en at
one end, and formed a vessel that would hold rather more than a quart.
Another thing they had observed him to take with him; and that was a
stone about as big as a paving-stone. Still another implement he
carried up the tree--his long knife.

In a few seconds the shikarree had reached the top of the banyan; and
clutching the great leaf-stalks of the palm, he climbed up among its
huge fronds. Here he was observed to lay hold of the spathe of the
flower, and bending it against the trunk, he commenced hammering away
with the stone, evidently with the intention of crushing the young
inflorescence. With a few blows he succeeded in doing this effectually.
He then drew the knife from his scarf, and, with an adroit cut,
detached the upper half of the flower-spike, which fell neglected to the
ground.

The bamboo vessel was next brought into service. This he fixed on the
spathe in such a manner that the incised end remained inside the hollow
of the cane. Both flower-spike and cane were then tied to one of the
leaf-stalks of the palm, so that the bamboo hung vertically bottom
downward; and this arrangement having been completed, the shikarree
flung down his hammering stone, replaced his knife under his belt, and
defended from the tree.

"Now, Sahibs," said he, as soon as he had reached terra firma, "you
waitee hour--you drinkee Indoo champagne."

In an hour or so his promise was fulfilled. The bamboo-joint was
released and brought down; and, sure enough, it was found to be full of
a cool clear liquor, of which all of them drank, esteeming it equal to
the best champagne. In fact, there is no more seducing and delicious
drink in all India than the sap of the palmyra palm; but it is also very
intoxicating, and is used too freely by the natives of the country where
this splendid tree flourishes.

Sugar can also be manufactured from this sap, simply by boiling it down.
When sugar is to be made, the tree is tapped in a similar manner; but
it is necessary to have a little lime in the vessel while collecting the
liquid, else it would ferment, and thus spoil it for sugar-boiling.

The reason why Ossaroo was so ready in tapping this particular _tree_,
was because the banyan which enveloped its trunk offered him an
excellent means of getting at it. Otherwise it would have been no easy
matter to have ascended the smooth slender shaft of a palmyra, rising
thirty or forty feet without knot or branch. Of course Ossaroo, as