Large quantities of fish are often caught, when the weather is favourable, by means of the _kan-sháng_, traps, etc., and, consequently, at times the natives live largely on fish. The staples of food throughout the year are coconuts and pandanus fruit, with bananas, yams, and occasionally other fruits and vegetables in small quantities. Fowls and pork can only be afforded now and then. Rice is used to a small extent, and is one of the articles for which the natives barter coconuts. The fruit of the pandanus, which is an egg-shaped mass frequently attaining a diameter of 18 inches, consists of a cluster of fibrous drupes, the tops of which are sliced off as soon as gathered. Thus treated, it can be preserved for some weeks. When preparing it for eating, these divisions are separated from the central core and placed in a pot over a layer of bamboos or a grating,[175] below which there is a little water; above them are laid yams, or whatever may be suitably cooked by that process, and the whole is then covered with leaves and steamed for some hours.[176] The pulpy matter that it contains is then scraped out with a shell while the drupe is held on a heavy slab of wood, and then the bristly fibres with which the nutritious portion is intermixed are extracted from the latter by drawing threads of a sort of bass through the pasty mass resulting. Thus is obtained a smooth dough, of a yellowish colour and somewhat sweet taste, that has been likened in flavour to apple-marmalade. A portion of this (_kow-en_), with some grated coconut, and sometimes a piece of chicken or pork, constitutes the usual meal. This food is often made up into leaf-covered bundles, in which state it acquires a distinctive, though not unpleasant, odour, and can be kept a long time. The fibrous drupe, after treatment as above, is commonly used as a foot-brush[177] at many of the islands, for which purpose it is kept near the top of the hut-ladder for those entering the hut. The principal beverages are the water of the green unripe coconut, and toddy, made by fermenting the sap of the coco palm, which is regularly bled at the crown into bamboo receptacles. The toddy is largely manufactured, and as it is no more intoxicating than strong ale, much has to be consumed before drunkenness results. Ordinary water is scarcely ever taken, and its use is almost entirely restricted to cooking. For the last few years the authorities at Port Blair have attempted to inculcate in the natives a liking for tea, the taste for which they have fostered by presenting the headmen with quantities of the leaf, in the hope that it will, if it become popular, somewhat minimise the prevalent consumption of toddy, which, when largely indulged in, cannot but have a bad effect on the general health of the people.