“SWIZZLE” PARTIES

Hokitika Guardian, 5 October 1920, Page 3

“SWIZZLE” PARTIES

(By An. Englishman Abroad.) GEORGETOWN (British Guiana) Aug. 12. ,

Demerara is the land of cocktails, , n d there and in the West Indian islands at all entertainments the “swiz;le” takes the place of any other form if liquid refreshment. It is composed of rum, crushed ice, Vngostura, bitters, sugar and perhaps a, squeeze of lime or a dash of some liqueur, the whole, swizzled together to i foaming cream which, to be properly ippreciated, must be tossed off at a fraught. Gin or whisky may take the place of the nun, but rum has been, is, and dways will be, the drink, of the West Indian settler.

Owing to the heat of the climate, most people avoid a solid midday meal but breakfast substantially at half past ten or eleven. No self-respecting West Indian would dream of break fasting without a preliminary swizzle. Tea is taken early, and as a lawn tennis party, or any form of exercise rarely starts before five, swizzles take tlie olace of tlie tea that is the essential feature of all English afternoon entertainments. People ask their friends .to drop in to “swizzles” and send invitations }to “swizzle parties.” • These functions start about halfpast six and are frequently kept up till half-past nine or ten. As many as a hundred guests are present. The bouses are large and the first floor geneally consists of one immense living room. Windows and jalousies ocpupv nearly the whole of the wall space, and the “gallery,” a broad strip along the windows, separated by pillars from the rest of the room, is almost exclusively used as a sitting room. The centre of the room is cleared, the floor being polished and a pianist engaged. Bridge tables , are arranged in the gallery. Those who lib* dance: others play bridge or poker; the rest watch the dancers and talk. Refreshments are handed round—ices, sandwiches, chocolates, salted almonds, and of course, Martinis and swizzles of all kinds.. Ocfoasionaily, an Englishman, not long out from “Home,” demands whisky and soda, but the long drink is almost unknown. The' short ness oi the drinks is, however, made up for by their extreme frequency 1 At length the dancers, grow weary, the bridge tables break up, and by twos and threes the guests drift away with what - appetite may be to a belated dinner.

Those of us who live in exile have some few compensations. -One is that servants, if not perfect, are still plenti; fid; another is that drink (though the good old days when whisky was fs 6d and rum Is 6d a. bottle are for ever gone) is not prohibitive. Whisky and gin do not fall far short of English price, but the whisky is whisky, not coloured water. Rum is 3s 6d a bottle and there is no lack of it, nor of anything else. The day that the West Indies go dry there will be a real tragedy.