Evening star., 1902-02-15
PHILIPPINE WHISKY.
A Physician Tells of Its Nature and
Its Effect on Our Soldiers.

From the Philadelphia Medical Journal.
Vino Is manufactured In the nipa swamps
around Manila bay. and the contiguous Ia
goons Nipa does not grow inland or in
the higher lands The greatest nest of
distilleries Is in the vast swamps in the
delta Of the Rio Grande. The parent stalk
Of the nipa fruticans is tapped and the
sap collected much In the same manner
that We collect maple sap. native hts
out his banka (wooden dug-out>, which is
eighteen to thirtysix feet long ana tnirtS
inches beam, with ten or twelve olias, or
earthen bowls. holding from three to nte
gallons each, and paddles through the mar
row WATERWAYS between the small lSlanuS
densely covered with the nipa palm: and,
frequently without leaving his position In
the banka, can jab tube into the Spohss
stem and tie fast a section or bampoo 10
collect the sap. Making his rounds again
he empties these containers into his ollas.
and paddles off to the distillery, Wnere II
Is disposed of for a few centavos
At the distillery the sap Is mixed with
the Juice of the sugar cane-about % per
cent of the latter being used-fermented.
distilled and, in a crude way, rectinea-
The product is vino, taking that name
from the Spanish word for wine. was
unable to find in LuZon and the upper Is
lands a native-made distillate from rice,
although arrack. from that plant. is I'M
ported some little by the Chinese Maize
is produced in some quantity, but. as 1ar
as I could learn, Is not so used elthef.
Potatoes are not grown in any quantity
Vino is pungent, colorless fluid. eXhlb-
iting an alcoholic strength of from % TO
80 per cent, and showing some butyric
ether, but / never saw trace or ansnc
alcohol (fusel OLD. The 'neva or the
Sumatra Is the same thing. and distiliate
Is made from the various species OF PAIN
all around the world. In some parts OF
the islands tuba dulce is obtained from
the cocoa palm. is fermented and becomes
''toddy." but this Is not the dlstillate VINO.
Vino more closely resembles the meXical,
mezcal or aguardiente de maguey OF the
Mexicans.
The MISUNDERSTANDING those of the larger
cities, who have adopted civilized hablts-
does not get drunk. 1t is rarity to ma
a drunken native OF the 500 or more ma
tives we had In our command. we never
had a case of drunkenness. The only case
of intoxication that 1 ever saw among
the Macabebes was our major domo.
or head servant. when We lived at Col.
Blancos and he had surreptitiously emp
tied a bottle of cocktails that belonged
to the commanding officer.
The native never drinks vino as 1t Is IN
the market He dilutes it with water. adds
sugar and Oil Of anise and drinks 1t AS
"anisette," in the manner that his civil
lied brother takes a cordial For long
drink, he has bottled beer. made at the
native breweries of San Miguel In Manila
or imported Japanese beer
The intoxication from vino is purely pro
found insensbility of a toxic dose OF alco-
hol. The American soldier saw In vino
substitute for whisky. and, to the amaze
ment OF the native, took 1t raw and In Dig
gulps AS result he was dead drunk IN
remarkably short space f,,,;an,,. OF time: ,n fne
enced by alcoholic intoxfcatfon. and dur
ing the preliminary stages the soldier was
to the native 'mucho loco"