CHINA. 



it i fruit, from the kernels of which is pressed a peculiar 

 oil, which burnt well, though with much smoke in ita 

 natural tate ; but which, when duly prepared, it known 

 by the name of Mcng-yeoo, or oil of wood, much used 

 by the Chinese at a paint or varnish. The Tchoo-tchoo, 

 or varnish-tree, resembling a small aah, and bearing nei- 

 ther flower* nor fruit, yields from incisions made in ita 

 trunk, a mJduh rum, of a very acrid nature, of which 

 it prepared the celebrated varniih utcd by the Chinese. 

 It Va 10 valuable, that the proprietors of these trees are 

 aid to let them to merchant* for the season, at the rate of 

 three pence per foot ; but so very corrosive and poisonous, 

 that the workmen, who collect it, are obliged to cover 

 thrir faces and hands, and also to rub themselves with a 

 preparation of rape oil, as a security against its malig- 

 nant vapour, which, without such precautions, is said to 

 generate a disease resembling the leprosy. A pound of 

 this varnish is supposed to co-t the merchant at least Is. 

 and Sd. sterling ; but is highly valued by the workers 

 in varnish, as it not only communicates a beautiful trans- 

 parent gloss to the wood upon which it is laid, but also 

 preserves it effectually from damp and worms The 

 Tse-tan, or rose wood, i of a blackish red colour, beau- 

 tifully striped and variegated ; is remarkably heavy, and 

 of an agreeable smell ; and is made into various articles 

 of furniture, which are sold at higher prices than the 

 finest varnished work. The Tchang, or camphor tree, 

 which grows to a large size, and the wood of which has 

 a very penetrating smell, which prevents it from being 

 attacked by worms. The camphor is procured by cutting 

 tlie young shoots into small pieces, steeping, boiling, and 

 straining ; and it is purified by being exposed in a copper 

 bason to a moderate heat, between layers of a finely p .und- 

 ed old earth. The bamboo, a reed which grows to the 

 height of a tree, of 20. 30. and 4O feet, abounding in every 

 part of China, but particularly in the province of Tche- 

 kiang, where large forests of it are found. Its trunk is hol- 

 low, and divided by knots, but is capable of sustaining a 

 considerable weight. It is applied in China to a greater 

 Ttricty of purposes, than any other -substance whatever. 

 Its young shoots are used as food, and its fibres as 

 wicks of candles. Its hollow stems are employed as 

 pipes in conveying water, or are split into thin threads, 

 and woven into matting or cables. Its wood is bruised 

 and made into paper, or in its more solid state is employ- 

 ed in making ail kinds of furniture and utensils, trunks, 

 chairs, tables, bedsteads, wheel-barrows, carts, fences, 

 water-wheels, &c. The Koo-tchoo, resembling the fig- 

 tree, and yielding a milky juice used by the Chinese in 

 laving on gold leaf in gilding. The Tong tsao, a species 

 of cane or bamboo, resembling the elder of Europe, the 

 pith of which is carefully dried, rolled, and sliced into 

 thin pieces for the use of the painters of artificial flowers, 

 fruits, and insects. The Betel, which grows like ivy 

 around the trunks of trees, the leaves of which, mixed 

 with the areca-nut, the Chinese chew almost continually, 

 presenting it to each other as Europeans do their snuff 

 or tobacco, and which they consider as strengthening 

 the gums, preventing bile, and relieving asthma. The 

 cotton-tree is cultivated successfully in the southern pro- 

 vinces ; and generally sown after the grain is reaped. 

 The mulberry-tree, which attains in some provinces, a 

 greater height than in others, but seems to thrive in 

 every soil, is chiefly cultivated for the sake of its leaves 

 in rearing the silk-worm, but its fruit also is eaten by 

 the Chinese. The sugar-cane, which grows in China to 



' 



the height of six or seven feet, with the knots at a t' 

 distance of six or seven inches, is cultivated chiefly in 

 the southern provinces, and planted much in the same 

 manner as in tin- \\iat 'ndics. Tin- juice of the cane is 

 expressed by temporary mills erected on the plantations, 

 consisting of a pair of cylinder*, sometimes of stone, but 

 generally of haid wood, placed vertically, and put in mo- 

 tion by oxen or buffaloes. From the bottom of these 

 rollers the expressed juice is conveyed by a tube carried 

 under the floor, into a boiler which is sunk in the ground 

 at one end of the apartm. nt, where it is boiled to a pro- 

 pi r consistency. The Chinese are not acquainted with 

 the mode of refining sugar ; but they procure from the 

 cooling syrup a very fine kind of sugarcandy, which i. 

 sold at Canton in a pulverized state, as white as the finest 

 rrfim-d sugar in Britain. The molasses are used chiefly 

 in preserving fruits, and particularly in making a conserve 

 of the roots of ginger, of which the Chinese are remark. 

 ably fond. Sometimes they arc distilled along with fer- 

 mented rice, in the preparation of a kind of burnt wine, 

 already mentioned. The Tcha, Tha, or Tea-tree, grows 

 equally in the mountainous and level districts ; but it 

 prefers a light and rocky soil. It is sown in March, by 

 putting seven or eight seeds into one hole, of which 

 often only one or two spring up. The young plants are 

 afterwards transplanted in rows, and in spaces of three 

 or four feet around each of them. They yield crops of 

 leaves three years after being sown, but they require to 

 be renewed every five or six years, as the leaves then 

 begin to grow hard and harsh. The appearance of the 

 tea-shrub resembles that of a myrtle, its root that of 

 the pear-tree, and its flowers those of the wild white ruse. 

 On the more tender branches grow small soft berries of 

 a green colour, filled with yillow grains, and on the 

 other branches pods of a larger size and of d ffeix-nt 

 shapes, some round, containing one pea, and others long, 

 containing two or three. Theri are different modes ot 

 cultivating the tea-plant in different provinces. In Kiang- 

 nan it is not allowed to grow higher than six or seven 

 feet ; but in other places, to the height vf ten or twelve. 

 In the southern provinces, when net cultivated for the 

 sake of its leaves, it is frequently planted iu hedge-rows. 

 The leaves are gathered at the beginning, the middle, 

 and the end of spring ; and their colour is different, ac- 

 cording to the time of gathering. At the beginning of 

 the spring, they are of a bright green, of a livid green 

 about the middle, and of a dark green at the end of the 

 season. The new leaves from the young plants are ac- 

 counted of the first quality ; those which push out im- 

 mediately after these, of the second j and those which 

 appear last, of the third. The leaves from the extremi- 

 ties of the branches, and from the higher parts of the 

 shrub, are the most tender, those from the middle of the 

 bush arc less so, and those from the lower parts are 

 more coarse. After the leaves arc collected, they are 

 exposed to the steam of boiling water. They are thesi 

 made to shrivel or roll together, by being placed on 

 plates of copper, of iron, or of baked earth, held over 

 the fire, and are next dried thoroughly by xposure to the 

 sun. The green teas, however, are not rxpo.rd to the 

 sun's rays, which are said to make their colour black ; 

 and in the preparation of some of the finer tort*, espe- 

 cially that which is called Tchu-tcha every leaf is rolled 

 singly in the hand with great care.* The Chinese give 

 the name of Tcha, however, to several vegetable produc- 

 tions, which are not really tea ; and among other sub- 



*** ^fcck aflrms, lht, in the course. Of preparation, the tea pares through many dirty hands ; and that |iartirular1y in packing 

 (tap*, it ia trodden firm by the naked, and aonxttmei Wealing, fcet of Chirese prter, in a state of jirolvue 



