["The date wine with spices is not now made at Bender 'Abbas. Date
arrack, however, is occasionally found. At Kerman a sort of wine or arrack
is made with spices and alcohol, distilled from sugar; it is called
Ma-ul-Hayat (water of life), and is recommended as an aphrodisiac. Grain in
the Shamil plain is harvested in April, dates are gathered in August."
(Houtum-Schindler, l.c. p. 496.)
See "Remarks on the Use of Wine and Distilled Liquors among the
Mohammedans of Turkey and Persia," pp. 315-330 of Narrative of a Tour
through Armenia, Kurdistan, Persia, and Mesopotamia.... By the Rev.
Horatio Southgate,... London, 1840, vol. ii. - H. C.]
[Sir H. Yule quotes, in a MS. note, these lines from Moore's Light of the
Harem:
"Wine, too, of every clime and hue,
Around their liquid lustre threw
Amber Rosolli[3] - the bright dew
From vineyards of the Green Sea gushing."] See above, p. 114.
[Illustration: The Double or Latin Rudder, as shown in the Navicella of
Giotto. (From Eastlake.)]
The date and dry-fish diet of the Gulf people is noticed by most
travellers, and P. del a Valle repeats the opinion about its being the
only wholesome one. Ibn Batuta says the people of Hormuz had a saying,
"Khorma wa mahi lut-i-Padshahi," i.e. "Dates and fish make an Emperor's
dish!" A fish, exactly like the tunny of the Mediterranean in general
appearance and habits, is one of the great objects of fishery off the Sind
and Mekran coasts.
