DRINKS.
2,49
salutaris,
npmlne
Chia,
calidu^
hauritur,
ut
apud
Japonios
:
Cujus
maxime
beneficio,
pituitam,
grave'
dinem,
lippitudinem
nesciunt
;
vitam
bene
longam,
sine
ullo
ferme
languore
traducunt,
oleis
alicubi
carent."
"
Although
they
do
not
extract
wine from
the
vines
as
we
do,
but
have
a
custom
of
preserving
the
grapes
as
a
kind
of
condiment
for
the
winter,
they
yet
press
oCit
of
a
certain
herb,
a
liquor
which
is
very
healthy
which
is
called
Chia,
and
they
drink
it
hot,
as
do
the
Japanese.
And
the
use
of
this
causes
them
not
to
know
the
meaning
of
phlegm,
heaviness
of
the
head,
or
running
of
the
eyes,
but they
live
a
long
and
happy
life,
without
pain,
or
infirmity
of
any
sort."
Another
early
mention
of
it
is
in
a
book
by
Giovanni
Botero,^
which
was
translated
into
English
by
Robert
Peterson,
"
of
Lincolne's
Inne,
Gent."
He
says
(p-
75
)«
"
They
haue
also
an
herbe,
out
of
which
they
presse
a
delicate
iuyce,
which
serues
them
for
drincke
instead
of
wyne.
It
also
preserues
their
health,
and
frees
them
from
all
those
euills,
that
the
immoderat
vse
of
wyne
doth
breed
vnto
us."
Early
in
the
seventeenth
century
tea
was
becoming
known
in
Europe,
mainly
through
the
instrumentality
of
the
Dutch
East
India
Company,
and
we
learn
much
about
it
in
the
y/ritings
of
Father
Alexandre
de
Rhodes,
who,
after
thirty-five
years'
travel,
gave
the
benefit
of
his
experiences
to
the
public.
He
left
Rome
in
October,
1618,
and
thus
writes
about
"
De
I'Vsage
du
Tay,
qui
^
Delle
Cause
della
gfandezza
delle
Citta,
etc.,
del
Giovanni
Botero.
MilanOy
ed.
1596,
p.
61.