The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1890-04-11
SOME TEaY WICKED DRINKS.
visitors % Alaska and Other Strange
Lands Had Better Avoid Them.
ffoE: Tie HTaahiagtol sf,r.

Visitors % Alaska and Other Strange
Lards Fad Better Avoid Them.
ffOE: tie E-asiiaotol Star.
People have remarks 10 make adverse
to whisky" said naval officer Yesterday 10
reporter. but there is many another
driak in this world 10 which Old rye or Ken
lucky bourbon is as milk Tor babes For
instance, there is tbs 'GoOtchenoo' II the
Cnilcats OF Sou.hern Alaska Doubtless the
method OF distillatioa OF this remarkable
beverage was originally suggested T.
the Chilcats by United States SOL
die-s. Any SORT of vegetables made
into a mash is employed as raw material.
The mash Is put IN large lin can, which is
connected with another tia can lust like IL
by tue tube o! hollow vegetables stem that
grows to length OF many feet in those
regions. A fire is btiilt under the can that
contains the mash aud the alcoholic proper
ties pass over into the other We sell The
natives drink the LIQUOR thus distilled, and
are driven wild by it. | have seen some
thing of the way it operates in the course
OF certain naval experiences on the Alaskan
coast. Nery likely You have heard OF the
style In which certain dweilers in that cline
celebrate their arrival at the maximum of
worldly fortune. Once in awhile it occurs
that big man finds himself in possession
Of $4,000.
MOSTLY IN THE SHAPE OF BLANKETS,
such being the currency of THAT partof the
world He mas been working for that eud
all his life and he emphasizes It's ACCOMPLISH
ment by giving a festival called pot
latch, during which hespends or distributes
in the shape of presents all that ne has gath
cred together in the shape of property. In
cldeatally the popular drink is served ad
llhifl01 10 III, F,,,
the widest orgies, winding up at length
with general pandemoniac celebration,
clawing and chewing aud generally trying
to destroy one another To- the best of their
ability"
And Why does the drink produce such a
surprising effect" queried the Star re-
porter.
"Weli, my notion is that the awful re-
suits Of taking the stuff are in large measure
attributable TO its being SO new from the
still There is apt to be i'll any such alco-
hoiic beverage, new made, a certain ,nsid-
cradle percentage of powerful poison
known as fusil oil. Fusil oil is an alcohol
People suppose, when they speak OF alcohol.
that it is always one thing and one only,
but, as a matter of fact, tlere are really q
dozen different alcohols. You can derive
alcohol
FROM ANYTHING THAT is VEGETABLE
by the proce 3 of distillation. Take the
fiber that is made into wood pulp and distill
it--you have alcohol. Now. whereas prop
erly seasoned whisky is readily digested in
very moderate quantities, when new from
the still it will Set the person VINO drinks it
fairly crazy, chiefly through the operation
of the fusil oil ia it. This fnstl oil is very
volatile, and it will escape by natural
processes from liquor that is kept for a
time, but 50 long as it remains IL is deadly.
1t will induce temporary insanity offhand.
Has the freshness of the drink CONSUMED
anything TO do with the madness OF the ma
| tives who run amuek in the Malay PENN
sulaH' ls
Decidedly What the alalays drink is
popularity known alb eastern Asia as
arracA. the name derived from the Arabic
'arrak,' signifying 'perspiration,' Il is dis
| titled, the best of it, from the unexpauded
flowers of certain varieties OF palms, the
resulting juice being known as 'toddy'
Hencs cur name for certain sort OF strong
drink. This toddy is simply farmented and
the resulting liquor drunk.
VILE KIND OF ARRACK
is made from impure molaSies that is left
over as refuse III the manufacture of raw
sugar, rice being fermente with il and g
percentage OF palm teddy added. under
the influence of this baleful intoxicant
amuck together. the sport only concluding
with tue death of all the participants as
well as the destruction of numbers of limo
cent people. This, you know, is the favor
tie Malay plan of commit ing suicide. A
go0d-for nothing fellow uuakes up his mind
that he wants TO die, and 81 he fills himself
up with raw arrack and starts 10 ruI
amuck, stabbing every one that comes il
his way until he himself is slain Good
arrack from palm toddy is not objection
able. The destrucsivenesS OF the inferior
stuff, | imagine, is mainly due to its being
consumed in crude state before its more
poisonous properties have lee eliminated
by seasoning. IL is the same way with
'pisco.
And what is thatF'
1T is the distilled juice of certain sort
Of white grapes, somewhat resembling the
Malaga variety, which grow mostly in the
neighborhood of Pisco,
on TUE COAST OF PERU.
"Tne brandy---torssuch, of course, it is
thus made Is drunk raw from the still, and
it sets the men who,swailow it fairly mad
Usually they become murderously inclined
In the same way Nexicans who get drunk
OH the liquor distilled from the cactus root
aud known as 'mescap become horribly
fierce and are ready 70 plunge their knives
into the most ipoffsIsive people they en-
counter. The rawness Of the beverage is
mainly responsible for tbs symp 0 II, an.
convinced. | have known the crew of a
ship on the Alaska coast, which was out OF
grog. to buy up a considerable stock Of
Jamaica ginger discovered In a grocery
shop, and, having drunk it. to fail upon
one another with knives and axes. Thsre
is good sort OF pisco known as ita la,
which is not distilled from grape skins ana
has had time to season"