"bamboo", some kind of drink?

[Alice Faber]

On 3/2/12 3:00 PM, Joel S. Berson wrote:
> What is "bamboo", in:
>
> "So then they [pirate captains, 1700, reminiscencing in Madagascar]
> sat down and gossiped about old times, drinking their bamboo the
> while.  I had no taste for the sickly stuff, myself, it being nothing
> but water, limes and sugar."
>
> Related by Capt. Kidd's cat, McDermot, as written down by Robert Lawson.
>
> I haven't found it in the OED, but perhaps imaginative spellings are
> escaping me.  Or perhaps Lawson's transcription is inaccurate -- what
> was he thinking of?
>
By a process of (very) free association, what comes to mind is "shrub"
(a fruit-infused syrup that can be diluted to taste).


--
 =============================================================================
Alice Faber                                    faber at haskins.yale.edu
Haskins Laboratories                           tel: (203) 865-6163 x258
New Haven, CT 06511 USA                        fax (203) 865-8963

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org