' — 230 - 



which the leppett-tea of the Upper Chindwin river lias sprung, were 

 introduced from the East (C. W. A. Bfwce in „Leppett tea" 1896); that 

 tea plants were imported into Assam by Shan immigrants (C. A. Bruce 1839 

 and 1840); that the Lao tea plant in Chiengmai was brought „from else- 

 where" (Kerr). 



Now. it is certainly true that such popular traditions are deceptive; 

 but we i<now equally well that the Chinese frequently visited Burma and 

 that Assam still bears numerous vestiges of the invasions from Upper- 

 Burma'); and it is an established fact, as we saw in the preceding chap- 

 ters, that tea seeds were carried from the Chindwin district to Manipur, 

 and that Assam tea has been sown in Southern Burma — though it is 

 European influence that has effected this intercourse, thèse instances clearly 

 show that such a transport may hâve taken place at ail. 



Again, it is known that important roads lead from Sze-chuen to Tibet, 

 north of the Ante-Tibetan range; the caravans to Europe always went 

 this way, and at présent the traffic is still very active. Morse ^) records 

 that Sze-chuen sends brick tea to Tibet via Ta-tchin-lu or via Sung-pan^). 

 both places being situated at a relatively short distance from the tea 

 district Ya-chow. Should there be any reason for surprise, if a travellerfound 

 tea plants in Tibet? Indeed, what can be simpler than that those caravans 

 should hâve carried tea seeds, as well as the prepared leaves? 



But in order to avoid misunderstanding, I hâve to state expressly 

 that I do not wish to prompt the idea (as De Candolle apparently did) 

 that ail tea outside the régions bordering on the Ante-Tibetan mountain- 

 range, were brought from those régions, just as ail tea in Java or Mauritius 

 has quite certainly been introduced from the Asiatic continent. In my 

 opinion it is, however, probable from the facts epitomized in this chapter, 

 that transport and conseqnently hybridizatlon of tea varieties hâve taken place 

 in sevcral countries. We may venture to admit that the direction of this 



') An authoritative person drew my attention to thèse Indochinese influences in Assam, 

 and to the fact that the tea plant did not occur there in a scattered condition, but 

 growing in patches, which perhaps is to be considered as a vestige of ancient cul- 

 tivation (compare the account of Satow from Chiengmai!). Besides he pointed out 

 to me, that the existing,, méridional" distribution of political influence in Indochina 

 is of comparatively récent origin and that it was preceded by a distribution of power 

 in Unes that ran at right angles to the existing ones. The old empire of Pong 

 stretched from the base of the Easter Himalaya to the Gu!f of Tong-king, while 

 south of this lay a siniilar „East to West" state that extended from Arakan to Cam- 

 bodia. Thus, the former embraced ail Shan and Singpho districts. Thèse suggestions 

 are, in my opinion, of very much importance to our problem. 



Other suggestions point in the same direction. F. i. Me Clelland seems to hâve 

 pronounced the view (in a ,, Report on the physical conditions of the Assam tea 

 plant" 1837, not accessible to me at présent, but to which my attention was drawn 

 by KiEFER 1902, p. 9) that those dense colonies of tea plants in Assam had been 

 expressly planted by man. Evidence from an ethnographie point of view may be 

 found in SCHtRMAN 1915. 



-') H. B. Morse 1913, p. 310. 



3) Compare E. H. WiLSON 1906 (XXXIX), p. 402. 



