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ARRAGK
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ARRAGK ,. See also:RACE or See also:RAE, a generic name applied to a variety of spirituous liquors distilled in the Far See also:East. According to some authorities the word is derived from the Arabic arak (See also:perspiration), but according to others (see Morewood's: See also:History of Inebriating Liquors, 1834, p. 140) it is derived from the arecanut, a material from which a variety of arrack was See also:long manufactured, and is of See also:Indian origin. The liquor to which this or a similar name is applied is (or was, since the introduction c f See also:European See also:spirits and methods of manufacture is gradually causing the native spirit See also:industries on the old lines to decay) manufactured in See also:India, See also:Ceylon, See also:Siam, See also:Java, See also:Batavia, See also:China, Corea, &c., and its manufacture still constitutes a considerable See also:industry. The See also:term arrack as designating a distilled liquor does not, however, appear to have been confined to the Far East, as, in Timkowski's Travels, it is stated that a spirit distilled from See also:koumiss (q. v.) by the See also:Tatars, See also:Mongols arid presumably the Caucasian races generally, is called arrack; araka or ariki. In Ceylon arrack is distilled chiefly from See also:palm toddy, which is the fermented juice See also:drawn from the unexpended See also:flower-spathes of various palms, such as the See also:Palmyra palm (Borassus f abellifornzis) and the See also:cocoa palm (Cocos nucifera). At the beginning of the 19th See also:century the arrack industry of Ceylon was of considerable dimensions, whole See also:woods being set apart for no other purpose than that of procuring toddy, and the See also:distillation of the spirit took See also:place at every See also:village See also:round the See also:coast. The See also:land rents in 1831 included a sum of £35573 on the cocoa-See also:nut trees, and the duties on the manufacture and See also:retail of the spirit amounted to over 3o,000. On the Indian See also:continent arrack is made from palm toddy, See also:rice and the refuse of the See also:sugar refineries, but mainly from the See also:flowers of the muohwa or mahua See also:tree (Bassia latifolia). The mahua flowers are very See also:rich in sugar, and may, according to H. H. See also:Mann, contain as much as 58 % of fermentable sugar, calculated on the See also:total solids. Even at the See also:present See also:day the See also:process of manufacture is very See also:primitive.. the See also:fermentation as arule being carried on in so concentrated a liquid that See also:complete fermentation rarely takes place. According to Mann, the total sugar in the liquor ready for fermentation may reach 20 %. The ferment employed (it is so impure that it can scarcely be called yeast) is obtained from a previous fermentation, and, as the latter is never vigorous, it is not surprising that the resulting spirit contains, compared with the more scientifically prepared European spirits, a very high proportion of by-products (See also:acid, fusel oil, &c.). The injurious nature of these native spirits has long been known and has been frequently set down to the admixture of drugs, such as See also:hemp (ganga), but a See also:recent investigation of this question appears to show that this is not generally the See also:case. The chemical constitution of these liquors alone affords sufficient See also:proof of their inferior and probably injurious See also:character. See H. H. Mann, The See also:Analyst (1904). AR RAH, a See also:town of See also:British India, headquarters of See also:Shahabad See also:district, in the See also:Patna See also:division of See also:Bengal, situated on a navigable See also:canal connecting the See also:river See also:Sone with the See also:Ganges. It is a station on the East Indian railway, 368 m. from See also:Calcutta. In 1901 the See also:population was 40,170. Arrah is famous for an incident in the See also:Mutiny, when a dozen Englishmen, with 5o Sikhs, defended an See also:ordinary See also:house against 2000 Sepoys and a multitude of armed insurgents, perhaps four times that number. A British See also:regiment, despatched to their assistance from See also:Dinapur, was disastrously repulsed; but they were ultimately relieved, after eight days' continuous fighting, by a small force under See also:Major (afterwards See also:Sir See also:Vincent) See also:Eyre. Additional information and CommentsThere are no comments yet for this article.
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