THE SKETCHER.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 9919, 6 August 1910, Page 1

THE SKETCHER.

THE ÜBIQUITY OF

ALCOHOL.

(Loudon "Graphic.") 1

In all ages the efforts of man to got flrunk have been lamentably assisted by the readiness of Nature to produce alcohol on the slightest provocation. But; the new beverage of the Basutos, ; of which the High Commissioner tells ( in his latest report, is something of a curiosity, in that it "is said to be made ,of ants' eggs." There is only , on© other exception to the universal rule that fermented liquors have a Vegetable origin.' That is the Tartar koumiss, which is derived from mare's tailk. The Basilto liquor, one is quite prepared to Iqarii, is "extremely demoralising"; and ITS NAME IS QADI. Feasibly a connoisseur of native drinks might dispiite the pre-emi-pence of Qadi for injurious potency. Tiiero is Sam-shec,. the Chinese spirit, which, .according to Marco Polo, u made a .man drunk sooner than any other .win'e"; and_ later authorities also have declared it " peculiarly mischievous in its general effects." /The other v,•oil-known Eastern beverage—

tho Japanese stake—resembles our own whisky in that it varies from tho very goc<l to 1 the very bad, and the symptoms of tho festive, one differ aecord•■ingly: It .is, of course, made from rice '•—there are many big Japanese brewerlea in tho business—and in appearance it resembles very pale sherry. It is slightly acid in. taste, though there is also iv sweet -variety known as mirin. In most of the Eastern liquors rice takes the place of our barley, and has done so from time immemorial. When tho Jesuit father, Rubuquis, laboured among the Tartars in the thirteenth century, he found a perfect ritual surrounding the ceremony of drinking. " When tho master of the house begins to drink one of his servants crieth with a loud voice, ' lial' and tho musician plays upon the fiddle." KAVA DBINttIXG.

, That is not the only association between music and winebibbing, In the Soiitli Sea Islands the kava drinking ' used to be accompanied by an, elaborate ceremonial, and 1 not only the drinking, but the making. Each stage —the first one being the chewing of the root by selected . officials—was accompanied by singing and hand-clapping. In due course carne v prayers for the king's life, for rain, for success over- : enemies, and so forth. Then his Majesty emptied his bowl, land his example was promptly fallowed by his loyal, and probably hoarse, subjects. No doubt the missionaries have dis- ' pouraged tho ceremonial orgy; but it ■was still in existence during Robert Loujs* Stevenson's stay. in. Samoa. In tj at island it was the uusiness of tho "talking man" (public orator)'to call cut, the name of illustrious guests in crdjar, and they wWe. expected to empty tkeiMivL.-R. Vl, S, drained tho goblets Villi compliments-"; ''so-'ctkl his mother, 1 ■ T'liO'found ■it "' moro ,"lik© Gregory's t misture than anything else." To this . excellent lady the method of prepare tion caused Borne qualms. "It is quite trim/' she wrote, " that the proper native way of preparing kava is to havo ' .tho root chewed by young girls chosen for their beauty, but- a great many 1 popple now grate the root instead, of caving it chewed. We always have it grated, and when it is given to me elsewhere I. just devoutly hope it. has been grated, and think it safer to ask no -questions,"' • • t • • Thti, mastication is one_ of the com- ■ monesb processes, of Aboriginal brewing. Perhaps tho participation of the Samoan belles is, on the whole, to the Brazilian custom which requires that the' maize which furnishes its epirit shall bo " ; CiIEWEL) BT "OLD WOMEN," Other races treat ,cocoanut in the same way. Sarawak is one, of th 6. places ' indebted to the cocoanut for its national beverage. Affording to. Mr' Bo.vle, the result " looks like thin milk, and smells like five hundred negroes drunk in a slave-pen," while tasting partly like " cocoanut inilk gone very sour." and holding in solution a very considerable quantity of brown sugar and old cheese" and partly of "starch min filed' with cayenne." Abyssinia, has an indigenous beer with the appropriate name of booza. Some parts of South Africa manage to wrost alcohol from, the innocent American aloe {which is not so remarkable as it" seems wheii one l-einembers in this country fermented liquor ha 3 been obtained \Vithih quite recent times from Dpruce and birch trees for drinking purposes). Plaintain, millet, rye'(the Russian kvass), cassava, and, according to Mungo Park, spiked grass have been used in different places for the promotion of the means of intoxication; the bamboo wine of Dahomey, is aa id 'to resemble '"'soapsuds laced with vinegar." It has been reserved for the resources of Western civilisation to' compel alcohol from potatoes, beetroots, carrots, and wood—everything, in fact, containing sugar or the possibilities of Sugar. ' . . ■ i ■ THS AKCHIVES OF ALCOHOLIC LORE contain two picturesque tales of how one bevdraKj was lost and another was 'found. The lost one is heather ale, the making of which was said to be a secret of a certain Pictish family in Galloway. But the conquering Scots came over from Ireland, and, rather than yield the secret, the only survivor of the monopolists threw himself over a precipice. The discovery was in this wise. King • Dschemschid, of Persia,, was very "fond of grapes, and ordered vessels to be filled with them that he might be able to eat beyond the harvest season. But they ran to juice, and the monarch,- perceiving the commotion of fermentation, believed tWu here he had a new poison, and put frc aside for us© on occasion. Now Gul-

READING FOR EVERYBODY.