JOIIANN CARL LEUCHS ON WINES. 187 



wines of Piatra have a slight similarity to the Tokay. Bosnia, 

 Servia, Turkish Dalmatia, and Bulgaria do not export any. 



The wines of Asiatic Turkey arc but little known in Europe. 

 Anatolia has some export, especially of Mondania, a pretty good 

 white wine. Syria exports more ; and her wines are somewhat 

 similar to those of Bordeaux. The best one is from Libanon, 

 named the Gold Wine. They make there, also, wine from must, 

 condensed by boiling. Palestine herself produces not a great 

 deal of wine, but the environs of Jerusalem give a good white 

 wine. In Mesoj)Otamia the wines of Bajazet are the best. In 

 Arabia the grapes are raised more for raisins than for wine. 



Throughout the whole of Persia the grape-vine is cultivated. 

 Notwithstanding that most of her inhabitants profess the religion 

 of Mohammed, they drink wines in secret, as they formerly did 

 publicly. They raise from ten to fourteen kinds of grapes — white, 

 blue, black, and red. The most distinguished of them is a white 

 variety, with pretty large berries, of a sweet and agreeable taste, 

 like our Muscats. In Ispahan the vines are trained upon trellises, 

 and bear profusely — about ten times as much as those treated in 

 the common way. Being a country of a warm climate, the grapes 

 are ripe and gathered toward the end of August. In the region of 

 Shiraz a great deal of wine is produced, especially the renowned 

 Shiraz, made from a red grape. Besides this latter, there is still 

 another distinguished grape, called Kischbaba, which has no seeds, 

 and its berries are large, white, very sweet, and of a fine taste. 

 The wines of Shiraz are partly made of must, previously con- 

 densed by boiling, and partly of half-dry grapes. In Erivan tra- 

 dition has it that Noah planted his first vines. 



In China the grape culture was much in vogue nineteen centu- 

 ries ago, and the provinces of Chausi, Chensi, Petchely, Chantong, 

 Honan, and Hougnana, then produced plenty of wine. But at 

 present these people prefer their tea, and a warm beverage, made 

 - like our beer, but from rice instead of barley. The grapes raised 

 at Honan, Chantong, and Chansi are now made into raisins of su- 

 perior quality. 



The district of Hanir, northwest from China, exports very fine 

 and sweet raisins. 



In Japan grape-vines are abundant, but no wine is made from 

 them. 



In the East Indies vine culture exists in some places. In the 

 province of Lahore very good wines are made. 



In Cochin China wild grapes are common, but they are not 

 used for wine-making. 



In Australia recently some satisfactory experiments have been 

 made in cultivating grapes. 



