Page:Calcutta, Past and Present.djvu/163

 early traveller, who visited Surat in 1638, who described it as—

"palepuntz, which is a kind of drink consisting of aqua vitæ, rose-water, juice of citrons, and sugar, of which some took more than they could well carry away. At our ordinary meeting every day we took only thé, which is commonly used all over India, not only among those of the country, but also among the Dutch and English, who take it as a drug that cleanses the stomach, and digests the superfluous humours by a temperate heart particular thereto."

This appreciation of tea is interesting from its early date, 1638, as tea did not reach England till 1650, and it was not till some years later, when the East India Company had presented King Charles II. with a gift of two pounds of tea, that it began to be better known, and to be drunk in fashionable circles. Another hot drink which the earlier factors favoured was "burnt wine," made by boiling wine with spices, which was drunk in the morning, as hot as could be sipped, to "comfort the stomach."

The difficulty and expense of importing European wines and brandy led to the use of the native spirit arrack, which was the cause of an immense deal of drunkenness and terrible