THE ALCOHOL INDUSTRY OF THE PHILIPPINE ISLANDS, Ill. 115 
resulting liquor is drunk soon or late according to taste and 
circumstances. Up to a certain point, the longer the liquor 
is kept, the greater its intoxicating quality. 
Before the brew is consumed, the owner flavors it according 
to his fancy by adding such vegetable gredients as suit his 
palate. Among other things sometimes used for this purpose, 
I have seen wild ginger and small red peppers. 
On none of the several dozen occasions during which I have 
seen Subanuns drink gasi, have I seen glasses used. This is 
not due to an absence of these articles. Pigafetta, the chronicler 
of the first journey around the world, and the first Huropean 
to write observations on the Philippines, gives the following 
account of the manner of drinking of the King of Cebu: 
“When we reached the city we found the king surrounded by many 
people. He had four jars of palm wine in front of him covered with 
sweet-smelling herbs and arranged with four small reeds in each jar by 
means of which he drank. The king had us drink through those slender 
reeds.” 
This is still the way in which the Subanuns drink. Before the 
jars are served there usually is made an arrangement of little 
cross-sticks or stems to keep the reeds steady. It is also common 
to cover the liquor with “sweet-smelling herbs.” The guest of 
honor sucks out of the same jar as the host. (Plate III.) It 
is common, especially at feasts, for those drinking out of the 
same jar to enter into friendly rivalry. For this reason they 
drink one at a time, and after each drink, water is poured in to 
fill up the jar. This water is poured into the jars with small 
cups sometimes of brass and sometimes of coconut shell. The 
cups have each a hole in the center of the bottom. This hole is 
stopped by the finger when the water is taken up. To pour the 
water into the jar, the finger is removed. Account is kept of 
the number of cupfuls of water necessary to replace the amount 
drunk by each one. Of course the drink becomes more and more 
diluted as the process continues, but the operations are trans- 
ferred to a fresh jar before the drink becomes too weak. As the 
drinkers proceed, they become less formal, the turban is allowed 
to fall off, the long hair, hitherto confined, falls down on the 
back, a slight flush appears under the brown skins, and the 
drinkers frequently break out into verse and song. The verse 
is often improvised, and dilates on such themes as the pleasure 
of the beer jar or the liberality of the host, a liberality which the 
guest protests makes him ashamed because of \his inability 
ever to repay it. Traditional verses also float up in the con- 
sciousness of the drinkers and are shouted, to the delight of the 
