VARIOUS METHODS OF CULTIVATION, ETC. 29 



country and in the islands of the Chusan Archipelago, 

 proved to be, without exception, Thea viridis. Fortune 

 then left for the province of Fokien, fully convinced 

 that he would find the tea hills covered with Thea 

 Bohea, since black tea was largely produced in the dis- 

 trict, and the species took its name from the Bohee hills 

 in this province. In his book, Wanderings in China, 

 Fortune proceeds : " Great was my surprise to find all 

 the tea plants on the tea hills near Foo-chow exactly 

 the same as those in the green-tea districts of the north. 

 Here were then green-tea plantations on black-tea hills, 

 and not a single plant of the Thea Bohea to be seen. 

 Moreover, at the time of my visit, the natives were 

 busily employed in the manufacture of black teas. 

 Although the specific differences of the tea-plants were 

 well known to me, I was so much surprised, and I may 

 add amused, at this discovery, that I procured a set of 

 specimens for the herbarium, and also dug up a living 

 plant, which I took northward to Chekiang. On com- 

 paring it with those which grow on the green-tea hills, 

 no difference whatever was observed. It appears, 

 therefore, that the black and green teas of the northern 

 districts of China (those districts in which the greatest 

 part of the teas for the foreign markets are made) are 

 both produced from the same variety, and that that 

 variety is the Thea viridis, or what is commonly called 

 the green-tea plant. On the other hand, those black 

 and green teas which are manufactured in considerable 

 quantities in the vicinity of Canton are obtained from 

 the Thea Bohea, or black tea. And, really, when we 

 give the subject our unprejudiced consideration, there 

 seems nothing surprising in this state of things. More- 

 over, we must bear in mind that our former opinions 

 were formed upon statements made to us by the Chinese 

 at Canton, who will say anything which suits their 



