that tea was unknown in Russian Court circles as late as 1639.

But Russia and Persia seem to have naturalized tea as a beverage
about the same time that it became known in England. Little is
said about Persian tea-drinking in modern writing upon tea, but
the testimony of many travelers bears witness to the national
love of tea by Persians.

The Encyclopedia Britannica concedes to the Dutch, the honor of
being the first European tea-drinkers, and states that early
English supplies of tea were obtained from Dutch sources. It is
related by Dr. Thomas Short, (A Dissertation on Tea, London,
1730), that on the second voyage of a ship of the Dutch East
India Co. to China, the Dutch offered to trade Sage, as a very
precious herb, then unknown to the Chinese, at the rate of three
pounds of tea for one pound of Sage. The new demand for sage at
one time exhausted the supply, but after a while the Orientals
had a surfeit of sage-tea, and concluded that Chinese tea was
quite good enough for Chinamen. If the European traders had known
the virtue of sage-tea for stimulating the growth of human hair,
and had given the Orientals the cue, sage leaves might have
retained their high value with the Chinese until now.

In these days, it may be remarked, the Dutch are said to drink as
much tea per capita as the Russians, who are as fond of tea as
the Chinese.

While both the English and Dutch East India Companies exhibited
in England small samples of tea as curiosities of barbarian
customs very early in the 17th century, tea did not begin to be