1892 Drinks of the world

DRINKS.

350

Durlnof an east wind the water harvest was

laurel.

the most abundant. This celebrated vegetable product was unfortunately destroyed by a hurricane in 1625. But even about this date authors disagree. While Nunez de la Pena is an authority for that given, Nieremberg assures us the catastrophe occurred in 1629. Another date men- tioned is 161 2. The view of Bory de St. Vincent is that this holy tree was nothing more than the Laurus Indica of Linnaeus, which is indigenous to the mountain summits of the Canary Islands. His concluding remark is pregnant w^ith common sense : Si les auteurs que nous out p arid diL Garod ont dit quil dtait seul de son espece dans rtle, cest qitils ndtaient pas botanistes^ et qitils n avaient pas rSfldchi que cet arbre ay ant ten fruit, devait se reproduire, comme tous les autres vdgdtaux. The water of rivers is often clarified in a peculiar manner before drinking. For instance, that of the Ganges is said to be improved by rubbing certain nuts on the edges of the vessel in which it is kept,^ though how this may be it is as difficult to understand, as how the turtle is affected by a touch of his carapace, or the Dean and Chapter — to borrow Sydney Smiths illustration — of St. Paul's by stroking the cupola of that cathedral. The Nile water is also said to be purified by treating the vessel which holds it in a similar manner to that which holds the water of the Ganges, with bitter almonds. The bitter waters of Marah were made sweet in a far different fashion. ^ Harper's New Monthly Magazine^ xi. p. 499.