— 217 — 



the activity of some missionaries, who imported ail the seed required. As 

 to Laos, 1 hâve not managed to find any data aboiit tea in that région. 



The next tea district to which we shall proceed now, is Cochinchina; 

 vve may observe first of ail that a large river intersects this French colony too, 

 viz., the Me-khong which as we see on the map, has its upper course in Tibet 

 and Yun-nan, and there flows in the immédiate neighbourhood of the l-bang 

 tea district. Downwards it makes its way successively through or along Burma, 

 Siam, An-nam, Laos and Cambodia towards tlie great delta in Cochinchina. 



From LouREiRO's vague description ') one niight understand that his 

 „Thea cochinchinensis"' (8 feet high, sparsely branched), looked something 

 like the Assam type, as compared with the typically Q\\\x\qsq „Thea canîo- 

 niensis" (4 feet high, densely branched, with Ihick rigid leaves), but ncither 

 do we know if it has anything to do with „Assam tea", nor whereitgrew 

 in LouREiRO's time; for, when he says that it existed both wild and 

 cultivated ,,in the northern provinces of Cochinchina", he may hâve meant 

 Tong-king as well as the présent territory of Cochinchina. A more récent 

 report 2) leaves us in the dark as to the botanical type of the plant that 

 is cultivated hère, in the environment of the Me-khong delta, espccially 

 near Thuduc and Thudaumot (situated between Saigon and Bienhoa), but 

 the native name ,,Trà Huê" = An-nam tea perhaps points to importation 

 in former times. An interesting feature of this very primitive native industry 

 is that the leaves are .,plucked ' only once a year by cutting ail the 

 branches off the main stem — the same practice that is in use with the 

 mountain tribes in northern Tong-king! From récent reports 2) 1 only 

 learnt that at Hocmôn there exist 300000 tea plants, but, once more, 

 particulars concerning their botanical type are missing. 



Fortunately, much is known concerning the mid course of the Me- 

 khong, which is scientifically more important, in Upper Siam a kind of 

 tea is grown, which is manufactured and taken in a primitive way by the 

 natives. They steam the fresh leaf above boiling water, and préserve it in 

 bundles, in pits lined with leaves; they drink the extract, or chew the 

 leaf when they hâve heavy work to do "*). Thèse aborigines are the so-called 

 Shans, which name implies a group of allied tribes inhabiting southern 

 Yun-nan and the northern tracts of Siam and Burma. Now, it seems that 

 this primitive manufacture, with slight modifications, is to be met with in 

 a great many localities in the Siamese and Burmese Shan States. In Siam 

 the product is called ,,mieng" or Lao tea ^), in Burma „letpet" or ,,leppet"6), 



') |. De Loureiro 1793, p. 338. Cf. also Uie 5tli cliapter. It is remarkable that liis 

 T/ica olcosa (synonymoiis witti Camcllia driipifcra LouR. ??) is called ,,Yêu châ" by 

 the natives (p. 339) which name reininds us of the „yeh ch'a" or wild tea mentioned 

 by BoURNE. T. olcosa is said to be cultivated round Can-ton. 



2) „Thé de Cochinchine" 1900. 



3) „Bulletin Agricole" 1916. 



4) „Lao tea" 1892, p. 222. 



■^) „Lao tea" 1892. Lao is one of the Shan tribes. 



«) „Leppctt tea" 1896, p. 12. According to Watt (1908), more particulars in The 

 Agricult. Ledger, 1896, Nr. 27, p. 235. 



