Rum is, according to tradition, the favoured drink of the lower ranks of the Royal Navy. The daily rum allowance was con- tinued until recent years and the naval connection is reflected in the brand names of many British rums. The buccaneers of the Wes. Indies also had a taste for rum and those vyho"sailed on the plundering account' commonly drank a mixture of rum and gunpowder before embarking on their adventures. A mixture of rum, gunpowder and grave soil is also alleg edly consumed as part of voodoo initiation rites in Haiti.