Savannah courier. (Savannah, Tenn.) 1885-1979, 1892-08-04

,einh Is secrcted Dy Rlands inside the
birds bill. think it was Huxley who
facetiously remarked that these birds
built their nests "all out of their own
heads " native recipe for making
the soup reads, with characteristic
vagueness, like this: "Talse MS many
nests as are necessary, clean and pick
out the feathers, and boil in sufficient
water to make thin jelly. Pour this
over hard-boiled pigeons eggs, and float
on the top shreds of ham. Serve sweet.
ened if desired"
The number of edlbles in China is
legion, and their combinations are SIM
ply distracting. The people have
regular intuition for cooking, and every
mGn. woman and child can prepare a
good meal out of the most meager sup
ply of materials. Swcetmcats are eaten
by young and old, and one can scarcely
go anywhere without meeting ven4
dor of confectionery. Bright yellow
cakes of rice and sugar are sold to chill
dren at every street cornen and queer
tasting bonbons of bean flour, millet
seed or popped rice, candied seaweed,
melon rind and orange peel are eaten
in enormous quantities at New Years
time and other feasts. Every house,
wife prepares once year an enor.
nous sweet loaf of buclSwheat -four and
keeps it on hand to offer visitors with
tea. 1t ia as heavy as lead and viii
leinous compound, and, like the old
fashioned fruit cake of our grandmoth-
ers, lasts the year round, and its APP
pearance upon special occasions is in
evitable.
Table etiquette such as would please
Chinese host would shock and dis
gust an American one. Men keep on
their hats when eating, and 1t is quite
the proper caper" to make as much
noise as possible in tho process of mas
tication, for the more made the
greater is supposed to be the enjoy
ment experienced. Between courses
basin and towel are passed around,
and the guests mop off the face and
wash the hands. The more food
is consumed the better, for the
more the host is honorcd, and if it
seems necessary to refuse a second
helping the polite thing to say is: 20,
no, | dare not, for Pm afraid you
haven't enough" A host in properly
exercising his hospitality must press
his guests to eat, and the distressing
importantly with which one is urged
makes a foreigner feel very uncom-
| Portable.
! Because elaborate dinner sets come
from China, it must not be supposed
that these are used by the natives
themselves. They are manufactured
for foreign trade only. A native set
consists of simply a great number of
bowls of different sizes, colors and
shapes, chopsticks, and chinaware
spoons about the size of a dessert spoon,
with short, curved handles. The chop
sticks are of silver, ivory or wood, and
are held in the hand much as we would
hold lead pencil. A very slight mo-
ton causes their tips to approximate,
and pieces of food are easily grasped
by them, and they are only used in
grasping and showing, for Chinaman
can no more eat liquids with them than
we can eat soup with fork. The dex-
terity with which they are used is rash
ly over-estimated, for food of semi
solid nature, such as rice, is eaten by
placing the bowl to the lips and push
ing the contents into the mouth with
the sticks, and one viewing family Of
the best cultured eating meal in the
most approved fashion thinks it any
thing but a dainty process.
A cup of tea finishes every repast,
but it is not such cup as would satisfy
our depraved taste, for the native arti-
Gle is a tiny affair scarcely larger than
a thimblc. Tea is taken upon all oc-
casions, by both sexes and all classes,
and tea-drinking is a simple yet al
ways formal affair A native tea set
consists of large pot for water, a
smaller one for tea and ever so many
tiny handleless cups set i'll groups of
six upon little trays of lacquer or of
china Boiling water is brought in the
larger and poured over the tea in the
smaller pot and then almost immedi-
ately poured off into the cups. The
host or hostess then takes tray in
both hands-it would be very impolitc
to take it in one-and bowing low Of
fers it. The guest selects the very
nearest, bows low and receives it in
both hands. He must then ask the
host to drink with him, and both con-
sumo the amber liquid in little sips,
In China tea is never drank with milk
and sugar, and though always very
strong never has that ''pucllery" taste
that comes of long boiling. All vari-
eties have flavor much like our best
grades of black tea, for the green tea
of commerce is a vile compound not even
tolerated on native soil. The real
green tea cannot be exported because
it is very liable to undergo fermenta-
ton when exposed to the damp sea air.
1t then turns black, and the substitu-
tion for expectation that comes to our
market is made by coloring the leaves
with Prussian blue and gypsum. Nose
of the exported teas possess their orig.
inal flavor, for all that are intended
for shipping are submitted to an extra
drying process at the seaport. This is
very injurious, for it drives off much Of
the flavoring principle and aroma
The caravan teas of Russia owe theil
superiority to having escaped this last
port drying, which is so fatal to a fine
flavor. Detroit Free Press.
---
why Red Anglers an Ok.
The reason why anything of rec
color excites and infuriates the on
tribe is because red is the compile
mentary color of green, and the eyes
of oxen being long fixed upon the
green heritage while feeding, wher
they espy anything red it impresso'
their sight with greatly increased in
tensity. The same effect is doubtless
produced upon all grazing animals
by red color, but oxen, being mor'