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orders. I, who shared his bungalow, took par
ticular care that these orders were carried out,
and threatened his bearer and khitmugar with
fearful penalties should they convey any surrepti
tious alcohol to the sahib. Still he managed to
get it; and it took me a week to find out how.
His syce (groom) used to smuggle arrack from the
bazaar, and hide it under the horse s bedding in
the stable ; and whenever I was away from the
house, poor B used to creep over to the
stable, and " soak " there !
An imitation arrack may be made by dissolv-
ing 10 grains of benzoic acid in a pint ofrum ;
but arrack is just the sort of fluid which ought
not to be imitated. Give me the honest, manly,
simple, beautiful Bass !
Bhang.,
another dreadful East Indian drink, and a deadly
intoxicant, is distilled from hemp ; and if it had
only been round the neck of the inventor before
he invented it, society would have benefited.
Sake,
the favourite beverage of the Japs, who got it
from the Chinese, and improved upon it, is not
a desirable swallow. It is a rapid intoxicant, but
the over-estimator rapidly recovers the perpen
dicular. Sake was handed round as a liqueur, at
the much-advertised banquet of the " Thirteen
Club" ; but it is said that the liqueur was in no
subsequent request.
Not even one of those