Kaempfer, in his History of Japan, i., 121, tells us that in the manufacture of Sacke or Saki3 a strong and wholesome beer produced from rice, the Japanese are not excelled by any other people. This beer, a very ancient drink, is white when fresh, but becomes brown, if it remains long in the cask. It is manufactured to the highest degree of excellence in Osacca, and thence exported to other countries. The beer's name is said to be derived from that of this city, being the genitive case of the word, with the initial letter omitted. It is wholesome and pleasant, but should be drunk moderately warm.1 There are many varieties of saki, distinguished by different names.

1 Pinckard's Notes, p. 429.

2 Robertson's History of America, ii. 7.

3 This is the beverage in general use. Titsingh's Japan. Some writers have connected it with our " sack".

After A. L. Mayer.