. There they are
obliged to use the last pickings of tea, commonly known as
"brick tea," which is very poor and coarse in quality. It is
pressed into bricks about eight by twelve inches in size, and
whenever a quantity of it is needed a piece is knocked off and
pulverized in a kettle of boiling water. Other ingredients,
consisting of suit, milk, butter, a little pepper, and vinegar, are
added, and this combination constitutes the entire meal of the
family.

Tea in China and Japan is the stand-by of every meal--the
never-failing and ever-ready refreshment. Besides being the
courteous offering to the visitor, it serves a high purpose in the
home life of these peoples; uniting the family and friends in
their domestic life and pleasures at all times and seasons. At
home round the brazier and the lamp in winter evenings, at
picnic parties and excursions to the shady glen during the fine
season, tea is the social connecting medium, the intellectual
stimulant and the universal drink of these far-and-away peoples.

[Illustration of Japanese garden]

_TEA-DRINKING IN OTHER LANDS_

While tea-drinking outside of Japan and China is not attended
with any "high-days and holidays," still there are countries
where it is just as important element of the daily life of its
people as it is in the Land of the Rising Sun.

Among the Burmese a newly-married couple, to insure a happy
life, exchange a mixture of tea-leaves steeped in oil.

In Bokhara, every man carries a small bag of tea about with him.
When he is thirsty he hands a certain quantity over to the
booth-keeper, who makes the beverage for him. The Bokhariot, who is
a confirmed tea-slave, finds it just as hard to pass a tea-booth
without indulging in the herb as our own inebriates do to go by
a corner cafe. His breakfast beverage is _Schitschaj_--tea in
which bread is soaked and flavored with milk, cream, or mutton
fat. During the daytime he drinks green tea with cakes of flour
and mutton suet. It is considered a gross breach of manners to
cool the hot tea by blowing the breath. This is overcome by
supporting the right elbow in the left hand and giving an easy,
graceful, circular movement to the cup. The time it takes for
each kind of tea to draw is calculated to a second. When the can
is emptied it is passed around among the company for each
tea-drinker to take up as many leaves as can be held between the
thumb and finger; the leaves being considered a special dainty.