152 TEA IN CHINA. 



which they roll in their hands, always in the same 

 direction ; while others are continually employed 

 in stirring the tea-leaves on the mats, that they may 

 cool the sooner, and retain their shrivelled appear- 

 ance; and this process is repeated several times 

 before the tea is fit for use. 



The tea-leaves are gathered at three different 

 seasons. What are first procured, while they are 

 very young, are called Imperial tea ; which is ge- 

 nerally reserved for the court and persons of rank, 

 because it is considered as of the finest quality. 

 The last gathering, when the leaves have attained 

 their full growth, is the coarsest tea of all, and is 

 used by the common people. 



In China and Japan, tea is sold in every town, 

 and on all the public roads, as beer is in England; 

 and is drunk in the same manner by labourers and 

 travellers : it is used without cream or sugar ; and 

 in Chinese drawings, the people are seldom repre- 

 sented at work of any kind without a tea-pot and 

 tea-cup. People of rank in those countries take 

 as much pains to procure tea of excellent quality, 

 as Europeans do to obtain good wine ; and they 

 generally keep it a year before it is made use of. 



The Tea-tree is said to grow in China, princi- 

 pally in a mild and temperate climate, in the coun- 

 try about Nankin ; in Japan, that which is most 

 esteemed grows in the neighbourhood of a small 

 town called Udis; where there is a celebrated 



