TEA. 



195 



The phnenta cle cheiro, or scented pepper, is 

 likewise common, but it requires more care in 

 rearing, and is a smaller shrub than the mala- 

 gaeta. The pods are of a bright red in general, 

 but sometimes they are, naturally, of a pale yel- 

 low colour ; they are round, and about the size 

 of a crab apple. 



Tea is stated to be indigenous in Brazil. * A 

 priest of considerable reputation as a botanist, 

 told me that he had discovered this plant in the 

 neighbourhood of Olinda ; but afterwards again 

 he informed me that he was afraid he had been 

 too sanguine, t 



the .revenue, but of operating as a prohibition of the use of 

 it, as it is supposed to have been extensively employed in the 

 brewing of malt-liquor. The Directors, however, have great 

 reason to doubt the existence of the deleterious qualities 

 ascribed to this drug; as they find it to be universally 

 esteemed in Africa one of the most wholesome of spices, and 

 generally used by the natives to season their food." — Fourth 

 Report of the Directors of the African Institution, p. 16. 



If this article and the malagucta of Brazil are the same, I 

 should be strongly inclined to agree with the Report ; and 

 indeed 1 conceive that it is not only harmless but extremely 

 wholesome. A decoction of the pods is used among the 

 peasantry as an injection in aguish disorders. 



* Noticias MSS. quoted by Mr. Southey, History of 

 Brazil, vol. i. p. 320. 



■j* Labat says, " A I'egard clu the, il croit naturellemcnt aux 

 isles. Toutes les terres ltd sont propres, jen ai vil en qunn- 

 titi a la Basseterre,' &c. — Nouveau Voyage, &c. torn, i v. 

 p. 225. 



He mentions it again, and seems to be quite confident that 

 the plant of which he speaks is the tea shrub. 



2 



