The ancient, most famous wines of this country were those of Chorassan, Turan, and Mazanderan. These places still produce wines; but their characteristics and reputation have, it is affirmed, become blended in the wine of Shiraz, in the province of Ferdistan, on the Persian Gulf. Chardin, the Frenchman, describes this wine as of excellent quality, but of course not so fine as the French wines. The German, Kämpfer, puts Shiraz on the same level with the best Burgundy and Champagne. He who wishes to learn the nature of the wine of Shiraz should consult the _Diwan_ of Hafiz. How far this poet speaks of wine literally understood, and how far of spiritual delights, is a matter for commentatorial investigation. Persian wine is frequently mixed with _raki_ and saffron, and the extract of hemp. _Sherbet_, made of fruit juices and water, is English rather than Oriental. [Illustration] PORTUGAL. PORTUGAL: Peso da Regoa—Four Methods of Cultivation of Vine—White and Black Ports—The _Quintas_—Tarragona—Charneco. RUSSIA: Kahetia—Gumbrinskoé. SICILY: Marsala. SPAIN: Malaga—Sherry—Amontillado. SWITZERLAND: Chiavenna—St. Gall—The Canton of Vaud. CIDER: Derivation—Ainsworth—Gerard—Bacon—Evelyn—Turberville—Macaulay—Phillips. PERRY. One hundred and fifty years ago, in the small town of Peso da Regoa, then called Regua only, near the confluence of the Corgo with the Douro, lived a single fisherman, in a hut which he had himself constructed. When the Oporto Wine Company was established, their warehouses were erected here, and an annual fair for the sale of wine was established. Peso da Regoa—the Peso comes from an adjoining village—is now a thriving town, and may be considered the capital of the Alto Douro district (_Paiz Vinhateiro do Alto Douro_), whence are sent to England and elsewhere those wines which are here known as Port. The wine district is bounded by Villa Real on the north, Lamego on the south, S. João da Pesqueira on the east, and Mezãofrio on the west. It is unwholesome, and but thinly populated. Those who list may draw from this fact a divine prohibition of the bibbing of Port. The vine is cultivated in Portugal in four ways. (1) By being trained round oaks or poplars _de enforcado_, as the Romans _ulmisque adjungere vites_. (2) By the terrace system, the best as (1) is the most picturesque. (3) By bushes in rows, with the intermediate ground ploughed. (4) By the trellis or _de ramada_. The first liquor drawn from the _lagar_, or press, the result of the weight of the grapes alone, is called _Lacryma Christi_. After that a gang of men jump into the _lagar_, and dance to the sound of the fife or bagpipe. The weather is warm, the work is hard; the result is better conceived than expressed.