572 



an imported black tea. The material used as the basis for this pro- 

 cess of manufacture is tea called scented caper ; it is a small, closely- 

 rolled black tea, about the size of small gunpowder, and when 

 coloured is vended under this latter denomination, the difference in 

 price between the scented caper and this fictitious gunpowder being 

 about l.s. per lb., a margin sufficient to induce the fraud. This manu- 

 facture has been carried on, I understand, at Manchester, and was 

 kept as secret as possible ; and it was only after considerable trouble 

 that some of my friends succeeded in obtaining two different speci- 

 mens for me, that could be fully depended on, as originating in this 

 manufactory. It appears that it is generally mixed with other tea, so 

 as to deceive the parties testing it. How this manufacture was con- 

 ducted, I am not prepared to say ; but some preparation of copper 

 must have been employed, as the presence of that metal is readily 

 detected in the specimens I received. I believe, however, that this 

 sophistication has ceased. 



I have now to call attention to another adulteration of the most 

 flagrant kind. Two samples of tea, a black and a green, were lately 

 put into my hands by a merchant for examination, the results of which 

 he has allowed me to make public. The black tea was styled scented 

 caper ; the green, gunpowder ; and I understand they are usually 

 imported into this country in small chests called catty packages. 

 The appearance of these teas is remarkable ; they are apparently 

 exceedingly closely rolled, and very heavy ; the reasons for which 

 will be clearly demonstrated. They possess a very fragrant odoui*. The 

 black tea is in compact granules, like shot of varying size, and pre- 

 senting a fine glossy lustre of a very black hue. The green is also 

 granular and compact, and presents a bright pale-bluish aspect, with 

 a shade of green, and so highly glazed and faced, that the facing rises 

 in clouds of dust when it is agitated or poured from one vessel to ano- 

 ther ; it even coats the vessels or paper on which it may be poured. 

 On examining these samples, in the manner described in my former 

 paper, to remove this facing, T was struck by the tenacity with which 

 it adhered to the surface, and which T had never remarked in any pre- 

 vious sample, requiring to be soaked for some time in the water before 

 it could be detached ; with this precaution, however, the greater part 

 of the facing material was removed. It proved, in the case of the 

 sample of green tea, to be a pale Prussian blue, a yellow vegetable 

 colour, which we now know to be turmeric, and a very large propor- 

 tion of sulphate of lime. The facing from the sample of black tea 

 was perfectly black in colour, and on examination was found to 



