Note 135 — Chapter V · Magic Rites connected with the Several Departments of Nature
Reading edition
What can be more significant than the words and actions of the men who in former days would try and frighten the Durian groves into bearing; or of the toddy-collector who addresses the soul of the Cocoa-nut palm in such words as, “Thus I bend your neck, and roll up your hair; and here is my ivory toddy-knife to help the washing of your face”;135 or of the collectors of jungle produce who traffic in Eagle-wood, Camphor, and Gutta (the spirits of the first two of which trees are considered extremely powerful and dangerous) or, above all, of the reapers who carry the “Rice-soul” home at harvest time?