1903 The Flowing Bowl by Edward Spencer

STRANGE SWALLOWS 119 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