357 / 374
DRINKS.
357
charifera,
from
the
Javanese
name,
called
by
the
Malays
Gomuti
and
by
the
Portuguese
Saguer.
It
has
some
resemblance
to
a
date
palm,
to
which
Polo
compares
it,
but
is
much
coarser
and
more
ragged,
incompta
et
udspectu
tristis,
dishevelled
and
of
a
melancholy
aspect,
as
it
is
described
by
Rumphius.
A
branch
of
this
tree
was
cut,
a
large
pot
attached,
and
in
a
day
and
a
night
the
pot
was
filled
with
excellent
wine,
both
white
and
red,
which,
says
the
Venetian,
cures
dropsy
and
tisick
and
spleen.
The
Chinese
Rice
Wine
and
its
manufacture
is
described
in
Amyot's
MeinoireSy
v.
468.
A
yeast
is
employed,
with
which
is
often
mixed
a
flour
prepared
from
fragrant
herbs,
almonds,
pine
seeds,
dried
fruits,
etc.
Rubruquis
says
the
liquor
is
not
distinguish-
able,
except
by
smell,
from
the
best
wine
of
Auxerre,
a
wine
so
famous
in
the
middle
ages
that
the
historian
friar
Salimbene
went
to
that
town
for
the
express
purpose
of
drinking
it.
Ysbrand
Ides
compares
it
to
Rhenish,
John
Bell
to
Canary,
and
a
modern
traveller,
quoted
by
Davis,
*'
in
colour
and
a
little
in
taste
to
Madeira."
Marco
Polo
says,
"
it
is
a
very
hot
stuff,"
making
one
drunk
sooner
than
any
other
beverage.
From
the walnut,
which
is
cultivated
to
great
extent
in
the
Crimea,
a sweet
clear
liquor
is
extracted
in
the
spring,
at
the
time
the
sap
is
rising
in
the
tree.
The
trunk
of
the
walnut
is
pierced
and
a
spigot
placed
m
the
incision.
The
fluid
obtained
soon
coagulates
into
a
substance
used
as
sugar.
It
does
not,
however,
appear
that
the
juice
has
been
converted
to
any
inebriating
purpose.
Not
only,
however,
from
the
walnut
can
a