— 197 — 



tea plant has to be eradicated after seven years, because leaf-productiori 

 becomes too insignificant after that time '). 



The above facts explain the origin of the name ,,Java-seed", in use 

 among Java planters to designate seed from China plants grown in Java, 

 in distinction from the erroneously so-called ,,Assam seed", which term 

 comprises seed varieties from Manipur, Cachar and others, as well as the 

 true „Assam indigenous" type. A sketch of the history of the British indian 

 tea plant may follow hère, to elucidate the circumstances under which this 

 large-leaved variety or subspecies was discovered and brought under 

 cultivation; it is clear that those circumstances materiaily affect our ideas 

 on the genetical properties of the plant in question. 



The introduction of tea cultivation in Java was a conséquence of the 

 Personal activity or the versatility of one Governor-General, in British 

 India it was an urgent affair that caused the Government to take this 

 important step. Hitherto the British East-Indian Company had relied entirely 

 upon its monopoly of the tea trade with China, and did not deem it 

 necessary to make any trial to ascertain the possibility of growing the 

 plant in the Indian territory. In 1833, however, the treaty with China 

 expired, and this country, disinclined to let a large share of the profits 

 slip into foreign hands any longer, refused to renew the monopoly; and 

 so the Company had hastily to make up for the omission. Early in 1834, 

 the Governor-General, Lord W. Bentinck, appointed a commission to 

 inquire into the possibility of tea cultivation in India. This commission 

 (consisting of Messrs. Wali.ich, Royle, Falconer and Jameson) proposed 

 to try the districts Kumaon and Dehra Dhun, N. W. Himalaya, and G. J. 

 Gordon was sent to China to get plants and seeds. 



He was already there, when the news came that capt. Jenkins and 

 lient. Charlton had discovered wild-growing tea in Upper-Assam. This 

 discovery or rather rediscovery has given rise to much controversy as to 

 who was the true discoverer. The subséquent account has'been derived 

 from Sir George Watt's „Dictionary of the économie products of India", 

 1893, under tho heading ,,Tea", and partly from D. Crole's ,,Tea", p. 23. 2) 



It appears, then, that major R. Bruce, while exploring in Northern 

 Assam, in 1823, made an arrangement with a Singpho chief ^), that this 



') Probably this idea refers to the ancieiit Chinese methods, which hâve become 

 absolutely obsolète in Europeaii Colonies. 



2) This author mentions a „tea tree" in Khatmandu (Népal) of which E. Gardner 

 sent leaves as early as 1816 to Calcutta. This plant was not China tea. Indeed, it 

 was described by N. Wallich (1820) under the name Camellia Kissi, a synonym 

 of C. drupijera LouR. according to modem views. 



3) The Singphos (called Chingpaw in Burma) are a Tibeto-Burmese tribe, occupying 

 Upper Burma and the Northern Shan States. „It seems .... probable, that the 

 „Chingpaw were not so much a rear guard (of the indo-Chinese race) as a 

 „simultaneously moving horde, coming from the east and north while the other 

 „Tibeto-Burmans came from the west. They clashed together, the others were 

 „diverted south, and the Chingpaw spread over ail the hills at the headwaters of 

 „the Irawaddy and Chindwin". J. G. ScOTT 1906, p. 91—93. Italics are mine. 



