instances of a similar fatality caused by even a smaller portion of ardent spirits. Moderation in all situations is conducive to health, but in the warm regions of the tropics, where there are so many sources of disease, forbearance and caution are especially necessary.

The cultivation of sugar has been lately introduced into the island of Cuba; but, from the indolence of the inhabitants, it is very unproductive. In 1763, bees were introduced by emigrants from Florida, and they multiplied so much in the hollows of the trees that they soon obtained honey enough for their annual consumption. In 1777, they exported honey to the amount of 715,000lbs.

Madeira, claret, punch, porter, and cider, are favourite liquors in many of the islands, as also a drink, termed Sangaree, which consists of half Madeira and half water, acidulated with lime juice and sweetened with sugar. This drink is also in much request in New Galli. cia, and other ports of South America. The ingredients in its composition are a mixture of wine, sugar, lemon-juice, and spices. The practice of partaking of these at all hours pretty generally prevails; even in the senate house at Barbadoes, the members drink punch. On one occasion, when Pinckard was there, two persons suddenly appeared with a large bowl and a two-quart glass filled with punch and sangaree. These were first presented to the speaker, who, after dipping deep into the bowl, passed it among the members. Nor were the audience forgotten, as it was considered to be correctly in order for strangers to join in this part of the debate.* The practice of late breakfasts in different parts of the West Indies, particularly in St. Domingo, has given rise to the introduction of wine and spirits at those meals, and a succession of excess in their use through the day has often been the consequence. Persons have been known to drink so deeply on those occasions as to be carried off wholely senseless, while the necessaries of life being procurable for a mere trifle, the lower orders are thereby enabled to indulge more freely in the luxury of their favorite drink, rum or tafia.

It is a custom in most of the West India islands to place on the side-board a capacious bowl of cold punch, to allay thirst during the heat of the day. To this a peculiar flavour is usually imparted by an infusion of the juice of the acajou apple.

In the island of St. Kitts, a drink called Swizzle is much used; it is a mixture of rum with about six times the quantity of water, rendered palatable by the infusion of some aromatic ingredients.

Pinckard's Notes on the West Indies, vol. i. p. 469.

This beverage is often expensive, because water has frequently to be brought from the neighbouring islands, and sometimes rum and wine are given in exchange.

From the fruit of a tree called Mamme, or Mamme-Sapota (Achras) is made the highly esteemed cordial, L'eau des noiaux. This fruit the French term L'apricot de Saint Dominique; it contains two large stones, which are employed in giving spirits a ratafia flavour. The Mamme is a splendid tree, lofty, shady, and green, shooting up into a pyramidal figure, and producing only one large fruit in the year. If eaten raw, it is indigestible, yet it makes an exquisite

conserve.

When the negroes cannot procure rum, they make a fermented liquor from cassada, resembling beer, which in Barbadoes is termed piworree,† and in other places ouycou. This plant, the manioc or mandioc of America, grows to the size of a large shrub, or small tree, and produces roots somewhat resembling parsnips. From both the bitter and sweet cassada a nutritious bread is made, which is thus prepared by the natives:-When the roots are washed and scraped clean, they are grated very fine and squeezed through a coarse bag or sieve, either of hair or hemp, into pot or stone vessel, and dried by a gentle heat, until the mixture becomes farinaceous or mealy. In this state it is fit for use, and is frequently made into excellent puddings; previously it is a deadly poison. From the roots a starch called tapioca is prepared, which is a profitable export to the Brazilians. In some of the islands, the juice expressed from the cassada is made into starch by the simple process of letting it stand until the heavier parts collect at the bottom of the vessel. The water being drawn off and the residue dried in the sun, the tapioca of commerce is produced.

The ouycou is sometimes brewed very strong, and it is considered both nourishing and refreshing. Molasses and yams are used in the preparation, and the liquor, after fermentation, is of a reddish colour. Great quantities of this beverage are consumed at feasts, of which we shall have occasion to speak hereafter. Anciently they had a liquor like the Mexican Atolle, which was of thick consistence, and composed of maize and flour seasoned with The and spices. sugar ouycou was made thus:-An earthen vessel, containing about sixty quarts, was nearly filled with water, into which were thrown two pounded roots

• West India Sketch Book.

† Vide Pinckard's Notes, p. 429.

Robertson's Hist. America, vol. fi. p. 7.

U

of cassada with twelve sweet potatoes, a gallon of juice of sugarcane, and a dozen of ripe bananas. The vessel being closed, the mixture was left to ferment for two or three days, and when completely attenuated, the scum was removed from the surface, and the liquor was then fit to be used. Though the material of this drink was said to be strong and exhilarating, yet it was considered inferior to Maby or Mobby, which is said to resemble French wine. The Maby is made by mixing about half a gallon of clarified sirup with about 30 quarts of water, twelve oranges cut into quarters, with a like number of red sweet potatoes. In about thirty hours after, during which it has undergone the operation of fermentation, it is ready for the goblet. This drink, as the name imports, is probably an imitation of the fermented juice of the Mabal palm found in the districts lying along the Congo, from which many of the negroes in these settlements have been carried as slaves, and no doubt brought the term with them.

