragon's blood of commerce, and is used as a colour, a varnish, and in tooth powder.

The _Ceroxylon audicola_, a lofty palm growing in the Andes of Bogota, secretes in its stem a resinous wax, used for making candles. In the north of Brazil, the Carnauba (_Copernicia cerifera_) has the underside of its leaves covered with pure white wax, with no admixture of resin.

Thatch for houses, awnings for boats, and even the upper streaks of large canoes, umbrellas, hats, baskets, water buckets, cordage, and numberless other things, are made of palm leaves. In Cuba the _Chamærops argentica_, and in Sicily the _Chamærops humilis_, is used for making hats and other fine work. In India the place of the papyrus was supplied by palm leaves, on whose hard and glossy surfaces Pali and Sanscrit characters were inscribed with a metal point; the leaves of _Corypha talieri_, strung together, form the Hindoo volume. The fruit of _Areca catechu_ is the betel nut, the favourite stimulant of the Eastern people, which they chew with lime. The fibre of the piassaba palm is made into cheap and durable cables on the Amazon, and is introduced into England in the form of brooms, &c.

Although the settler or explorer who directs his steps to North America has no palms to supply him with food, drink, and clothing, he will find other members of the vegetable kingdom ready to his hand.

Maple sugar is of vast importance to the settler in the backwoods, as it serves not only as a substitute for cane sugar, but is not unfrequently used instead of salt. It is obtained by treating the sap of the _Acer saccharinum_, or sugar maple. The range of this valuable tree is very extensive. It is met with, in greater or less abundance, from the neighbourhood of St. Jean in Upper Canada to Virginia. It abounds in Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Vermont, and New Hampshire, some of the trees being found to reach 80ft. in height. Sugar-making may begin early in the month of April, or, in fact, directly the sap begins to rise. Frosty nights, followed by warm, genial days, are the most favourable for the process of sap drawing, which is proceeded with as follows: One or more auger holes, up to four, are made, at a convenient distance from the ground, in the trunk of each tree to be treated. Into each of these holes a little hollow shoot or tube of bark is thrust, which conveys the sap as it flows into vessels placed for its reception. Each tree will produce from 15gals. to 20gals. of sap, and 5gals. of sap will yield about 1lb. of sugar. When the vessels under the spouts are nearly full the sap should be ladled from them into pails and carried to a shed, in which a large barrel, with the upper head removed, has been set up as a reservoir. In this it is allowed to remain at rest until all foreign substances have settled to the bottom. It is now quickly drawn off and conveyed to the boiler, which, in the absence of a proper arrangement, may be a large camp kettle, in which it is heated steadily until evaporated down to the consistence of treacle, when it is again removed and placed in an open vessel to cool. When cold, it is strained through a flannel bag into a second boiler, where it is again heated, clarified with eggs, a little bullock's blood, or new milk. The boiling is now continued until a little of the syrup, taken on the point of a clean chip and held in the air, shows a disposition to assume a crystalline appearance, when the heating process is stopped and the charge withdrawn from the pot.

It is now in the candy state, and is cast into a variety of quaint forms by the use of small moulds prepared for the purpose. If granulated sugar is required, a small barrel is set up at a moderate distance from the ground; the upper head is removed, and the lower one bored full of gimlet holes. On the charge of candy being thrown into this, all the fluid portions drain away in a state of thin molasses through the holes into a tub or box placed below the barrel, in which the sugar is soon found fit for use.

Gum sugar is made by throwing the candy when hot from the pot out on the snow. This treatment has the property of checking crystallisation and converting the sugar into a tough material much used for chewing.

A settler's family in a good maple district can, by the use of proper sized boilers, &c., make upwards of 700lb. of good serviceable sugar in one favourable season.

