chap, ii.] WEST INDIES. 
57 
Dunder one half or 50 gallons 
/"Mellasses 6 gallons 
Sweets j Scummings 36 gallons 
12 per cent. J (equal to 6 galls. 
^ more of mellasses)_ 
Water .......... 8 gallons 
>42 galls. 
100 gallons. 
Of this mixture (or wash, as it is sometimes cal¬ 
led), one thousand two hundred gallons ought to 
produce three hundred gallons of low wines; and 
der alone answers every purpose. He likewise recommends to the 
distiller, to introduce into the fermenting cistern a few gallons of 
the rectified spirit, which he says will come back, with a large addi¬ 
tion to the quantity of spirit that vyould otherwise have arisen from 
the distillation. As I have tried none of the.ie experiments, I can say 
noth'ng in their favour of my own knowledge; but I believe, that a 
small quantity of vegetable ashes thrown into the rum still w 11 be 
found serviceable. The alkaline salts are supposed to attenuate the 
spirit and keep back the gross and fetid oil, which the distillers call 
the faints ; but if used in too great a quantity, they may keep back also 
a proportion of the fine essential oil, on which the flavour of the rum 
wholly depends. Perhaps the most important object of attention, in 
the making rum of a good flavour, is cleanliness ; for all adventitious 
or foreign substances destroy or change the peculiar flavour of tne 
spirit. In truth, it should be a constant rule with the manager or dis¬ 
tiller to see that the cisterns are scalded, and even cleansed with strong 
lime-water, each time they are used; not merely on account of the 
rum, but also, because it has frequently happened, that the vapour of a 
foul cistern has instantly killed the first person that has enteied it 
without due precaution. 
Vol III. 
H 
