BOOK III. CHAP. Vr. 559 



with it before the diftillation, but, rifing with it then, unite thcm- 

 felves gradually with it afterwards. 



4. It is from the latter union, which takes place after the diflillation, 

 that rum is fo much improv^ed by time, and efpecially in a calk. Where 

 a large quantity of it is kept together, the inteftine motion being 

 greater, and at greater liberty to aft, than in a fmall confined fpace, 

 the particles are more fpeedily brought wilhin the fphereof each other's 

 attradion, and the union more quickly compleated. Hence, when 

 kept in bottles, a very great length of time is required to perfedt it j 

 but when kept in calks, the fpirit becomes gradually milder, anu lofts 

 that violent aftringency, which manifefted itfcif before this change, 

 in a fiery fenfation in the mouth and throat of thofe who have drunk 



it. 



§ I have tafted rum in Jamaica, which had been bottled 30 years, 

 but ftill retained this pungent, fiery quality, and a mod: difagreeable 

 twang; which Ihewed, that the oil was not thoroughly united with the 

 fpirit. But, when it is kept in a calk fix or eight, to twelve months 

 time, is generally fufficient to pcrfed it ; thofe planters who keep 

 their fi:ock rum in laro;e butts, which hold three or four hundred ^ral- 

 Ions, find this union perfefted in a fl:ill fliorter time ; and the rum 

 fo packed is of a far fupei-ior quality to what is flowed in fmall 

 calks.. 



I am. apt to fufpeft, that there is likewife, in all frefli diftilled rum, 

 a certain etherial vobtile fpirit, of a very cauftic and pernicious qua- 

 lity, whicii evaporates by keeping for fome tline in calks, but cannot 

 entirely efcape when fuch frefli rum is put into bottles well flopped, 

 and laid on their fides. 



It Ihould be the pradice, on all the plantations in this ifland, to lay 

 up one or more puncheons of rum every year, that they might fup- 

 ply their white men with what is of due age, inftead of poifoning them 

 with that fiery, unwholefome fpirit, jufl drawn from the ftill. A 

 negledl of this humane ceconomy, either through a pitiful avarice, or a 

 brutal indifference, hiis deflroyed many hundreds. The like caution 

 may be offered, in relpecl to the foldiers and Teamen on this flation. 

 The way to have it wholefome, and potable, is to lay up, in large 

 tight buts, a fufficient flock to ferve two years ; the one-half new,, the 

 other at leaft a year old; by this method, there would be a con- 



ftant. 