{Manna, to prepare.}

Manna is a substance well worth the attention of the explorer, as it is, curiously enough, produced by trees and shrubs of totally different orders in different geographical ranges. The Arabs and Persians obtain a kind, known as "Guzunjbeen," from a species of tamarisk called the "Guz bush." The description known on the Arabian coast, and in the district surrounding Mount Sinai, by the name of "Toofra," is also procured from the tamarisk thickets, where it drains from the ends of the thorns, and falls on the dry leaves, small twigs, and sticks which have fallen to the ground; it there congeals into hard masses, and is in that condition gathered for use. It is by the Arabs consumed as a substitute for honey, and is eaten on bread or other food. The "camel thorn" of India and Syria is manna yielding, producing the description known in the East as "Al haj." The so-called Beiruk honey is in reality a kind of manna which is yielded by a low stunted tree, not unlike a dwarf aspen, which is known as the "Ghrab bush." In the Uzbec country manna is obtained from a small tree whose trunk is divided into knots by a series of annular rings. In Arabia, the "Ashur" is the manna-bearing plant. In Mesopotamia, it flows from a species of oak, and is most abundant on such trees as have the largest share of gall nuts. A medicinal and highly valued manna is obtained in some districts in Persia from a peculiar willow, which grows in moist ground. A kind of larch furnishes the _Manna Brigantica_, and in the Lebanon district it flows from the cedars. In Europe, the ash is the manna bearer, and three kinds are found to produce it more or less abundantly. The two most commonly treated for its obtainment are _Fraxinus rotundifolia_ and _Ornus Europæa_. To obtain the manna from these trees incisions are made in the bark with a knife; the first cut is made near the ground, and the others at 2in. or 3in. apart, the cuts being 1in. long and 1/2in. deep. These cuts are made at the rate of one per day, mounting upward, cut by cut, in each row. Immediately below these perpendicular cuts [=invertedT=]-shaped incisions are made in such a way that each cross cut may receive and hold fast the end of a leaf gathered from the tree, which serves to conduct the sap away from the trunk and allow of its dropping into Indian fig leaves placed on the ground for its reception. The Indian fig leaf, cultivated for the purpose, has the peculiar property of drying with its edges curled up, rendering it extremely useful as a sap receiver. August is the month usually selected for tapping the manna trees, and dry warm weather is most favourable for the operation, as rain dissolves and destroys the congealing mass of produce. The manna collected from the bark by scraping, after having run in long tears down the trunk, is considered very inferior to that caught in the fig leaves, and is, consequently, sold at a much lower price.

A great number of fruit, berry, and nut bearing trees and bushes are to be found on various portions of the North-American territories. Further south, the productions assume a more tropical character. Here we are merely dealing with some of the forest stores of the north and north-west. The following is but a brief list, as our space is limited:

{American wild fruits.}

The "pagessaveg" of the Indians, _Prunes sauvages_ of the French-Canadians, or "wild plum" of the trappers, is usually collected late in the month of October. It grows abundantly on the river sides and lake shores. The Indians either dry or boil it with maple sugar, when it is converted into a sort of cake by boiling and stirring the fruit about in the kettle until the mass is thick enough for treatment, when it is thrown from the pot and spread out to about an inch deep in a flat layer on a piece of birch bark, when it is exposed to the sun until it becomes quite tough and tenacious. It is then rolled up like soft leather, placed in a birch-bark box, and buried in the earth until wanted. During the winter season, when dried meat is in use, large pieces of this preparation are cut off with a knife and boiled with it.

The "sand cherry" of the trappers, or "la cerise à grappe" of the Canadians, grows abundantly about the borders of sugar-maple groves, on the edges of old clearings, and about the borders of the prairies. It is fit to gather in the month of August. The Indians gather large quantities, crush them between flat heavy stones, stir the mass well together with deer fat, and then boil it in a kettle until it becomes a thick tenacious cake or paste, when it is, like the wild plum cake, buried until required.

The small red forest crab apples can be thoroughly prepared by drying, when they are both wholesome and nutritious.

The "wortleberry" of the trappers, or "bellois" of the Canadians, is extremely abundant in a great number of localities. To prepare the fruit a thick close basket-work tray, or hurdle of white cedar, is used. This, when covered with a layer of ripe berries, is suspended over a slow steady wood fire until dry, when they are packed away in bark boxes. They are either mixed with dough to form cake, or boiled with meat or fish.

The "mashkigimin" of the Indians, "les ottakas" of the Canadians, the "cranberry" of the trappers: this fruit, although commonly known among trappers and English settlers as the cranberry, is much larger than the European variety. Swampy ground is most congenial to its growth. It is fit to gather as early as the month of October, but remains on the bushes even after being thickly buried by snow in the winter season. Immense quantities of these berries are annually gathered by the Indians, not only for their own use, but as a branch of trade with the United States traders, who readily purchase them for preserving. For Indian use, they require no treatment, as they do not readily decay; but by settlers they are usually boiled in syrup, or preserved in maple sugar.

Wild hazel nuts are found in great abundance. These are best kept by first packing, and then burying them in an earthen jar or bark box.

"Swan potatoes" are found growing on the shallow margins of rivers, lakes, and streams. These, when dug from the soft ooze and washed clean, are strung on a long thin strip of white cedar wood, and hung up over the fire to dry. They are boiled for use, when they become plump and palatable.

Wild raspberries, strawberries, &c., are to be met with in many parts of America.

Butter nuts, hickory nuts, and pinons, or cone nuts, are all, more or less, deserving of the attention of the hunter or explorer.

