RUM 
RUM 
439 
seven per cent, a day or two afterwards, when the liquor is It is rugged, mountainous, and almost covered with heath, 
in a high state of fermentation; the heat of which, however, and much better fitted for pasture than for tillage. The hills 
should not, in general, be suffered to exceed from 90° to are of very considerable elevation, but the height has never 
-94° Farenheit. The infusion of hot water will raise, and of been measured : their summits are entirely barren. A consi- 
cold water abate the fermentation. The quantity of molasses 
above-mentioned, added to a third of scummings, gives Ilf 
per cent, of sweets, six gallons of scummings being reckoned 
equal to one gallon of molasses. When the fermentation 
falls by easy degrees from the fifth to the seventh or eighth 
day, so as then to become fine, and throw up slowly a few 
clear beads or air-globules, it is ripe for distillation ; though 
when the liquor is first set at the beginning of the crop 
(the house being cold, and the cisterns not saturated) it will 
not be fit for distillation under ten or twelve days. When 
this is the case, at a longer or shorter period, the liquor or 
wash being conveyed into the largest still, (which must 
not be filled higher than within eight or ten inches of 
the brim, lest the head should fly), a regular fire must be 
kept up until it boils, after which a little fuel will serve. 
In about two hours the vapour or spirit, being condensed by 
the ambient fluid, will force its way through the worm in 
the shape of a stream, as clear and transparent as crystal, 
and it is suffered to run until it is no longer inflammable. 
The spirit thus obtained i^ known by the appellation of 
“ low wines.” To make it rum of the Jamaica proof, it 
undergoes a second distillation. Between the practice of 
the Jamaica distillers, and that of those of the Windward 
islands, there is some little variation in the first process. 
This consists chiefly in the more copious use of dunder. As 
dunder serves to dissolve the tenacity of the saccharine matter, 
jt should be proportioned, not only in the quantity , but also 
to the nature of the sweets. If the sweets in the fermenting 
cistern consist of molasses alone, which is generally the case 
after the business of sugar-boiling is finished, when no 
scummings are to be had, a greater proportion of dunder is 
necessary: because molasses are a body of greater tenacity 
than cane-liquor, and are rendered so viscous and indurated 
by the action of fire, as to be unfit for fermentation without 
the most powerful saline and acid stimulators. For the same 
reason, at the beginning of the crop, when no molasses can 
be had, and the sweets consist of cane-juice or scummings 
alone, very little dunder is necessary. 
The following improved method of conducting the pro¬ 
cess, or of compounding the several ingredients, is very 
general in Jamaica, viz. 
Dunder one half, or ..50 gallons 
C Molasses.... 6 gallons 
\ Scummings. .36 gallons $ 
Sweets 12 per cent... n (equal to( 42 
c J 6 galls. ( gallons. 
more of\ 
- molasses s 
Water... S gallons 
100 
Of this mixture, or “ wash,” as it is sometimes called, 1200 
gallons ought to produce 300 gallons of low-wines; and the 
still may be twice charged or drawn off in one day. The 
method of adding all the molasses at once, which is done 
soon after the fermentation commences, renders the process 
safe and expeditious; whereas by charging the molasses at 
different times, the fermentation is checked, and the process 
delayed. The addition of a minute quantity of alkaline salt 
has been recommended for the purpose of purifying the ram 
of its oil. 
RUM, adj. Old fashioned ; odd ; queer. A cant term. 
—I have heard— that the expression rum books arose from 
Osborne’s sending large assortments of unsaleable works 
to Jamaica in exchange for rum. But I believe this ety¬ 
mology is erroneous. See a large number of words con¬ 
nected with rum in N. Bailey’s Collection of Canting Words 
and Terms. Nichols. 
RUM, an island of the Hebrides; 9 miles long, and from 
5 to 7 broad, and containing an area of above 22,260 acres. 
derable number of sheep are reared upon it of a peculiar 
kind, but they are exceedingly small; their flesh, however, is 
delicious, and their wool is soft and valuable. This island 
was once stocked with great numbers of deer; there was also a 
copse of wood, which afforded shelter to the young fawns 
from the birds of prey, particularly from the eagle. While 
the wood throve, the deer also throve: now that the wood 
is destroyed, the deer are extirpated. It would appear that, 
in former times, the island was a vast forest. The land 
slopes toward the east, but on the south-west forms precipices 
of great height. The number of its inhabitants is about 600. 
On the east coast is Loch-Skresort, a good anchoring place ; 
but the harbour is exposed to the south-east wind; and on 
the south side of the entrance are some sunken rocks. At 
Kinloch, a small village at the head of the loch, the land is 
high, and continues nearly so to the broken coast opposite 
to Cannay. The shores are generally bold and rocky. In 
this island is found abundance of agates, improperly called 
white cornelians, with strata of freestone; but the access 
thereto is difficult. Lat.57. N. long. 6. 17. W. 
RUM KEY, one of the Bahama islands, situated about 
eight or nine leagues east from the north end of Long Island, 
and ten north from Great Harbour, in the latter island. It is 
at present under cultivation, and the acres of patented estates 
granted by the crown for this purpose, previously to May 
1803, amounted to 11,738. 
RUM RIVER, a river of North America, which has its 
source in Le Mille Lac; 35 miles south of Lower Red Cedar 
lake. It falls into the Mississippi. It is about 50 yards 
wide at its mouth, arid the small Indian canoes ascend quite 
to the lake, the ground in the neighbourhood of which is 
considered one of the best hunting stations for some hundreds 
of miles, and has long been a scene of contention between 
the hunting parties of the Indian tribes in the neighbour¬ 
hood. 
RUMAL, a small town of European Russia, in Finland, 
province of Savolax, on a lake formed by the river Woxen. 
The inhabitants support themselves chiefly by fishing. 
RUMBALDSWICH, a village of England, in Sussex, ad¬ 
joining to Chichester. 
RUMBEKE, an inland town of the Netherlands, in the 
populous and well cultivated province of West Flanders, 
Its inhabitants amount to fully 6000, and its.situation is to the 
east of the great Road from Ypresto Bruges; 20 miles south- 
south-west of the latter. 
To RU'MBLE, v. v. [rommelen , Teut.] To make a 
hoarse low' continued noise. 
The trembling streams, which wont in channels clear 
To rumble gently down with murmur soft. 
And were by them right tuneful taught to bear 
A base’s part amongst their concerts oft, 
Now forc’d to overflow with brackish tears. 
With troublous noise did dull their dainty ears. Spenser. 
Rumble thy belly full, spit fire, spout rain; 
Nor rain, wind thunder, fire are my daughters; 
I tax not you, you elements, with unkindness. Shakspeare. 
RUMBLE, one of the smaller Shetland islands; 2 miles 
south of Yell. Lat. 60. N. long. 0. 56. W. 
RU'MBLER, s. The person or thing that rambles. 
RU'MBLTNG, s. A hoarse low continued noise.—At 
the rushing of his chariots, and at the rumbling of his 
wheels, the fathers shall not look back to their children for 
feebleness. Jerem. 
RU'MBQUGE, Yorksh. Dial. See Rambooze. 
RUMBURG, a small town of the north of Bohemia, on 
the borders of Saxony, with 2700 inhabitants, employed 
chiefly in the linen manufacture; 58 miles north of Prague, 
and 35 east of Dresden. 
RUMBURGH, a parish of England, in Suffolk; 4 miles 
north-west of Halesworth, 
RUMELIA, 
