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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 Oleari us (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, thè 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. Egyptor. 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 Europeans 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 t†, 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, 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

History of Lapland. + Or tea. Nicol. Tulpii Observat. Med. lib. 4. c. 60. Oldenburg's Philos. Transast. N. 14. Bontius de Medicina Indor. lib. 2. p. 97. ** Simon Pauli, de Thee, p. 19, 20. ++Trigautius, de Regno Chinæ, lib. 3. * Simon Pauli, de Thee, p. 25, Olearius'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 relations 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 uri. nary 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. Several 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 Philoso phytt, where he says, that it deserves those great praises which are com monly 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 unnatu ral, 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,

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Alexander de

Philos.Transact. N. 49. + Nicol. Tulpii Observat. Med. lib. 4. c. 60. Rhodes Voyages et Missiones Apostoliques. Kircheri China illustrata, lib. 4. Thevenot. Histor. Legat. Batavor. in China, Tom. 3. Philosoph. Transact. N. 14. Varenius Descript. Regni Japon. c. 23. p. 161. + Boyle's Exper. Philosoph. p. 94. Simou Pauli de Thee, Schroderi Append. ad Pharmacop. p. 23.

p. 67.

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 uni versally 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 cacaw-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. Mundy de Potalentis, p. 353.

+Thevenot.

VOL. XII.

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nut, as Mr. Hughes observes, is of the bigness of a great almond; ir some of these fruits there are a dozen, in some twenty, in other thirty, or more of these kernels, or cocoa's, which are well described by the ingenious and learned Dr. Grew †. When these kernels are cured, they be come blackish, and are compared to a bullock's kidney, cut into par titions; there is great variety in them, by reason of the difference of soils and climates where they grow. The tree is said to be as large as our English plum-trees, the leaves sharp pointed, compared by some travellers to the leaves of chesnut; by the curious Piso to the leaves of an orange; the flower of a saffron colour, upon the appearance of which the fruit appears upon the branches as apples; this tree grows in seve ral parts of America, as in Nicaragua, New Spain, Mexico, Cuba, and in Jamaica, especially at Colonel Barrington's quarters, or plantations||; they prosper best in low, moist, and fat ground, and are as squarely and orderly set, as the cherry-treees in Kent or Worcestershire; they commonly bear within seven years, and then twice every year; the first crop between January and February, the other between May and June. The inhabitants have so great a value for them, that they secure them with the shades of plantain and bonona-trees, against the injuries of their fiery sun, and do use the kernels instead of money, both in their traffick, and rewards; as the great jesuit, Josephus Acosta, observed, when he was sent into America. The Indians look upon their chocolate as the greatest delicacy for extraordinary entertainments. Montezuma is said to have treated Cortez and his soldiers with it; and you can scarce read an American traveller, but he will often tell you of the magnificent colJations of chocolate, that the Indians offered him in his passage and journies through their country; as Mr. Gage (who travelled many years in America,) informs us, the Spaniards do constantly drink chocolate in their churches at Mexico and Chiapa, of which they, being once forbid, did mutiny, and commit great outrages, till their custom was restored them**. TheIndians andChristians,in the American'plantations, have been observed to live several months upon cocoa-nuts alone, made into a paste with sugar, and so dissolved in water; I myself have eat great quantities of these kernels raw, without the least inconvenience; and have heard that Mr. Boyle and Dr. Stubbs have let down into their stomachs some pounds of them raw without any molestation; the stomach seems rather to be satisfied than cloyed with them, which is an argument they are soon dissolved and digested. The Spaniards do not scruple to eat them upon their great fast-days.

The Indians at first made their chocolate of the nut alone without any addition, unless sometimes pepper, and maiz, or Indian wheat; and in Jamaica at this day, as Mr. Hughes observes ††, there is a sort of chocolate, made up only of the paste of the cocoa itself; and this he esteems to be one of the best sorts of chocolate. Dr. Stubbs ‡‡, who was a great master of the chocolate art, did not approve of many ingredients be

+ Dr. Grew Mus. Rcg. Soc. Angl. p. 204. Hughes's American Physician, p. 112. ? Jos, "Gage's Survey of the West-Indies, Chap.of Chocolate. + Dr. Stubbs's Indian Nectar.

Hughes's American Physician, p. 115.
Piso in Histor. Nat. Indiæ utriusque.
Acosta. Indor, Histor. Lib. 4. c. 22.
# Hughes's American Physician, p. 11.

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