{Sago-making.}

In some islands of the Indian Archipelago nature has so bountifully provided for the wants of the human race that it seems as if a remnant of Paradise yet lingered upon earth, and man had never been sentenced to eat his bread in the sweat of his brow. At all events, the inhabitants of these islands are relieved from that necessity, and to all appearance they are little better for it. The man who, by chopping down a tree and washing its pith for a week or two, can provide himself with a substitute for bread for a whole year is not likely to be, nor is he really equal either in physical strength, activity, or intelligence to him who must earn his food by cultivation of the soil, by chasing wild animals in their forest haunts, or by launching his little craft upon the waters, and ensnaring or doing battle with the denizens of the ocean.

Our sketch represents the principal processes of sago-making. The palm which yields the sago is cut down; a slab is chopped off from the upper side of the trunk, leaving the pith which occupied the large internal hollow exposed; this is beaten out in fragments, rather than chopped, by a club of heavy wood, in the end of which a sharp angular fragment of quartz or other stone is set. The pith is then washed in a trough composed of the swelling portions of the leaf stems, where they embrace the trunk on which they grow, just as the jaws of a cutter's gaff go round the mast. Two of these are placed with their broad ends together, supported by stakes and cross-bars, so as to form a long trough widest in the middle, and out of level. A third is set with its narrow end meeting that of the next piece, whilst the wide end rises at a slight elevation. Across this is placed a screen of fibrous cloth, supported by another stick, elastic enough to keep it always tolerably tight without undue strain, and a mass of the pith being placed behind this is washed by water poured repeatedly upon it and allowed to percolate through and run off till all the superfluous matter is washed away, and the sago alone is left.

The different members of the banana and plantain family, too, lend their aid in furnishing a larger quantity by far of life-supporting elements than the finest descriptions of wheat grown on the same area of ground. Whether eaten in a ripe state as a fruit, or boiled green as a vegetable (when it is not a bad substitute for the potato), this production is both palatable and wholesome. A good store food is made by cutting the fruit into slices, hanging it up to dry, and, when required for use, boiling it into a pulp.

{Useful roots.}

Plantain flour is made by thoroughly drying the fruit, and then grinding it in one of the native mills hereafter described. Then the root of the Taro (_Calandium esculentum_), that of the sweet potato (_Battata convolvulans_), and the roots of certain edible ferns (_Pteris esculenta_ amongst the number), are valuable as yielding food. Many of these productions furnish drink as well. The plantains before referred to yield a very palatable cider, which is made as follows: A deep hole is dug in the earth, and a number of plantains stripped from the main stem is thrown in; straw and earth are cast on, and the plantains are allowed to remain at rest for eight days. The peel is then stripped off, and the pulp is placed in a large open trough with water, where it is thoroughly washed and mixed with it. At the end of two days the cider may be strained off for use.

Whisky may be made from sweet potatoes in the following manner: Dig up as many of the tubers as you may find it convenient to treat; boil them until quite soft; place them in large jars, or other vessels, with about their own bulk of water; stir this mixture well about, and then to each jar add a little "merissa" barm (obtained from native beer-brewing), which may be placed on a small bundle of cocoa-fibre or cotton. When fermentation has taken place, erect your still, which may be of the kind described and figured at page 495; or a large native pot may be mounted on a hollowed-out ant-hill to serve as the still boiler; a smaller pot inverted and placed on the open mouth of this forms the still head or dome. When the lower pot is charged with the fermented "wash," the upper pot is luted fast with clay. A small hole is bored near its top for the reception of the end of any hollow tube you can get; this is also secured with clay. The condensing process is carried out by keeping the tube cold with cloths or mats and cold water. The depending end of the tube should discharge itself into any convenient vessel partly sunk beneath the surface of cold water. A native pot, or a common tea-kettle, will make a good receiver; and an ordinary pail, or tub, a convenient water tank in which to place it. By the use of such a contrivance as this, half-a-dozen bottles of very good spirits may be made in one day's distilling.

{Milk-spirit.}

The Mongols make their milk-spirit--known as "kumis"--in the following manner: A large quantity of milk of any kind (mare's milk is considered best) is first turned sour, and then allowed to ferment. It is then poured into a large iron camp-kettle or pot; one of the wooden bowls or dishes in use among the Tartars is now fitted closely into the mouth of the kettle or boiler, and luted fast round the edges with wet cow-dung or clay; an elbow-shaped, hollow branch of a tree, or a curved tube, is now fitted into a hole in the convex surface of the bowl, and more cow-dung or clay is applied. Into the mouth of this bent pipe a wooden tube is fixed, which is kept cold by the constant contact of a wet sheepskin. As the pot boils the spirit passes over, and is collected for use in some suitable vessel placed as a receiver. This is also kept cold by the aid of sheepskins and water.