CH. Ill] TEAS 61 



of a large stretch of country covered with one crop. Excepting 

 only the summits of the mountain ridges, the grass lands, and 

 the actual precipices, a vast sheet of tea covers hill and dale, 

 broken chiefly by the straight lines of the " wind-belts," narrow 

 belts of Australian trees planted through the tea fields across 

 the direction of the prevailing winds. 



By far the largest proportion of the tea cultivation is in 

 the hands of European planters resident on the estates. The 

 average size of an estate is between 250 and 300 acres, but 

 there is a tendency of late for estates to be united in groups for 

 economy of working and management, and to enable larger and 

 more economical factories to be used. Whereas formerly a 

 large proportion of the planters were owners of their estates, 

 they are now more often salaried employes of large or small 

 companies, some managed locally, some directed from London. 

 The export and general business of the estate or company is 

 worked through a Colombo agency, which also superintends the 

 general conduct of the estate by means of its " visiting agent," 

 a planter of long experience, who goes over the estates at 

 intervals, inspecting their working, estimates, accounts, etc. 



The labouring force of a tea estate consists generally of 

 Tamil coolies from South India, working in gangs under over- 

 seers locally termed kanganies 1 , by whom they are recruited 

 from their villages. As a rule they return after a time with 

 their savings, but some few settle in Ceylon. The rate of wages 

 on a tea estate seems small, being only from 25 to 50 rupee- 

 cents (i.e. from 4d. to 8cL) a day, but is high enough to make 

 Ceylon seem a kind of Eldorado to the coolies. They are 

 housed and medically attended at the cost of the estate, and 

 their welfare is carefully attended to. The heavier labour is 

 done by the men, the lighter, such as tea plucking, by the 

 women and children. 



Similar remarks apply almost equally well to any of the 

 other tea-growing countries of the tropics. South India works 

 almost exactly like Ceylon, Java with its own labour. Assam 

 is hardly within the tropics and need only be mentioned. 



1 Pronounced cahn-gahnies. 



