27 



juriosity of the sale.' The brokers however, 

 had a high opinion of the tea, and an offer was 

 immediately made to contract for 500 or 1,000 

 chests at Is. lO^d. to 25. per lb.* 



The injunctions of the Court of Directors to 

 the Government of India, were, ( that the opera- 

 tions undertaken in order to ascertain whether 

 marketable tea could be grown and manufactured 

 in India, should be considered strictly experimental,' 

 their object being to induce private capatalists to 

 undertake the task of carrying on the operations to a 

 profitable issue. The required fact was now ascer- 

 tained. Tea was grown, was manufactured, and sold 

 at a high price in the London market. The work 

 the Government of India proposed to itself to 

 accomplish, was completed. The rest is soon 

 told. 



A joint-stock company, 'The Assam/ with a 

 nominal capital of a million sterling was projected 

 in London (1839) for bringing the tea forests of 

 Assam, as they were called, into cultivation, and soou 

 formed. In 1840 they commenced operations, 

 on a scale of expense in keeping with the existing 

 idea, that the profits of the undertaking would be 

 so rapid and so enormous, as to render any attempt 

 ftt economy imprudent and unnecessary. Under 



* The followin. g 1 year (1840) ten chests of tea were offered for sale, 

 and though the prices obtained were not equal to those of the 

 previous year, they were still very high viz. 8s., Qs., 10s., and 

 11*. per lb. 



