nus * will (who lived several years in Ægypt) assures us, that he saw the tree itself, which he compares to our spindle tree, or prickwood, only the leaves were a little thicker, and harder, besides continually green t. This tree is found in the desarts of Arabia, in some parts of Persia and India, the seed, or berry, of which is called' by the inhabitants buncho, bon, and ban, which being dried, and boiled with water, is the most universal drink, in all the Turkish, and several Eastern Countries, where wine is publickly forbid; it has been the most antient drink of the Arabians, and some have the jus nigrum Spartanorum, i. e. The black broth of the Spartans, to have been the same with our coffee. The Persians at this day do tipple as much coffee off, as the Turks themselves. Tavernier in his description of Ispahan (the metropolis of Persia) is very jocose and merry, when he comes to describe the famous coffee-house of that city; he says, that the wise Sha Abas, observing great numbers of Persians to resort to that house daily, and to quarrel very much about state-affairs, appointed a moullah to be there every day betimes to entertain the tobacco-whiffers, and coffee-quaffers, with a point of law, history, or poetry; after which, the moullah rises up, and makes proclamation, that every man must retire, and to his business; upon which they all observe the moullah, who is always liberally entertained by the company. Olearius does also speak § of the great diversions, made in the coffee-houses of Persia, by their poets, and historians, who are seated in a high chair, from whence they make speeches, and tell satyrical stories, playing in the mean time with a little stick, and the same gestures, as our jugglers, and legerdemain-men, do in England. As for the qualities and nature of coffee, our own countryman, Dr. Willis, has published a very rational account **, whose great reputation and authority are of no small force; he says, that in several head-achs, dizziness, lethargies, and catarrhs, where there is a gross habit of body, and a cold heavy constitution, there coffee may be proper, and successful; and in these cases he sent his patients to the coffe-house, rather than to the apothecary's shop; but where the temperament is hot, and lean, and active, there coffee may not be very agreeable; because it may dispose the body to inquietudes, and leanness. The doctor makes one unlucky observation of this drink, which I am afraid will cow our citizens from ever meddling with it hereafter, that it often makes men paralytick, and does so slacken their strings, as they become unfit for the sports and exercises of the bed, and their wives recreations; to confirm which, I will quote here two precedents, out of the most learned Olearius, who says, †† that the Persians are of an opinion that coffee allays their natural heat, for which reason they drink it, that they may avoid the charge and inconveniences of many children; nay, the Persians are so far from dissembling the fear they have thereof, that some of *Alpinus de Plant. Egyptiac. p. 26. This tree is now very common in gentlemen's green-houses in the south of England; and Ebenezer Mussel, esq. ef Bethnal-green, near London, has two of the largest and healthiest, perchance, in the nation. Dr. Mundy de Potulentis, p. 351. Tavernier's Taveis, p. 1. ? Olearius's Ambassadors Travels of Persia, book 6. p. 224. * Dr. Willis Pharmaceut. Rat. p. 1, ++ Olearius's Ambassadors Travels through Persia, book 6. them have come to the Holstein physician of that ambassy, for remedies to prevent the multiplication of children; but the doctor, being a merry, bold German, answered the Persians, that he had rather help them to get children, than to prevent them. This most famous Olearius (that made so many curious and accurate observations in his travels) tells us of a Persian King, named Sultan Mahomet Caswin, who reigned in Persia before Tamerlane's time, that was so accustomed to drinking of cahwa, or coffee, that he had an unconceivable aversion to women, and that the Queen, standing one day at her chamber window, and perceiving they were about gelding a horse, asked some standers-by, why they treated so handsome a creature in that manner; whereupon answer was made her, that he was too fiery and mettlesome, therefore they resolved to deprive him of his generative faculty. The Queen replied, That trouble might have been spared, since cahwa, or coffee, would have wrought the same effect, the experiment being already tried upon the King her husband. This King left a son, called Mahomet, after him, as our most grave and faithful traveller * does assure us, who, being come to the crown, commanded that great poet, Hakim Fardausi, to present him with some verses, for every one of which, the sophy promised him a ducat; the poet, in a short time, made sixty thousand, which, at this day, are accounted the best that ever were made in Persia, and Hakim Fardausi esteemed the Poet Laureat of the East. The treasurers, thinking it too great a sum for a poet, would have put him off with half; whereupon, Fardausi made other verses, wherein he reproached the King with avarice, and told him, he