tSiit Plservations on Tea. 



] 641, Tulpius, a celebrated physician, and consul at Amster- 

 dam, wrote in praise of its good qualities. It is asserted thaC 

 he did so by desire ot" the Dutch East-India company, who 

 rewarded him with a considerable sum of money. In 1667, 

 Jonquet, a French physician, extolled its virtues. In 1676, 

 Bontetre, physician to the elector of Brandenburgh, who had 

 acquired great reputation, bestowed high encomiums on its 

 qualities, in a dissertation which he published on tea, coffee, 

 and chocolate. This work was attended with great success, 

 and contributed not a little to render the use of it more 

 general) and, before the end of the century, the consump- 

 tion of it was considerable. According to a table published 

 in Dr. Lettsom's work, the quantity of tea imported into 

 Europe from China, between the years 1776 and 1794, 

 amounted annually to fifteen, twenty, twenty-five, twenty- 

 nine, and even thirty-six millions of pounds; an enormous 

 consunjption, for which Europe pays every year a large sum 

 which it no doubt might save. 



The use of tea in China may be traced back to the earliest 

 ages ; and it is so prevalent among all classes in this immense 

 empire, that, according to the author of Lord Macartney '^9 

 Voyage, if the Europeans should give up the tea trade, the 

 value of it in the country would not be nmch lessened. 

 . The Japanese ascribe to tea a miraculous origin. Darma, 

 a very religious prince, and third son of an Indian king, 

 named Kosjusvo, landed in China, they say, in the year 510 

 •of the Christian Kra. Tie employed all his care to difiuse 

 throughout the country a knowledge of the true God and 

 religion ; and, being desirous to excite men by his example, 

 imposed on himself privations and mortifications of every 

 kind; living in the open air, and devoting the days and 

 night* to prayer and contemplation. After several years, 

 however, being worn out with tatigue, he fell asleep against 

 his will ; and that he might faithfully observe hi's oath 

 which he thought he had violated, he cut otF his eye-lids 

 and threw them on the ground. Next day, having reiurned 

 to the same spot, he found them cluvnged into a shrub which 

 the earth had never btt'orc produced. Having eaten some 

 of the leaves of it, he found his spirits exhilarated, and his 

 former vigour restored. He reconnnendcd this aliment to 

 his disciples and followers. The reputation of tea increased,, 

 and after that time it continued to be generally used. Kcmp- 

 fcr, in his Amsenitates exothxe, gives the life with a portrait 

 of this saint so ecltbratcd in China and Japan. There is 

 seen, at the I'ect of Darma-, a reed, which indicates that he 

 iuxd traversed the seas and rivers. 



XXI. On 



