_Curaçoa_ derives its name from the group of small islands in the West Indies, situated near the north shore of Venezuela, in the Caribbean Sea. The liqueur is made in these islands by the Dutch. It is also made at Amsterdam from orange peel imported from the Curaçoas. The bitter orange used is the _Citrus bigaradia_. It is commonly obtained by digesting orange peel in sweetened spirits, and flavouring with cinnamon, cloves, or mace. The spirits employed are usually reduced to nearly 56 under proof, and each gallon contains about 3½ pounds of sugar. _Curaçoa_ varies in colour. The darker is produced by powdered Brazil wood, mellowed by caramel. _Parfait Amour_ is a liqueur composed of several ingredients, such as citron, clove, muscat, and others. _Kirsch_, _Kirschwasser_, or _Kirschenwasser_, or cherry water, is the genuine drink of the Black Forest. The head-quarters of this liqueur, as Griesbach and Petersthal in the Reuch valley, are rich in cherry trees of the Machaleb variety. H. W. Wolff, in his _Rambles_, rises into an almost poetic description of its virtues. “It is,” he says, referring to the Black Foresters, “their general stimulant and comforter, their consoler in grief, their promoter of conviviality, their safety valve in trouble or excitement.” After this, little can be added without the danger, or rather the certainty, of _bathos_. When genuine—for alas, it shares the common fate of drinks, adulteration—it is said to be ardent and slightly poisonous. In other words, it contains “that excellent stomachic, hydrocyanic acid.” Of late the Black Foresters have rivalled the Servians in a spirit distilled from wild plums. Stolberg thinks _Kirschenwasser_ in no way inferior to the spirit made from corn at Dantzic,[95] and others hold it equal to the Dalmatian _Maraschino_. The liqueur is also made in Germany, France, and elsewhere. _Pomeranzen_, or _Pomeranzen-Wasser_, somewhat resembling our orangeade, is principally drunk in Northern Germany. _Raspail_ was originally, as many other liqueurs, medicinal, and was so called from the name of its inventor. Mariani has made an _Elixir à la coca du Pérou_. This, like _Raspail_, is an agreeable tonic. _Vermuth_[96] is composed of white wine, angelica, absinthe, and other aromatic herbs. Many sweet wines approach very nearly liqueurs. Of these are in Austria some sweet wines of Transylvania and Dalmatia. In Spain, the _Tinto d’Alicante_, and the white _Muscats_ of Malaga. In France, _Hermitage_, _Grenache_, _Colmar_, and the _Muscats_ of Rivesaltes and of Roquevaire. In Cyprus, _La Commanderie_. In Italy, the _Muscats_ of Vesuvius, Orvieto and Montefiascone, the holy wine of Castiglione, the white wines of Albano, and the aromatic wine of Chiavenna. In Greece, the _Malmseys_ of Santorin and the Ionian Isles. In Russia, the wines of _Koos_ and _Sudach_ in the Crimea; and in Mexico, those of _Passo del Nocte_, _Paras_, _San Luiz de la Paz_, and _Zelaya_.