302 THE HOLY LAND. 
CHAP, herb, named Sah, as a cure for oil diseases ; which 
VII. 
■ is proved to be the same now called Tea by 
European nations '. 
In the commotions and changes that have 
taken place in Jerusalem, the Convent of St. Sal- 
vador has been often plundered and stripped of 
its effects. Still, however, the riches of the 
treasury are said to be considerable ; but the 
principal part of its wealth is very properly 
concealed from all 'chance of observation. At 
Library, prcscnt, it lias a small library, full of books of 
little value, the writings of polemical divines, 
and stale dissertations upon peculiar points of 
faith. We examined them carefully, but found 
(I) " Le Roy se reserve aussi le revenu qui provient des mines de sel, 
et d'une herbe qu'ils boivent avec de I'eau chaude, dont il se vend une 
grande quantite dans toutes les villes, ce qui produit de grandes soinines. 
On I'appelle Sih ; et c'est un arbrisseau qui a plus de feuilles que le gre- 
nadier, et dont I'odeur est un peu plus agreal>le, niais qui a quelque amer- 
tume. On fait bouillir de I'eau, on la verse sur cette feuille : et cette 
boisson les guerit de toutes sortes de maux." {^Anciennes Hdations de 
deux Vuyagcurs Mahometans, SiC. p. ^\. Paris, 1718.) Eusebius Eenaudot, 
the learned French translator of the original Arabic manuscript of these 
Travels, in the Notes which he added to the Work, proves the plant here 
mentioned to have been the Tea Tree, called Chah by the Chinese, and by 
other Oriental nations Tcha Ccttu'ii, or Sini ; the Tcha of Cata'i, or of 
China. (Ibid. p. 222.) " Notre aiiteur," sat/s he, " est le plus ancien, 
et presque le seal des Arabes qui ait parle de la boisson Chinoise, si com- 
mune presentement dans toute 1' Europe, et connue sous le nom de T/ic." 
