The other taxes are _abkarry_, or the privilege of selling liquors, which is either farmed by public sale, or levied from the toddy-drawers, when it is called _kutty-chatty_ (knife and pot) tax; _mohturfa_ on houses, shops, fishing-boats, oil-mills, and looms; licences, stamps, and the salt monopoly; the whole revenue of Malabar in 1859 having been 266,860_l._ The income-tax had not yet been levied at the time of our visit, but its nature had been carefully explained to the people, it had been stripped of everything that was offensive or inquisitorial, and no difficulty was anticipated in its introduction, although it was very generally considered that it was unwise and impolitic, and that it would be unproductive. In the matter of taxes there was a striking contrast between Peru, whence we had just come, and where they are scarcely known, and this land of manifold imposts. On the whole, however, Malabar is a splendid possession; the people are very flourishing, the population increasing, and cultivation rapidly encroaching on the forests. There is no gang robbery, but occasional housebreaking, and a good many murders, often caused by jealousy, the criminals usually making a full confession, and thus saving much trouble. In the evening we embarked in a canoe which had been prepared for us near the fine timber bridge over the Calicut river, on the road to Beypoor. The setting sun and banks of rosy clouds were visible through the graceful fronds of the cocoanut-trees as we drove along the shady road, with occasional glimpses of the sea. The canoe was very long, and cut out of one trunk, with raised bow and stern, ornamentally carved. It was pulled by four tall wiry-looking Moplahs, with nothing on but clouts and huge umbrella-hats, made of the tallipot palm;[397] and a fifth steered with a paddle. Their oars were long bamboos, with circular boards fastened to one end by neat coir seizings. We started a little after sunset, and passed from the Calicut river by a backwater into the Beypoor, where there were many shallow places, and the Moplahs had constantly to jump out and drag the canoe over them. The banks of the river are wooded down to the water's edge, with groves of slender betel-nut palms rising aloft, and standing out against the starry sky. The foliage was covered with brilliant fire-flies, and here and there we passed a hut, with its owner standing on the shore, waving a burning brand. All night the boatmen sang noisy glees, and in the morning we reached the landing-place at Eddiwanna, forty miles from Calicut, and near the Government teak plantations of Nellamboor.