4 EARLY HISTORY 



beverage became generally known. The same 

 work contains an allegory on tea, which ascribes its 

 discovery and introduction to Imperial notice in 

 the Heu Han dynasty * ; but it is designedly too full 

 of poetical anachronisms to be deemed of any weight 

 or authority. Nor does the author of this work 

 attach much importance to such fables, nor even 

 to accredited authorities which place the discovery 

 of the use of tea so early as the Heu Han dynasty ; 

 for he distinctly states, in a short preface to this 

 treatise, " That though tea is included in Shin 

 Nong's j* account of aliments, yet it was first used 

 as a beverage in the reign of Suey Ty, or Yen Ty, 

 and acknowledged good, though not much es- 

 teemed ; but from that time, and during the dynasty 

 of Tang J, it gained in reputation, and was abun- 

 dant in that of Sung §, being esteemed and used 

 everywhere." 



The preface here alluded to is immediately fol- 

 lowed by the Cha Kin, written by the learned 

 personage Lo-yu, already mentioned, who lived 

 in the dynasty of Tang, which is perhaps the most 

 ancient authentic description of tea contained in 

 the Chinese annals ; and as it also treats of the 

 qualities and effects of this plant, the reader may 

 not be unwilling to know what this writer says on 

 a subject which has occasioned such a diversity of 



* a.d. 221 to 279. f r - c - 3254 - 



X a.d. 618 to 906 § a.d. 960. 



