6 EARLY HISTORY OF TEA. 



China, that a duty on tea was first levied in the 

 fourteenth year of that reign.* In the dynasty 

 of Sungf the duty was again increased, and tea 

 was first sent up as tribute, or as an annual offering 

 to the emperor. It must also be noticed, that the 

 Arabian travellers who passed into China in the 

 ninth century J, speak of tea as the common be- 

 verage of the country. 



Now, from the reign of the Emperor Yen Ty, 

 who founded the dynasty of Suey, in whose reign 

 the author of the Cha Pu ascribes the first use of 

 this plant as a beverage to that of Te Tsong, in the 

 dynasty of Tang, when the first duty was levied, 

 two centuries had elapsed ; a period of time abun- 

 dantly sufficient for its introduction into general 

 use. This would place its origin as a beverage in 

 the sixth century of the Christian era; and to pur- 

 sue this inquiry further, in order to elicit the truth 

 from the mass of confused and apparently contra- 

 dictory evidence contained in the Chinese works on 

 tea, would require a research which the subject 

 cannot be deemed to merit. We shall therefore 

 conclude, that although this plant may have been 

 known to the Chinese so early as the third and 

 fourth century of the Christian era, and occasion- 

 ally resorted to as a medicine, yet, agreeably to the 

 author of the Cha Pu, its use as a beverage was 

 not known prior to the sixth century ; that it be- 



* a.d 783. t \.d. 960. j; a.d. 850, 



