In some localities in America rum was called in early days Barbadoes-liquor, a very natural name, occasionally also Barbadoes-brandy. The Indians called it ocuby, or as it was spelled in the Norridgewock tongue, ah-coobee. Many of the early white settlers called it by the same name. Kill-devil was its most universal name, not only a slang name, but a trading-term used in bills of sale. A description of Surinam written in 1651 says: "Rhum made from sugar-canes is called kill-devil in New England." At thus early a date had the manufacture of rum become associated with New England.
The Dutch in New York called the liquor brandy-wine, and soon in that colony wherever strong waters were named in tavern lists, the liquor was neither aqua vitæ nor gin nor brandy, but New England rum.
It soon was cheap enough. Rev. Increase Mather, the Puritan parson, wrote, in 1686: "It is an unhappy thing that in later years a Kind of Drink called Rum has been common among us. They that are poor and wicked, too, can for a penny make themselves drunk." From old account-books, bills of lading, grocers' bills, family expenses, etc., we have the price of rum at various dates, and find that his assertion was true.
In 1673 Barbadoes rum was worth 6_s._ a gallon. In 1687 its price had vastly fallen, and New England rum sold for 1_s._ 6_d._ a gallon. In 1692 2_s._ a gallon was the regular price. In 1711 the price was 3_s._ 3_d._ In 1757, as currency grew valueless, it was 21_s._ a gallon. In 1783 only a little over a shilling; then it was but 8_d._ a quart. During this time the average cost of molasses in the West Indies was 12_d._ a gallon; so, though the distillery plant for its production was costly, it can be seen that the profits were great.
Burke said about 1750: "The quantity of spirits which they distill in Boston from the molasses which they import is as surprising as the cheapness at which they sell it, which is under two shillings a gallon; but they are more famous for the quantity and cheapness than for the excellency of their rum." An English traveller named Bennet wrote at the same date of Boston society: "Madeira wine and rum punch are the liquors they drink in common." Baron Riedésel, who commanded the foreign troops in America during the Revolution, wrote of the New England inhabitants: "Most of the males have a strong passion for strong drink, especially rum." While President John Adams said caustically: "If the ancients drank wine as our people drink rum and cider, it is no wonder we hear of so many possessed with devils;" yet he himself, to the end of his life, always began the day with a tankard of hard cider before breakfast.