THE HORSE AND HIS RIDER. 107 



koumiss. The vessel is then covered with a thick 

 cloth and left in a moderately warm place for twenty- 

 four hours, until the whole mass becomes sour. 

 After this it is twice beaten with a stick in the shape 

 of a churn staff, so as perfectly to mix together the 

 thick parts and the thin. This being done the process 

 is complete, and the liquor is ready for drinking. 



A subsequent process of distillation obtains from 

 this koumiss an ardent spirit called rack or racky, a 

 name identical with that given to the spirit manu- 

 factured in the East Indies. Dr. Clarke found some 

 women in the act of making it. " The still," he says, 

 was composed of mud, or very close clay. For the 

 neck of the retort a cane was used ; and the receiver 

 was entirely covered by a coating of wet clay. The 

 brandy had just passed over. The woman who had 

 the management of the distillery, wishing to give us a 

 small taste of the spirit, thrust a stick with a small 

 tuft of camel's hair into the receiver, dropped a 

 portion of it on the retort, and waving the instrument 

 above her head, scattered the remaining liquor in the 

 air. I asked the meaning of this ceremony, and was 

 told it was a religious custom to give always the first 

 of the brandy which they drew from the receiver to 

 their god. * The stick was then plunged into the 

 liquor a second time, when more brandy adhering to 



