I am
only afraid that going on this way we shall have nothing but empty canes
to carry to our friends." I told him, that I was more afraid the sun
might turn the syrup sour before we got our canes home; therefore we
need not spare them.
"Well, at any rate," said he, "I have filled my flask with the milk of
the cocoa-nut to regale them."
I told him I feared another disappointment; for the milk of the
cocoa-nut, removed from the shell, spoiled sooner than the sugar-cane
juice. I warned him that the milk, exposed to the sun in his tin flask,
was probably become vinegar.
He instantly took the bottle from his shoulder and uncorked it; when the
liquor flew out with a report, foaming like champaign.
I congratulated him on his new manufacture, and said, we must beware of
intoxication.
"Oh, taste, papa!" said he, "it is delicious, not at all like vinegar,
but capital new, sweet, sparkling wine. This will be the best treat, if
it remains in this state."
"I fear it will not be so," said I. "This is the first stage of
fermentation. When this is over, and the liquor is cleared, it is a sort
of wine, or fermented liquor, more or less agreeable, according to the
material used. By applying heat, a second, and slower fermentation
succeeds, and the liquor becomes vinegar.
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