I 



79 



the presence of a volatile oil, which he proceeded to distil from a 

 strong tea infusion. The smell and taste of this oil weie in its 

 concentrated form disagreeable, but unmistakeably feaAike. It 

 was, in fact, a poison, capable of doing great mischief to stomach 

 and brain. Another principle in tea was the well-known tannin, 

 by which the drinkers of strong tea tanned their mucous 

 membrane. Pouring a solution of an iron salt into tea, he 

 produced a black liquid, which was, in fact, common ink, and 

 stated that those delicate ladies who took steel drops on rising, 

 and breakfasted on tea and toast, were but porcelain ink bottles, 

 white outside and black within. 



The different varieties of tea were not, as was often sup- 

 posed, the produce of different shrubs, though a delicate kind 

 called imperial tea, which was never exported, but which he had 

 drunk and much enjoyed at the house of a mandarin, was grown 

 from a slightly different variety. The difference between Hyson 

 and Souchong, Bohea, and Pekoe, was, in fact, that between the 

 same leaf gathered at different times, or dried in a different 

 manner. Those who tried to preserve flowers often found that 

 delicate colours could be fixed by the use of a hot flat iron, and 

 in like manner the green tea was made to preserve its colour by 

 rapid drying, while the black was subjected to a more tedious 

 process. Leaves plucked while young were delicate and juicy, 

 those of older growth were strong flavoured. Others, as the 

 Orange Pekoe, contained the flavouring matter of other plants. 



We could not say of these varieties that one was better than 

 the other — it was a question of taste. But adulteration was 

 another matter. In China tea was often mixed with " devil's 

 dust," the filthy sweepings of the warehouse. Such tea, allowed 

 to float in cold water, would contribute sand to the bottom, dust 

 and wool to the top, and often animalculse to the middle of the 

 tumbler. High coloured tea, wrapped in a handkerchief and 

 steeped in warm water, would often dye it blue, sho"vving that 

 indigo or Prussian blue had been sprinkled over the leaves. 



