Young Coconut Climber and Tuba Extractor in Batangas c. 1929

Image extracted from "Lands and people: the World in Color."  Colorized courtesy of Algorithmia.

The colorized photograph above has been extracted from the 1929 public domain publication “Lands and people: the World in Color¹.” The photograph was captioned “This boy of Batangas is an expert climber of trees.”

A short description of the picture was also given:

“Filipinos have found that coconut palms yield something else besides nuts. They know that the flower stalks secrete tupa², a juice that makes a delectable drink. Notches are cut in the trunk to give foothold and then boys clamber up, apparently with the greatest ease. This lad carries upon his back a vessel in which to collect the liquid.”

Below is the originally extracted black and white photograph. The reader will please note that the picture below has been processed using graphic software to improve overall quality.

Image extracted from "Lands and people: the World in Color."

Notes and references:
¹ “Lands and people: the World in Color,” R. Bruce Taylor Editor-in-Chief, published 1929 in Canada.
² Any Filipino will immediately recognize the error. The word should be “tuba,” a coconut wine.