could not be of royal extraction, but must be rather descended from a shoemaker, or a baker. Mahomet, being nettled, made complaint to the Queen his mother, who, suspecting that the poet had discovered her amours, ingenuously confessed to the King her son, that, his father being impotent, through his excessive drinking of cahwa, or coffee, she fancied a baker belonging to the court, and said, if it had not been for the baker, the young King had never been what he was; so, lest the business should take wind, the poet got his full reward. But let us return a little into our old serious road. Coffee is said to be very good for those, that have taken too much drink, meat, or fruit, as the learned Schroder + will inform you; as also against shortness of breath, and rheum; and it is very famous in old obstructions, so that all the Egyptian, and Arabian women, are observed to promote their monthly courses with coffee, and to tipple constantly of it, all the time they are flowing; for which we have the undoubted authority of Prosper Alpinus, who spent several years amongst them. It is found to ease the running scorbutick gout, or rheumatism, as Mollenbroccius has affirmed ||. As for the manner of preparing coffee, it is so easy, and so commonly known, that we need not mention it; only we may observe, that some of the Asiatick nations make their coffee of the coat, or husk of the berry, which they look upon to be much stronger, and more efficacious, than Idem ibid. p. 240. + Schroder's Append. p. 24. Prosp. Alpinus, de Med. Ægyptor. 1. 4, de Plant, Egyptiac, ap. 118. ad. p. 122. Mollenbrock, de Arthrit, baga scorbul. p. 114. the berry itself, so that they take a less quantity of it; but the Euro peans do peel and take off the outward skin of the berries, which, being so prepared, are baked, burnt, and afterwards ground to powder; one ounce of which they mix commonly with a pint and a half of hot water, which has been boiled half away; then they are digested together, till they are well united. The Laplanders prepare a very good drink out of juniper-berries, which some prefer before either coffee, or thee †, of which berries, we will discourse in a tract at the end of these sheets. The Natural History of Thee, or Tea. SECT. II. THIS herb, thee, is commonly found in China, Japan, and some other Indian Countries; the Chinese call it thee, the Japonians, tchia: That of Japan is esteemed much the best, one pound of it being commonly sold for one-hundred pounds, as Tulpius informs us from several great men, that have been ambassadors and residents in those parts; so that most of the thee, which is brought into Europe, comes from China, and that too of the worst kind, which cannot but decay in so long a voyage; for the Dutch have been observed to dry a great quantity of sage, whose leaves, being rolled up like thee, were carried into China by them, under the name of a most rare European herb; for one pound of this dried sage, the Dutch received three pounds of thee from the Chinese, as Thevenot informs || us. There is a great controversy amongst the herbalists, to what classis this thee may be reduced. Bontius § compares it to the leaves of our wild daisy; for which Simon Pauli is very angry with him **, and gives very strong arguments, that thee is the leaves of a sort of myrtle, for, out of the leaves of myrtle, a liquor may be made, resembling thee in all qualities; therefore, the Jesuit Trigautius is of opinion ††, that several of our European forests and woods do abound with a true thee, it being observed to grow in great plenty in Tartary (which lies under the same climate with many countries of Europe) from whence, some learned men think, it came originally, for it has not been long known to the Chinese I, they having no ancient name, or hieroglyphick characters for thee, and cha being an ancient Tartarian word. Besides, it is known to several merchants, that a great quantity of thee is brought yearly out of Tartary into Persia; and we are all acquainted with the several great conquests which the Tartars have made in China, so that the Chinese have had several opportunities of learning the use of thee from the Tartars, in whose country it is observed to be in great plenty, and of little value; yet the inhabitants of China and Japan have a great esteem and opinion Olden History of Lapland. + Or tca. Nicol. Tulpii Observat. Med. lib. 4. c. 60, burg's Philos. Transaet. N. 14. Bontius de Medicina Indor. lib. 2. p. 97. ** Simon Pauli, de Thee. p. 19, 20 ++Trigautius, de Regno China, lib. 3. +1 Simon Pauli, de Thçe, p. 25. All Qlearius's Ambassadors Travels in Persia, p. 241. of it, where they are as much employed, and concerned for their harvest of thee (which is in spring) as the Europeans are for their vintage, as several jesuits inform us in their observations of China.