114 COOKS SECON& VOYAGE MAY, 



but finding that this alone made the beer too astrin- 

 gent, we afterwards mixed with it an equal quantity 

 of the tea plant (a name it obtained in my former 

 voyage, from our using it as tea then, as we also did 

 now,) which partly destroyed the astringency of the 

 other, and made the beer exceedingly palatable, and 

 esteemed by every one on board. We brewed it in 

 the same manner as spruce beer, and the process is 

 as follows : first make a strong decoction of the small 

 branches of the spruce and tea plants, by boiling 

 them three or four hours, or until the bark will strip 

 with ease from off the branches ; then take them out 

 of the copper, and put in the proper quantity of me- 

 lasses ; ten gallons of which is sufficient to make a ton 

 or two hundred and forty gallons of beer ; let this mix- 

 ture just boil ; then put it into the casks ; and, to it, 

 add an equal quantity of cold water, more or less 

 according to the strength of the decoction, or your 

 taste : when the whole is milk-warm, put in a little 

 grounds of beer, or yeast, if you have it, or any thing 

 elsu that will cause fermentation, and in a few davs the 

 beer will be fit to drink. After the casks have been 

 brewed in two or three times, the beer will generally 

 ferment itself, especially if the weather is warm. As 

 I had inspissated juice of wort on board, and could not 

 apply it to a better purpose, we used it together with 

 melasses or sugar, to make these two articles go far- 

 ther ; for of the former I had but one cask, and of 

 the latter little to spare for this brewing. Had I 

 known how well this beer would have succeeded, and 

 the great use it was of to the people, I should have 

 come better provided ; indeed I was partly discou- 

 raged by an experiment made during my former voy- 

 age ; which did not succeed, then, owing, as I now 

 believe, to some mismanagement. 



Any one who is in the least acquainted with spruce 

 pines, will find the tree which I have distinguished 

 by that name. There are three sorts of it ; that 

 which has the smallest leaves and deepest colour, is 



