Yet I Have Found No Confession Of A Dislike To Kumiz.
Rubruquis
tells us it is pungent on the tongue, like vinum raspei (vin rape of
the French), whilst you are drinking it, but leaves behind a pleasant
flavour like milk of almonds.
It makes a man's inside feel very cosy, he
adds, even turning a weak head, and is strongly diuretic. To this last
statement, however, modern report is in direct contradiction. The Greeks
and other Oriental Christians considered it a sort of denial of the faith
to drink Kumiz. On the other hand, the Mahomedan converts from the nomad
tribes seem to have adhered to the use of Kumiz even when strict in
abstinence from wine; and it was indulged in by the early Mamelukes as a
public solemnity. Excess on such an occasion killed Bibars Bundukdari, who
was passionately fond of this liquor.
The intoxicating power of Kumiz varies according to the brew. The more
advanced is the vinous fermentation the less acid is the taste and the
more it sparkles. The effect, however, is always slight and transitory,
and leaves no unpleasant sensation, whilst it produces a strong tendency
to refreshing sleep. If its good qualities amount to half what are
ascribed to it by Dr. W. F. Dahl, from whom we derive some of these
particulars, it must be the pearl of all beverages. "With the nomads it is
the drink of all from the suckling upwards, it is the solace of age and
illness, and the greatest of treats to all!"
There was a special kind called Kara Kumiz, which is mentioned both by
Rubruquis and in the history of Wassaf. It seems to have been strained and
clarified. The modern Tartars distil a spirit from Kumiz of which Pallas
gives a detailed account. (Dahl, Ueber den Kumyss in Baer's Beitraege,
VII.; Lettres sur le Caucase et la Crimee, Paris, 1859, p. 81;
Makrizi, II. 147; J. As. XI. 160; Levchine, 322-323; Rubr.
227-228, 335; Gold. Horde, p. 46; Erman, I. 296; Pallas, Samml. I.
132 seqq.)
[In the Si yu ki, Travels to the West of Ch'ang ch'un, we find a drink
called tung lo. "The Chinese characters, tung lo," says Bretschneider
(Med. Res. I. 94), "denote according to the dictionaries preparations
from mare's or cow's milk, as Kumis, sour milk, etc. In the Yuan shi
(ch. cxxviii.) biography of the Kipchak prince Tu-tu-ha, it is stated
that 'black mare's milk' (evidently the cara cosmos of Rubruck), very
pleasant to the taste, used to be sent from Kipchak to the Mongol court in
China." (On the drinks of the Mongols, see Mr. Rockhill's note, Rubruck,
p. 62.) - The Mongols indulge in sour milk (tarak) and distilled mare's
milk (arreki), but Mr. Rockhill (Land of the Lamas, 130) says he never
saw them drink kumiz. - H. C.]
The mare's-milk drink of Scythian nomads is alluded to by many ancient
authors. But the manufacture of Kumiz is particularly spoken of by
Herodotus.
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