The bitter cassada is poisonous when raw, but heat deprives it of that quality. Raynal asserts, that the cassada or manioc plant was originally introduced into the West Indies from Africa, and that the Indians were first instructed by the negroes in the art of converting the poisonous root into wholesome food. Edwards contradicts this, and shews from the first decad of P. Martyr, which bears date November, 1493, that the cassada furnished the islanders with the principal part of their food at the time when they were visited by Columbus, and long before any of the negro tribes were brought thither.*

The attachment of the aborigines to the pleasures of intoxication is well illustrated in the following circumstance, and shews that when drink could not be obtained to effect this delightful sensation, they had recourse to many subterfuges to supply the defect. Among others, the fumes of tobacco were a favourite substitute. These they exhaled through a tube formed like a Y, the two branches of which were inserted into each nostril, while the stem was embedded in a vessel of burning leaves. The vapour thus communicated soon affected the brain of the inhaler, and produced all the stupifying results and visionary pleasures usually ascribed to opium. This mode of intoxicating was often preferred to that excited by drinking, and so sudden were its consequences, that the stoutest individual has been prostrated in a few minutes. But since the introduction of distillation into these islands, forced methods of inebriation are seldom practised.

* Edwards' Hist. of W. Indies. Also Robertson's Hist. of America, vol. ii. note, p. 59.

In the Antilles, the vine never succeeded to any extent, but formerly the Spaniards resident in the north side of Jamaica, cultivated considerable vineyards, and made a good wine resembling claret. But the ease with which the wines of Europe can be procured, renders the cultivation of the vine for that purpose unnecessary. In many of the sugar plantations on the island of Jamaica, each of the negroes is allowed to take in calabashes about half a gallon of hot purified cane juice, which he sometimes ferments by means of the chewstickwithe, or chewed cane, making thereby a palatable kind of beer. At other times he uses it in the simple, unfermented state, to refresh him during the toils of the day. The overseer often carries a quantity of it in a bamboo staff, but more frequently substitutes rum in preference, and may be seen occasionally walking with one end of his cane elevated to the clouds, while he is regaling himself out of the other. It is a custom among the negroes here, which has been carried from Africa, to make a libation, or first-fruit offering, by pouring a little liquor on the ground before they drink any of it themselves, a practice also prevalent in several parts of Asia.

For a view of the extent and importance of the revenue arising to Great Britain from the rum imported from those islands, the reader is referred to that part of this work which treats of home distillation. To enter into a detail of the value of rum as an article of consumption for the British nation, and the advantages which might arise from its unrestricted importation, would lead to the introduction of considerations foreign to the design of this work. But it may be observed, that a preference ought to be given to this article as exclusively the production and manufacture of colonies subject to our own laws and government, rather than to the consumption of foreign grain brought into Great Britain, and made into spirits at considerable expense, to the injury of our agricultural interests at home, and of those of our dependencies abroad.

Prejudices injurious to the West India planters have too frequently been formed from erroneous impressions of the condition of the slaves; and, therefore, a disinclination is manifested to encourage any branch of manufacture in which they are employed. But without in the most remote degree advocating slavery, which, in its mildest state, must always tend to the degradation of our species, it may be proper to shew that the manner in which the negroes are generally treated is different from what is commonly represented. Most of the regulations affecting the slave population are not determined by the will of the proprietor, but are settled by law and are calculated to promote the comforts of the slaves. They are either provided with provision

ground, which they are permitted to cultivate, or furnished with an equivalent in money or food. They are also clothed, and when ill, have medical attendance and medicine. When old, their infirmities are provided for by a sort of superannuation allowance, averaging ten pounds per annum. These regulations vary in different islands according to circumstances and localities, but all tend to soften the asperities of slavery. In many of the islands it is the practice to give each slave, in the morning before going to work, a cup of coffee, a glass of rum, or some other warm beverage, such as ginger tea; besides which he gets, once or twice a day, weak diversion, that is rum and water sweetened with molasses. That cruelties from harsh and brutal taskmasters have been inflicted on many of those unfortunate beings, there can be no doubt; but to brand all the planters with a savage barbarity and want of feeling, would be wanton and unfounded. Man here in a civilised state is not insensible to the feelings of humanity, nor does he act in opposition to those laws which regulate society in other countries.

Since writing the foregoing, slavery in the colonies has, by an act of the British legislature, been abolished; and it remains to be seen whether, under a different system of treatment, the condition of the Africans in the West Indies will be more conducive to their happiness by putting them on an equality with the intelligent and polished inhabitants of those regions.

The Church of England, the Wesleyan Methodists, and other missionaries have been, for some time, engaged among them in the inculcation of sound religious principles, which have for their object the fear of God, the love of their fellow-men, and a respect for the laws and regulations of civilized society. These, with the influence of the useful arts of agriculture, manufactures, and trade, must prove of the highest benefit not only to the well-being of the present generation, but to the descendants of those who have been emancipated from the thraldom of slavery.

On directing our observations to the American continent, we find that when the Spaniards first visited Mexico and Peru, the inhabitants understood the preparation of several intoxicating drinks procured from maize or Indian corn, from the manioc or roots of the yueca, and from the agave or maguey, a species of aloes. The Indian corn, when bruised and fermented into a kind of inspissated drink, was called chica,* and much resembled beer in its qualities. generic term for any sort of inspissated drink, such as the grape simply boiled, or the liquor of the sugar-cane.

Skinner's Present State of Peru, 4to. p. 258.

Chica is a

the juice of

Acosta is.