14 



Committee to His Excellency the Governor General, 

 in the following glowing terms : 



' It is with feelings of the greatest possible satis- 

 faction that we are enabled to announce to His Lord- 

 ship in Council, that the Tea Shrub is, beyond all 

 doubt, indigenous in Upper Assam, being found 

 there, through an extent of country, of one mou f h's 

 march within the Hon'ble Company's Territories, 

 from Suddya and Beesa to Younnam, where the 

 shrub is cultivated for its leaf. We have no hesita- 

 tion in declaring this discovery, which is due to 

 the indefatigable researches of Captain Jenkins and 

 Lieutenant Charltou, to be far the most important 

 and valuable that has ever been made on matters 

 connected with the agricultural or commercial 

 resources of the empire. We are perfectly con- 

 fident that the tea plant which has been brought to 

 light, will be found capable, under proper manage- 

 ment, of being cultivated with complete success 

 for commercial purposes, and that consequently 

 the object of our labours may be before long fully 

 realized.' 



The Committee proceeded to observe that they were 

 not altogether unprepared for this dispovery. They 

 knew that Mr. Scott had sent down the leaves 

 of a plant he stated to be tea in 1826 ; and that a 

 similar assertion had been made in regard to the 

 existence of the tea plant in Upper Assam. But 

 they felt bound, they added, to suspend their decision 



