96 A NATURALIST IN WESTERN CHINA 



being Monking Ting and Lif an Ting. The mountainous regions 

 of An Hsien and Shihch'uan Hsien constitute the north-western 

 tea district, the principal centre being the market village of 

 Lei-ku-ping within the district of An Hsien. The prepared 

 product, however, all passes through Shihch'uan Hsien, and 

 is controlled by specially appointed officials. The tea prepared 

 in this region is packed in oval bales, each weighing 65 to 70 

 catties (about 90 English pounds), encased in the usual 

 bamboo-matting. 



The routes by which Kuan Hsien and Shihch'uan Hsien 

 teas travel converge at Mao Chou, an important town situated 

 on the left bank of the Upper Min River, six days' journey 

 south of Sungpan Ting. To Mao Chou the tea is mostly carried 

 by men, two small or one large bale being the usual load. From 

 Mao Chou to Sungpan mules and ponies are largely employed 

 for transporting it, their loads being twice the weight of those 

 carried by men. Both women and men, however, are also 

 engaged in the carriage of tea from Mao Chou northward, 

 and the merchants constantly complain of insufficient means 

 of transport. 



The preparatory processes undergone by the tea destined 

 for the Sungpan market are less intricate than those described 

 for brick tea. The leaves and young branches are gathered, 

 panned, and dried in the sun. The panning process is some- 

 times omitted, and very commonly the bushes and their 

 overgrowth of coarse weeds are cut together, dried in the 

 sun, and tied into bundles. The leaves are collected into 

 sacks or bales, and with the bundles of leafy sticks carried down 

 to the market villages and sold to tea establishments. The 

 manufacturers allow the leaves to ferment in heaps for a few 

 days, and afterwards submit them to a rough sorting. The 

 sticks are chopped up with the coarse leaves and steamed over 

 a large pan of boiling water. The moist, heated mass is then 

 firmly pressed into bales, covered with matting, and allowed 

 to dry. 



The tea is practically all of one quality, and very little 

 superior to the most inferior kind entering Tachienlu. Cheap- 

 ness is the main consideration, a bale of 120 catties being 

 valued in Sungpan at Tls, 8. This trade is a monopoly in 



