GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION. 31 



extended, now containing upwards of 20,000,000 trees 

 from which over 20,000,000 pounds of prepared tea are 

 annually delivered to commerce, tea-culture forming one 

 of the chief industries of the island at the present day. 



A species of the tea plant has been found growing in 

 a truly wild state in the mountain ranges of Hindostan, 

 particularly on those bordering on the Chinese province 

 of Yunnan, from which fact it is claimed by some writers 

 as probable that these mountains are the original home 

 of tea. Recent explorations also show that the tea plant 

 is to be found growing wild in the forests of Assam, 

 Sylhet and the Himalaya hills, as well as over the great 

 range of mountains extending thence through China to 

 the Yang-tse river. At an early period the British East 

 India Company, as the principal trade intermediary be- 

 tween China and Europe, became deeply interested in the 

 question of tea cultivation in their eastern possessions, but 

 without much success until in 1840, when the Assam Tea 

 Company was formed, from which year the successful 

 cultivation of tea in India has been carried on, the tea 

 districts of that country including at the present time, in 

 the order of their priority, Assam, Dehradun, Kumaon, 

 Darjeeling, Cachar, Kangra, Hazarila, Chittagong, Bur- 

 mah, Neilghery and Travancore. 



Various efforts were made to introduce tea-culture into 

 Ceylon, under both Dutch and British rule, no permanent 

 success being attained until about 1876, when the dis- 

 astrous effects of the coffee-leaf disease induced the 

 planters to give more serious attention to tea. Since 

 that period tea cultivation has developed there with 

 marvelous rapidity, having every prospect at the present 

 time of taking first rank among Ceylon productions. 



Dr. Abel highly recommends the Cape of Good Hope 

 as furnishing a fitting soil and climate for the beneficial 



