A HONEY WINE. 171 



a handful of sprouted barley, "biccalo," scorched over 

 the fire, and ground into a coarse meal, with the 

 same quantity of the leaves of the " gaisho," a species 

 of Rhamnca?, not unlike the common tea plant, and 

 an intense but transient bitter like gentian or hops. 

 The mixture being allowed to stand for three or 

 four days, ferments, and is generally drunk in that 

 state, but is then rather a queer kind of muddy 

 beverage, full of little flocculent pieces of wax. It 

 is more agreeable, but not unlike, in appearance 

 or character, very strong sweet-wort. To a superior 

 kind, made for the King's own table, besides the 

 " biccalo" and " gaisho," is also added a kind of berry 

 called " kuloh," which grows not unlike the fruit 

 of our elderberry, and may possibly be the produc- 

 tion of some tree belonging to that species. The 

 jars containing this are sealed with a large cake of 

 clay mixed with the lees of the decanted liquor. 

 This kind of tedge is allowed to stand for several 

 months before it is used, and is called " barilla," 

 from always being handed to guests in small 

 Venetian bottles of green glass, the fracture of one 

 of which is a grievous offence with his Shoan 

 Majesty, and he always makes the careless party 

 pay for it. 



Two hours after sunset I was well enough to sit 

 up and partake of my tedge, which was handed to 

 me by Waklerheros, to amuse myself with whilst 

 he proceeded to lay out our supper. A large 

 round table of wicker-work, the diameter of which 



