— 222 — 



the eminent connoisseur of Japan vvrites ') that, according to ancient Japanese 

 records, tea cane o.iginally froin Corea, wheiice it was broiight to China 

 in 828 A. D., and between this year and aboiit 1203 A. D., from the latter 

 country to Japan. So anyhow, it is granted that Japan is not the original 

 home of the tea plant; but this Japanese account seems to suggest that 

 China also is not, and that the honour should be due to Corea instead — 

 and this certainly is a mis-representation, since we saw in the preceding 

 chapter that tea was already kown in very early periods of Chinese literature. 

 Besides, the climate of Corea is hardly suited to the needs of the tea plant 

 as we know it; and this same argument should be applied with regard 

 to the assertion (by Fontanier, see the preceding chapter) that Manclmria 

 should be the native country, or at least, that tea should ,,grow wild" 

 there. Turning to another extrême now, viz.. Ceylon, no serious arguments 

 were ever adduced to prove this hypothesis, for, as we shall see in the 

 course of this chapter, every record of ,,wild tea" having been found there, 

 is due to mistake. There is much more probability in the idea that the isleof 

 Hai-nan should shelter a wild tea plant, as Rev, B. C. Henry (not to be 

 mistaken for the well-known botanist dr A. Henry) reports^): „He cannot 

 „doubt that tea is realiy wild hère, as it occurs hère and there in the 

 ,,thick jungle, associated with other plants." The reason why 1 attach more 

 importance to this testimony than to the preceding ones, is, firstly that this isle 

 lies very near to the Shan countries, and forms so to say a natural conti- 

 nuation of (hese; but then especially, that the accessory circumstances are 

 the same hère and yonder: the natives are Lao's, they do not cultivate the 

 plant but coilect the leaves and sel! them under the name of ,,Lai tea". 

 This, indeed, supports the belief that it is the same ,,wild tea" in both 

 cases; we will, however, in chapter VI hâve to face the probability that not 



„Die Tlieepflanze miisse einheimiscli sein niclit nur in Assam, sondern in dem 

 „ganzen Monsungebiete Ostasiens; sie liame in demselben nordwârts bis zu den 

 „sudjapanischen Inseln vor. Er habe an vielen Stellen der Insel Scliikoku und sogar 

 ,,in der Umgegend der Stadt Kotsclii wildwaclisende Pflanzen gefunden. Sie l<àmen 

 ,,vor an den Abhangen der Berge, weiclie in dieser Provinz niemals bebaut gewesen 

 ..wàren und aucti heiite noch niclit diclit bevôikert seien. Wie die Englânder in 

 ,, Assam, so rodeten aucti die Jipaner die Wàlder ans, aber sie liessen die Tliee- 

 „pflanzen .,in tlie form of plantations of wild tea" wactisen. 



..Die Wilde Tlieepflanze erreiche eine Hôhe von 3-5' (0.90-1. 50 m), die Bliiten 

 ..seien ein wenig kleiner als die der angebauten Art, aber die Blâtter seien an den 

 ..Rândern niclit ziiriickgebogen (..recurved on the edges"). In einigen Wâldern sei die 

 ,,Pflanze sehr haufig, 'n anderen kânie sie seltener vor, sie findesicti zwischen ande- 

 „ren immergrunen Strauchern, wachsend ini Schatten von Quercus glabra und ahn- 

 ..lichen Bâumen, welche den Hauptbestandtheil der immergrunen Wâlder Siidjapans 

 „bildeten." 



His conclusion is. that the tea plant has from the earliest times, formed Iwo 

 varieties. the Assamese and the Chinese, of which the latter still grows in South- 

 ern Japan in a wild condition. 1 cannot refrain from expressing my utter incre- 

 dulity at this statement, however positive it is; to my opinion either the plant is no 

 tea plant, or it is not indigenous- 

 ') P. F. Von Siebold 1852, p. 3. 

 2) See H. F. Hance 1885, p. 321. 