* For the noblemen, and princes of China and Japan, drink thee at all hours of the day; and, in their visits, it is their whole entertainment, the greatest persons of quality boiling and preparing the thee themselves, every palace and house being furnished with convenient rooms, furnaces, vessels, pots, and spoons, for that purpose; which they value at a higher rate than we do diamonds, gems, and pearls, as Tulpius † assures us, from the re lations of several great Dutchmen, who travelled China in the quality of ambassadors, and made great observations of those rich stones, and woods, out of which the aforesaid materials were made. As for the qualities and vertues of thee, these few following observations may give satisfaction. That it makes us active and lively, and drives off sleep, every drinker of it cannot but be sensible. The great jesuit, Alexander de Rhodes, always cured himself of a periodical pain of his head by thee ‡, and having often occasion to sit up whole nights in China, to take the confessions of dying people, he found the great benefit of thee in those great watchings, so that he was always as vigorous and fresh the next day, as though he had rested all night; nay, he says, that he sat up six nights together, by the assistance of thee. Kircher himself took notice of thee for clearing the head and opening the urinary passage; and it was observed by those concerned in the Dutch ambassy to China, that the Chinese did spit very little, and were seldom subject to the stone and gout, which their physicians imputed to their frequent drinking of thee §. It is a common proverb in Japan : Illene sanus non sit? Bibit de optima Tsia? "What is he not well? He drinks of the best thee**." I know some that celebrate good thee for preventing drunkenness, taking it before they go to the tavern, and use it also very much after a debauch, thee being found so friendly to their stomachs and heads. Scveral ambassadors find the advantage of it in preserving them from the accidents and inconveniences of a bad foreign air; but that, which gives the greatest commendation to thee, is the good character which our famous countryman, Mr. Boyle, gives of it in his Experimental Philosophytt, where he says, that it deserves those great praises which are commonly bestowed upon it. Yet Simon Pauli exclaims ‡‡ against the use of thee, as a great drier, and promoter of old age, and as a thing unnatural, and foreign to the European complexions. But Schroder |||| answers Pauli very mildly, supposing him to speak only of the abuse and extravagant management of thee; for otherwise rhubarb, china, sassafras, and saunders should be banished from our shops, by the same reason, Philos.Transact. N. 49. + Nicol. Tulpii Observat. Med. lib. 4. c. 60. p. 67. Alexander de .. Varenius Descript. # Simon Pauli de Thee. they being driers, and foreign to us Englishmen; therefore, we may conclude thee innocent and beneficial. The Chinese gather the leaves in the spring, one by one, and, immediately, put them to warm in an iron kettle over the fire; then, laying them on a fine light mat, roll them together with their hands. The leaves, thus rolled, are again hanged over the fire, and then rolled closer together, till they are dry; then put up carefully in tin vessels, to preserve them from moisture. Thus they prepare the best leaves,that yield the greatest rates; but the common ordinary ones are only dried in the sun, yet in the shade is, doubtless, much better (as the ingenious author* of Vinetum Britannicum does well observe) the sun having a great power to attract the vertue out of any vegetable after its separation from its nourisher, the earth. One spoonful of this prepared thee is enough for one quart of boiled water. There are several ways and methods for preparing theet. The Japonians powder the plant upon a stone, and so put it into hot water. The Chinese boil the leaves with water and a little sugar. Some Europeans make tinctures, infusions, conserves, and extracts of thee. The Tartars are observed to boil their thee in milk with a little salt, which way they think is the very best. The inhabitantsof Carolina prepare a liquor out of the leaves of an American tree, which is very like thee, and equal to it in every respect. Dr. Mundy observes || that the inhabitants of Florida have an old custom, before they go into the field to war, of drinking a liquor in a great publick assembly, which he that vomits up, is judged unfit for that warlike expedition, and is condemned to stay at home in disgrace; but, when he has learnt to carry off the liquor, then he is admitted to be a lawful soldier. Now thee itself, when given in a large dose, and in a strong decoction, does often prove vomitive, as I myself have observed several times. Some make decoctions of the roots of Avens, Galanga, Coriander, Anniseeds, Sarsa, China, Saunders, of the leaves of Sage, Betony, Rosemary, which they do extol above Thee or Coffee. The Natural History of Chocolate. SECT. III. HAVING given a short natural history of two things, which are so universally used in the eastern parts of the world, we now come to treat briefly of two more, which are generally used in the western. First, of chocolate, of which the cocoa, or eacaw-nut, being the principal ingredient, a short account of it cannot be improper. This nut, or rather the seed,or kernel of the • Vinet. Britan. p. 140. +Nicol. Tulpii Observat. Med. Lib. 4. c. 60. Histor. Legat. Belgic. ad Sinensium Regem. Dr. Mandy de Potulenti, P. 353. + Thevenot. |