EAU DE COLOGNE DRINKING.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XIV, Issue I, 5 January 1895, Page 17

EAU DE COLOGNE DRINKING.

There u«ed tn be. and probably still is. for sale to persons visiting the Eiffal Tower in Paris, a little pamphlet which is mainly occupied with statistical details concerning the heights of all the loftiest buildings in the world. No doubt the figures are correct. Some of the explanatory notes are certainly not so ; for the note which is tacked on to a brief description of Cologne Cathedral declares that Cologne is * une elite d'eaux ctlibre par set sources balsamiques.’ There are probably few people in this country who share the ingenuous Frenchman’s belief that eau de Cologne gushes out

of the earth ; but there may well be prevalent among us other * vulgar errors * about eau de Cologne ; and it would not be surprising if one of these were the conviction that eau de Cologne is chiefly used as a perfume. One hears, of course, from time to time of eau de Cologne being used as a ‘pickmeup,’ and even as an intoxicant, especially by women whose sense of shame prevents them from purchasing the gin, brandy, or whisky with which they would otherwise gratify their inclinations. But those of us who, from motives of curiosity, may have tasted the scent will not readily admit the possibility of so unpalatable a mixture being employed on a large scale as an intoxicant in places and conditions where any more potable spirit can be obtained. The Englishman, moreover, knows eau de Cologne only as an expensive liquor, at least three or four times as costly as gin and whisky ; and this fact increases his disinclination to credit that the stuff can anywhere be extensively nsed as a beverage. Bat it must be remembered that there is eau de Cologne and eau de Cologne, just as there is brandy and brandy. The true eau de Cologne—most expensive of its kind—is, as will be presently explained, habitually drunk in some places; and even it is not so expensive as is commonly supposed. The price, in Cologne, of a dozen bottles of the size most in vogue is but 7s 6d, and the British Customs duties are chiefly responsible tor the far higher charges to which we are accustomed. All eau de Cologne, however, does not come from Cologne. Much cheaper kinds are prepared elsewhere. Hundreds of thousands of bottles of a well-known Hamburg brand annually leave the Elbe at prices ranging from two to three shillings a dozen. In India or at Zanzibar this •purious bnt similarly scented and equally strong Cologne water can be bought retail for sums equal to from four to six shillings. And there may be even less expensive kinds. These are the Cologne waters of which, in all probability, jmore than half the output is drnnk. There are several reasons why in various parts of the ■ world and by particular classes of people this strange liquor is favoured as a beverage. One, already alluded to, is that ■ it can be obtained without exciting scandal or suspicion of the use to which it is to be put. This reason recommends it mainly to European and American women. Another is that lax Moslems affect to regard it as something which does not rank as wine or spirit. No strict Mohammedan would admit hair-splitting of this kind ; but there are many Mohammedans who are not strict, and these not only drink it themselves, but also allow large quantities of it to be (Introduced into the harem. This accounts for its enormous /Consumption in North Africa and Asia. A third reason is jthat it prodnces a state of intoxication more complete than can be caused by an equal quantity of any other spirit, for, /•asides being very strong, it is loaded with various ethers, filling Juru, of Kio Nunez, excused himself for stealing and jjyinking Consul Vohsen’s eau de Cologne in 1879, by say- ? |ng, * He very good fir drunk,’ and the Hottentots to this (day declare with regard to it that nothing else makes a man J really and truly intoxicated. A writer who appears to be connected with the eau de Myologne trade, and who not only has travelled in most parts &wf the world, but also has taken the opinions of a great jtiCumber of other travellers upon the subject, has recently ’Contributed an exhaustive series of articles on eau de Cologne Bfcinking to the Kblnischc Zeitunj. He is of opinion that ? the best Cologne water has the worst taste, and that the ■peaper varieties are the least unpleasant to drink. The part of the eau de Cologne that comes to England—{■Part from what is manufactured there—is produced by the flfest firms, and most of the common brands that are fonnd gßßsewhere are almost unobtainable there ; so that the English Mn-inker is practically confined to the most expensive as well Mi to the most poisonous kinds. Bnt tbere is eau de which is not much more disagreeable than very bad EaMn or brandy ; and it possesses, according to the estimation

of its votaries, the advantage of inducing almost instant drunkenness. The great Cologne makers, upon being appealed to, have expressed doubts whether their warescan be mueh used in this way. • Jiitichpla»z No. 4 ’ writes that the strength of his eau de Cologne, containing 90 per cent, of alcohol, would prevent it from being drunk • neat,’ and that the admixture of water renders it so milky and oily on the surface that he does not believe that in that condition it would be palatable to anyone. But this manufacturer forgets that people do drink absinthe and mastic, which, mixed with water, develop similar phenomena. As for the little eau de Cologne makers, some of them certainly study to produce potable rather than merely pleasant-smelling

distillations, and few of them can be ignorant that their wares are extensively used for drinking. Dr. Stnhlmann, in his account of Emin Pasha’s country, mentions that many a Central African Mohammedan drinks his eau de Cologne and water as regularly as the Englishman drinks his whisky, and describes as a particularly favourite beverage a mixture of eau de Cologne with sugar and water. Dr. Baumann, the discoverer of the sources of the Nile, says that the Arabs not only mix eau de Cologne with their drinking water, but also use it in their cooking

and that it is largely drunk by the Soudanese soldiers in the German service. Consul Siemsen, writing from Macassar, tells of a native rajah who greatly appreciated a cocktail composed of eau de Cologne and orange bitters. One of the numerous Farinas admits that to his knowledge the Indian Mohammedans and their ladies drink enormous quantities of Cologne water, and pointe out as a significant fact that native dealers when desirous of forming an opinion of a sample invariably taste and do not smell. And it is notorious that another Cologne firm some years ago flooded the Bombay market with a pro-

fessedly potable eau de Cologne Savoured with sugar and Kiimmel. The stuff failed to sell, partly because it wee too expensive, but chiefly because, owing to the admixture, it waa too weak. The native dealer has no faith in an eau de Cologne a mouthful of which does not cause the taster actual pain. In Paraguay it is loved by the women. In the Moluccas it will purchase almost anything, though it does not seem to be established that the women tbere drink, it. It is only certain that their favourite drinking vessel in an eau de Cologne bottle. In the Kilima-Njaro district ot Africa both the King, Mandara, and his Prime Minister, Mareale, drink it habitually. Count Joachim Pfeil noticed the prevalence of the habit in Griqualand East as early as the seventies; and in South-West Africa at this day cheap sorts of eau de Cologne are drunk by the natives in preference to all else. In Zanzibar, native doctors prescribe eau de Cologne as a medicine, and have thus introduced it as a dissipation. It is now taxed there as spirits, and its sale is proportionately restricted ; but it nsed, until recently, to enter duty-free, and was actually cheaper than gin or brandy. It is drunk in Greenland. Nor is the fashion of drinking eau de Cologne a new one among semi-civilized peoples. * When,’ writes an old trader, * I was at Honolulu in 1852 all the natives seeretly drank Cologne water. It was therefore burdened with a heavy tax. But this did not stop the drinking, at a time when the importation of brandy was, owing to the still higher taxation, practically forbidden. Instead of eau de Cologne the merchants began to import ** preserved fruits” in tins. Each tin contained fruit, but only a solitary pear or cherry swimming in an ocean of spirit.’ And it appears that when the spirit did not happen to be eau de Cologne, it was generally something very much more nasty.