ESTABLISHMENT AT KAMOUN MOUNTAINS. 99 



which are far inferior to what they had been. My Sing- 

 phoo teas were far, very far, superior to my Assam teas. 

 In Assam I had four plantations. The first crops of 

 leaves were passable, but the others felt like chaff in the 

 hand, and would not of themselves fetch a very fair 

 price. In the Singphoo and Naga countries it is quite 

 different ; the tea is of the highest possible flavor, requiring 

 but one-half the usual quantity of leaves for infusion. 



The British East India Company introduced China 

 seeds ; though they had greater facilities for doing so 

 than any other government, yet the seeds they got 

 from China were worse than valueless, for they all ger 

 minated, and grew up into a pretty little bush of two to 

 three feet high, full of leaves, and no end to their powers 

 of producing seeds. But the leaves were small, dry, 

 hard, and so stiff that they could not be manufactured. 

 From several thousands I had, I never made a pound of 

 tea. The Assam Company tried every scheme ; even 

 plucked off all the leaves, supposing, when the new ones 

 came out, they would be soft, but they came out so 

 slowly, and still so dry and poor, that the experiment 

 proved a, failure. 



In Kamoun mountains, north-west of East India, the 

 British East India Government established a garden in 

 1885, under Dr. Jamieson. Up to 1850, they have ex 

 ported no teas. They made some from some Assam 

 plants, and sold them to the natives of the place. They 

 have frequently endeavored to sell their plantations, but 

 no one would buy them. These are the plantations Dr. 

 Royle lauds so much. 



There is another party recently entered into cultiva 

 tion in the same district, and who offered, or rather a 



