The Japanese, to whom tea is as valuable as it is to the Chinese, first reduce the leaves to a fine powder by grinding them in a small hand-mill made for the purpose, and then mix it with hot water to the consistency of a thin pulp, in which form it is sipped, not drank, particularly by the aristocracy and richer people, being made and served to visitors in the following manner: The tea-table, with the powdered tea enclosed in a box, is set before the company and the cups filled with boiling water as much of the powder as would cover the point of a knife put into each cup, which is then stirred and mixed with a curious denticulated instrument until the liquor foams, in which state it is served to the company, and sipped while warm. Customarily they strain the liquid before drinking, but frequently the tea and pulverized leaves are drank together in the same manner that the Turks and other Orientals use coffee. * * * * * In Cashmere a beverage called “Cha Tulch” is prepared from tea by boiling the leaves in a tin-lined copper pot to a strong, dark decoction, and while boiling briskly _phule_ (red potash), anise-seed and a little salt is added, after which it is poured into a kettle and finally served in porcelain tea-cups. It is also prepared there in a vessel termed a _Chajos_—kettle and tea-pot combined—and poured direct into the cups, but is used only after meals, more particularly after the morning repast. The morning meal, consisting of this decoction and some plain biscuit served hot. Another preparation, known as “churned tea,” made in a similar manner, but afterwards regularly churned like milk, is highly prized among them, being used exclusively for entertaining visitors. And there is no doubt that the Cashmere ladies talk scandal, vent their grievances and discuss their bonnets and their babies over this peculiar beverage in the same manner as do their more civilized sisters in America at their “five o’clock teas.” * * * * * Vumah cha or “Cream tea” is the favorite form in Turkestan in the preparation of which only Black tea is used, but is a much stronger decoction than that ordinarily made. The leaves are boiled in a copper pot and the color heightened by lifting spoonfuls up and letting them fall back again into the vessel while boiling, cream being added to it meantime and bread soaked in it, after which it is eaten. Another preparation termed Seen cha or “bitter tea” is made from Green tea infused in the regular way, but drawn for a shorter time, as the lighter the color the higher it is valued. * * * * *