8 ANCIENT MODE 



drug, from its great cost, was used only by the 

 rich and luxurious. 



The only mode of manipulation spoken of in 

 early times is by the agency of steam. The leaves 

 were steamed, some say, to extract a bitter water 

 from them, then rolled with the hands, or in cloths, 

 and dried sometimes in the sun, and sometimes 

 over a charcoal fire (poey). Whether the leaves 

 were partially dried in the sun, or by fire, and 

 then reduced to a powder to be formed into cakes ; 

 or whether they were preserved entire, and then 

 rolled and moulded into the form of cakes or bricks, 

 does not appear. One author, in speaking of La 

 Cha # , says, " it is ground to powder and made into 

 cakes, which are dried in the sun, but it is better 

 to dry them over a fire." Another says, " the 

 leaves are steamed, afterwards dried over a charcoal 

 fire, and then reduced to a powder." By the first 

 method, I understand that the leaves were kept 

 entire, though formed into a cake ; by the second, 

 that the leaves were first reduced to a powder, and 

 then formed into a cake. But it may be presumed 

 that both these methods prevailed, since all these 

 modes, forms, and even names, exist in the present 

 day ; as we shall further have occasion to notice. 



That the mode of manipulation as it exists at 

 the present time, where each leaf is preserved in 



* It is doubtful whether the La Cha was made from the tea 

 tree or a substitute. 



