Sur les terres oubliées des Petites Iles de la Sonde
Sur les terres oubliées des Petites Iles de la Sonde
In the afternoon at the entrance of the channel we visit a small artisanal arak (local alcohol) distillery on the island of Pura. The family: the grandfather, the grandmother, the son, the daughter-in-law and the child live in three very rustic temporary huts.
They fish with a harpoon or with pretty bamboo nets. They also have corn fields and a house in the village. The Lontar palm trees, around thirty around the camp, are their source of arak, sold at a very profitable market. Regularly, every morning, a dozen trees are visited for the harvest of the sap. The flower stalks are cut at a specific stage, buckets of bamboo trunks are hung there and the sap flows there for ten days. Every day 1/2 to 1 liter per tree? For demonstration, the young climbs a palm tree with the eight-rope technique at the feet. He empties two or three small buckets into his portable bamboo hangs on his belt. Each peduncle is carefully cut every day to avoid drying up by occlusion of the canals.