chap, n.] WEST INDIES. 55 
the first charge, and the other three per cent, a day 
or two afterwards, when the liquor is in a high 
state of fermentation; the heat of which, however, 
should sot in general be suffered to exceed from 
ninety to ninety-four degrees on Fahrenheit’s ther¬ 
mometer.* 
When the fermentation falls by easy degrees 
from the fifth to the seventh or eighth day,f so as 
then to grow fine, and throw up slowly a few 
clear beads or air globules, it is ripe tor distillation; 
and 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 steady and 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 suffer¬ 
ed to run until it is no longer inflammable. 
The spirit which is thus obtained goes by the ap¬ 
pellation of low-xvines. To make it rum ot the Ja¬ 
maica proof, it undergoes a second distillation, of 
which I shall presently speak; but previously there- 
* The infusion of hot water will raise, and of cold water abate 
the fermentation. 
f 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 lor distil - 
iation under ten or twelve days. 
