ee * 
24 M. SEEMANN’S JOURNAL. 
| pursued in the north from those of the south I cannot say, but it is 
| certain that around Canton, whence great quantities are annually ex- 
| ported, the green tea is dyed with Prussian blue, turmeric, aud - 
| gypsum, all reduced into fine powder. The process is well described by | 
| Sir John F. Davis (* The Chinese,’ vol. iii. p. 244 et seg.), who, however, - 
| falls into the strange mistake of supposing the whole proceeding ob 
| colouring to be an adulteration, and leaves his readers to infer that it 
_ is only occasionally done in order to meet the urgency of the demand, | 
| while it is now very well known that all the green tea of Canton has | 
| assumed that colour by artificial dyeing. I had heard so much about 
| tea—copper-plates, picking of the leaves, rolling them up with the 
| fingers, boiling them in hot water, &c., &c.,—that I ‘became anxious 
| to see with my own eyes the process of manufacture, of which the 
| various books had given me such a confused idea. One of the great : 
| merchants conducted me not only to his own but also to another es- 
|"tablishment, where the preparation of the different sorts was going 
| forward. There was no concealment or mysterious proceeding ; 
| everything was conducted openly, and exhibited with great civility; 
. indeed, from all I saw in the country I am almost inclined to conclude - 
that either the Chinese have greatly altered, or their wish to conceal 
and mystify everything, of which so much has been said, never 
existed. 
|. The tea is brought to Canton vasprepatei: After its arrival it is. 
first subjected to cleaning. Women and children are employed to. 
pick out the pieces of twigs, seeds, and other impurities with which it 
happens to be intermixed. The only sorts which may be called natural 
are those gathered at different seasons: the rest are prepared by arti- 
ficial means; Without entering into a description of all these pro- 
cesses, it may suffice to take one as an example. A quantity of Bohea 
 Saushung was thrown into a spherical iron pan kept hot by means of 
a fire beneath. These leaves were constantly stirred about until they 
became thoroughly heated, when the dyes above mentioned were 
added, viz., to about twenty pounds of tea, one spoonfull of gypsum, 
* “one of turmeric, and two or even three of Prussian blue. The leaves 
| instantly changed into a bluish-green, and, having been stirred fora 
few minutes, were taken out. They, of course, had shrivelled and 
, assumed different shapes from the heat. The different kinds were 
à by sifting. The small*longish leaves fell through the first 
