TEA. 



541 



hyton, lit/son, imperial, and gunpowder. The best 

 tea grown in China is cultivated in the province of 

 Kiang-nan, that beautiful province of which Nankin 

 is the capital, and which produces an abundance of 

 every necessary and luxury ; but the greatest part 

 of the common black teas exported to Europe comes 

 from Fokien, where formerly European traders were 

 permitted to resort, until the disorders supposed to 

 arise from the intercourse with foreigners induced 

 the government to restrict all communication to a 

 single port. The Russians, however, who carry on 

 the overland trade in tea, derive their supplies from 

 another province. The superiority of the tea 

 brought into the European market by the Russians 

 does not depend on its not having been exposed to 

 a sea-voyage (commonly supposed in England to be 

 injurious to the flavour of the herb), but entirely 

 on the greater fitness or excellence of the soil, &c., 

 in the districts from which the Russians alone are 

 permitted to draw their teas. 



The effects of tea on the human system are those 

 of a very mild narcotic, and, like those of any other 

 narcotic taken in small quantities, exhilarating. 

 The green varieties of the plant possess this quality 

 in a much higher degree than the black, and a 

 strong infusion of the former will, in most constitu- 

 tions, produce considerable excitement and wake- 

 fulness. Of all narcotics, however, tea is the least 

 pernicious, if indeed it be so in any degree. It acts, 

 likewise, as a diuretic and a diaphoretic, and assists 

 digestion. 



Most of the attempts to cultivate the tea plant 

 in foreign countries have met with little success. 

 Within the last few years, however, considerable 

 efforts have been made, by the Dutch government 

 of Java, to produce tea in that island, with the as- 

 sistance of Chinese cultivators, with some prospect 

 of success ; and the experiment has been made to 

 propagate the tea shrub in Brazil, also with the aid 

 of Chinese labourers. 



It has been said that the use of tea among the 

 Chinese is not of ancient date, from the character 

 representing tea not being found in any ancient 

 Chinese work. If this be true, it is but negative 

 evidence, and it would require vast research and a 

 close acquaintance with Chinese literature to prove 

 that it is true. We have, however, positive evidence 

 of its being used as eaily as the eighth and ninth cen- 

 turies. A tax on tea is mentioned in the " Annals 

 of the Dynasty of Tang ;" and in the Journal of an 

 Arabian merchant who traded with the Chinese at 

 that early period, mention is made of the infusion 

 of a herb named sah, much drunk by the inhabitants; 

 this herb is evidently tea, and its name sah is as 

 near an approximation to the Chinese name chali, 

 as the Arabic alphabet is capable of expressing. 



It may be interesting to trace the gradual in- 

 crease in the use of tea with us, from the time 

 when it was first tasted as a curiosity to the pre- 

 sent period. The first time we find it mentioned 

 in this country is in an act of parliament passed in 

 1660, by which we find it charged with a duty of 

 Is. Gd. per gallon when drunk in public-houses. In 

 the following year Pepys speaks of it in his Diary 

 in the following terms : " September 25. I sent 

 for a cup of tea (a Chinese drink), of which I had 

 never drank before." In 1664 a present of two 

 pounds two ounces of tea was made by the East 

 India Company to Charles II., probably all that 

 could be procured in London. The price was then 

 about two guineas per pound ; and the tea appears 

 to have been procured from the continent, as the 



first importation by the Company was in 1669, 

 when two canisters were received by them contain- 

 ing 150 Ibs. It appears, however, to have been 

 hardly considered as an article of commerce, the 

 first order for tea being sent to Madras. The sin- 

 gular terms of this order will show how recent was 

 the introduction of the herb, and the estimation in 

 which it was held. " In regard tea is grown to be 

 a commodity here, and we have occasion to make 

 presents thereof to our great friends at court, we 

 would have you yearly send us five or six canisters 

 of the very best and freshest ; that which colours 

 the water in which it is infused most of a greenish 

 complexion is best esteemed." 



In the year 1678 nearly 5000 Ibs. were imported ; 

 this quantity, which would now be sold at one large 

 shop in London, appears to have overstocked the 

 country, for we find only 410 Ibs. imported alto- 

 gether in the six following years, but after this time 

 the demand for tea slowly increased : our ancestors 

 gradually acquired a preference for the social and 

 exhilarating beverage over the heady ale which ac- 

 companied their former repasts, and about the end 

 of the century nearly 20,000 Ibs. of tea were 

 brought every year to England. In twenty years 

 from this time the annual importation reached 

 above a million pounds, being an increase of fifty- 

 fold in twenty years. 



From this time the consumption of tea^ almost 

 without fluctuation, increased to its present enor- 

 mous amount. 



The following table exhibits the exportations of 

 teas to Britain in the years 1834 37. 



Russia and Holland are the only countries, on the 

 continent of Europe, in which the consumption of tea 

 is considerable. In 1830, the imports into Russia 

 amounted to 5,563,444 pounds, almost entirely of 

 the black sorts. It is carried over land from Kiachta 

 to Tomsk, and thence, partly by land and partly by 

 the rivers, to Novgorod. The consumption in Hol- 

 land amounts to about 2,700,000 pounds a year. In 

 France, tea is not generally used, and the consump- 

 tion is estimated not to exceed 230,000 pounds. 

 The importations into Hamburg vary from 1,500,000 

 to 2,000,000 pounds, the greater part of which is 

 forwarded to the interior of Germany. The im- 

 ports into Venice and Trieste do not exceed seven 

 hundred weight. The consumption of the United 

 States fluctuates from about 6,000,000 to 8,000,000 

 pounds. The amount imported in the year ending 

 September 30, 1830, was 8,609,415 pounds; ex- 

 ported 1 ,736,324 pounds. 



