John Sumner Popular Treatise on Tea

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Whilst the greatest effort has been made to ensure the quality of this text, due to the historical nature of this content, in some rare cases there may be minor issues with legibility. Arabian merchant, who wrote an account of his travels about the year ad. 850. The Chinese legend relates That a pious hermit who, in his watchings and prayers, had often been overtaken by sleep, so that his eyelids closed; in holy wrath against the weakness of the flesh, cut them off and threw them on the ground. But a god caused a tea shrub to spring out of them; the leaves of which exhibit the form of an eyelid bordered with lashes, and possess the gift of hindering sleep. A similar story is related concerning the introduction of Coffee into Arabia. Both legends were, probably, invented long after the qualities of Tea and Coffee were known.