1892 Drinks of the world

DRINKS.

2,49

npmlne

apud

Chia,

calidu^

ut

hauritur,

salutaris,

Cujus maxime beneficio, pituitam, grave'

Japonios :

dinem, lippitudinem nesciunt ; vitam bene longam, sine ullo ferme languore traducunt, oleis alicubi carent." " Although they do not extract wine from the vines as we do, but have a custom of preserving the grapes as a kind of condiment for the winter, they yet press oCit of a certain herb, a liquor which is very healthy which is called Chia, and they drink it hot, as do the Japanese. And the use of this causes them not to know the meaning of phlegm, heaviness of the head, or running of the eyes, but they live a long and happy life, without pain, or infirmity of any sort." Another early mention of it is in a book by Giovanni Botero,^ which was translated into English by Robert Peterson, " of Lincolne's Inne, Gent." He says " They haue also an herbe, out of which they presse a delicate iuyce, which serues them for drincke instead of wyne. It also preserues their health, and frees them from all those euills, that the immoderat vse of wyne doth breed vnto us." Early in the seventeenth century tea was becoming known in Europe, mainly through the instrumentality of the Dutch East India Company, and we learn much about it in the y/ritings of Father Alexandre de Rhodes, who, after thirty-five years' travel, gave the benefit of his experiences to the public. He left Rome in October, 1618, and thus writes about " De I'Vsage du Tay, qui (p- 75 )«

Citta, etc., del Giovanni

Cause

gfandezza

^ Delle

della

delle

MilanOy ed. 1596, p. 61.

Botero.