Tartary.
The beer to be met with in Tartary is for the most part of an indifferent quality. That brewed from barley and millet by the Turkestans, termed baksoum, more resembles water boiled with rice than beer. They, however, admire it, and affirm that it is an invaluable remedy for dysentery. The reader will have already perceived that it is a cosmopolitan practice to pamper the appetite under the pretence of preserving the health. Baksoum is acid in taste, of no scent, a feeble intoxicant, and cannot be kept for any length of time.
Non-Alcoholic Drinks.
TEA.
I.
Popularity of Tea as a Drink—Consumption in England, and comparative Use all over the World—Legend of its Origin—Date of its Use—Growth of the Plant—Different Kinds of Tea—Great Falling off in the Exports from China—Ceylon Tea—High Prices of—Statistics—Analysis of Tea.