THE LITTLE TEA BOOK 



tea-drinker to take up as many leaves 

 as can be held between the thumb 

 and finger ; the leaves being consid- 

 ered a special dainty. 



An English traveller once jour- 

 neying through Asiatic Eussia was 

 obliged to claim the hospitality of a 

 family of Buratsky Arabs. At meal- 

 time the mistress of the tent placed 

 a large kettle on the fire, wiped it 

 carefully with a horse's tail, filled it 

 with water, threw in some coarse tea 

 and a little salt. When this was 

 nearly boiled she stirred the mixture 

 with a brass ladle until the liquor be- 

 came very brown, when she poured it 

 into another vessel. Cleaning the ket- 

 tle as before, the woman set it again 

 on the fire to fry a paste of meal and 

 fresh butter. IJpon this she poured 

 the tea and some thick cream, stirred 



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