PUNCH AND TODDY 195 



it. It has now become indispensable. We have 

 no other word that could take its place in the lines, 



Her manners had not that repose 

 Which stamps the caste of Vere de Vere. 



I must close with two familiar words which have 

 been so long with us that few who use them ever 

 suspect that they came from the East — namely, 

 Punch and Toddy. The Rev. J. Ovington, who 

 sailed to Bombay in 1689, in the ship that carried 

 the glad news of the coronation of William and 

 Mary, tells us that, in the East India Company's 

 chief factory at Surat, the common table was sup- 

 plied with "plenty of generous Sherash (Shiraz) 

 wine and arak Punch." Arrack (properly " Urk "), 

 sometimes abbreviated to Rack, means any distilled 

 spirit, or essence, but is commonly used to distin- 

 guish country liquor from imported spirits. The 

 Company's factors drank it because European wines 

 and beer were at that time very expensive in India, 

 and to reconcile it to their palates they made it into 

 a brew called Punch, from the Indian word " panch," 

 meaning five, because it contained five ingredients — 

 viz. arrack, hot water, limes, sugar and spice. This 

 was the ordinary drink of poor Englishmen in India 

 for a longtime, and public "Punch-houses" existed 

 in every settlement of the East India Company. 



Now, one of the principal substances from which 

 country liquor is distilled is palm juice, the native 

 name for which, " tadee," has been perverted into 



