COIX 



Naga Beer 



Japan. 



Tea. 



Malt Beer. 



Gruel. 



Different 

 Qualities. 



Dzu. 

 Aroma. 



Medicine. 



Diuretic. 



Wild Form. 



Chemistry. 

 Wild and 

 Cultivated 

 Grain. 



JOB'S TEAES 



the druggists' shops a variety (or species) with small oblong, pointed 

 fruits." The oblong, pointed fruit might be C. ffigantea, and, if so, it 

 would be most interesting to find that species in China. Many writers 

 have given their opinions on the coix grain of China. It is often spoken 

 of as the ee-jin or ee-yin, and is reputed to be one of the most remarkable 

 of foods. Dr. Smith wrote that it is larger and coarser than pearl barley 

 but equally good for making gruel. 



In a small book on the Useful Plants of Japan (issued by the Agricul- 

 tural Society of that country) it is called the tomagi or hatomagi. " It is 

 an annual cereal grass cultivated on common dry land. The stalks grow 

 to a height of 4 to 5 feet. The grain, pounded in a mortar and cleaned, is 

 consumed as meal and mochi. An infusion of the parched and ground 

 grain is used instead of tea and is called Jcosen. A Chinese variety of larger 

 grains, greyish brown in colour, with thinner shells is more easily crushed 

 and cleaned." A gruel of the flour is specially commended by Du Caillaud 

 for use in hospitals. The Chinese use the grain in soup, as pearl barley is 

 employed in Europe. 



Manufacture of Beer. The references to the Japanese habit of 

 drinking a decoction of the grain, and to the preparation of gruel and taa 

 from it, necessarily suggest the more extended use in the manufacture of 

 a kind of malted beer which in the Naga hills is called dzu (p. 758). But a 

 surprising feature maybe said to be the circumstance that the dzu made from 

 one grain is of a much superior flavour to that from another, and, further, 

 that the dzu of one grain may be kept for months, while that from another 

 goes bad in a few weeks. I have personally experienced much pleasure, while 

 travelling in the Naga hills, in partaking of the fresh dzu offered in friendly 

 salutation. It is something in flavour between that of butter-milk and 

 cider, and on a hot day at the termination of a long march is most accept- 

 able. Some of the forms of coix (like many rices) have a rich perfume, 

 and such grains when used in the preparation of beer are said to give it 

 a fruity flavour and delicate aroma (see Eleusine, p. 520). 



Medicinal Properties. A missionary, writing of Tonkin to M. Du 

 Caillaud, said that " Job's tears " made a refreshing drink, was a good 

 blood-purifier and excellent diuretic. The gruel prepared from the ground 

 seed, he observed, as also Eau de Larme-de-Job, was extensively em- 

 ployed in the summer to cool the body. By the Tonkin people it is 

 spoken of as the " grass of life and health," is believed to neutralise the 

 miasma of the air, and to purify water when boiled like tea with a quantity 

 of coix flour and set by to cool before being used. In India coix can 

 hardly be said to enjoy any reputation for medicinal virtues. The Kev. 

 Dr. Campbell tells that among the Santals the root is given in strangury 

 and in the menstrual complaint known as silka. Dymock ( Veg. Mat. Med., 

 1885, 853) says the seeds are sold in the drug-shops of Bombay under the 

 name of kassai-bij. The authors of Pharmacographia Indica add that the 

 wild form only is used medicinally, and that it is considered strengthening 

 and diuretic. 



Chemical Properties. The grain of coix, both wild and cultivated, 

 has been subjected to chemical tests, and the somewhat conflicting results 

 obtained are possibly due to the botanical position of the particular plant 

 under examination not having been previously ascertained. In Church's 

 Food-Grains of India (1886, 60) occurs the following remark: "In the 

 sample of this grain which gave" the under-mentioned "analytical 



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