542 



wrecked), who were picked up by the vessel in which he was a passen- 

 ger, — at least, I believe so. Compton showed me a leaf of the plant. 

 It seemed like a good-sized sycamore-leaf, very downy on the under 

 side : but it was so shrivelled up, that it was scarcely possible to say 

 what it was ; and being the only one he had left, Compton would not 

 let me steep it in hot water. I saw a small root also, a curious-look- 

 ing thing, apparently of a marsh or water-loving plant, the pith run- 

 ning down to the very end. It seemed to be jointed, and was furnished 

 with fibres at certain distances. Compton has magnificent specimens 



of the pith, as long as my arm and as thick as ray wrist It is 



quite certain now that it is a production of Formosa, whence large 

 quantities are brought over in native craft to Chinchew, where it is 

 cut into thin sheets for the manufacture of artificial flowers, its 

 principal use. It must occur in great plenty, as it is a very cheap 

 article there. Compton has given me a beautiful piece of the pith, 

 cleaned and prepared for cutting into sheets. It is as white as snow, 

 about 2\ inches long, and a solid cylinder of rather more than an inch 

 in diameter. An incision has been made down to the centre, or nearly 

 so, through the whole length; so that this piece would furnish several 

 sheets 3^ inches square. From the size of some of the sheets we see, 

 it is evident that the pith, after being cleaned and prepared, must 

 sometimes measure more than 2 or even 2^^ inches in diameter ; so 

 that the gigantic size of the plant, as represented in the Chinese draw- 

 ing which Sir W. Hooker copied in his Journal, may not be out of 

 nature. 



As we have an opium vessel stationed in the Chinchew River, I shall 

 make a strong effort to get some living plants through our schrofTs. 

 The name of the place from which the wrecked men said it came, is 

 Chick-Cham-fan, in the district of Cheong-fa, in Formosa, according 

 to the Canton pronunciation, or Chuh-tseen-fun, in Chang-heva, in 

 Mandarin dialect. 



Manufacture of Green Tea. By B. Seemann.* (See Phytol.iv. 514). 



In the 'Manual of Scientific Inquiry' you ask whether, in the 

 northern provinces of China, indigo or any other vegetable dye is 

 used in colouring green tea. Whether different processes of dyeing 

 are pursued in the north from those of the south I cannot say, but it 



* Exliactod liom Hooker's 'Journal of Botany.' 



