14 ITS EXTENSIVE USE. 



innumerable other leaves are employed as substitutes 

 by many people among the poorer class, as fre- 

 quent experience shows. I examined many samples 

 of such tea brought down to Canton by the gentle- 

 men connected with Lord Amherst's embassy. 

 Long lists of plants, moreover, are found in many 

 of the Chinese herbals, to which the same term 

 "tea" is applied ; though the Chinese very well dis- 

 tinguish the true tea from its substitute, by observ- 

 ing, that the plants so used, " though they bear the 

 name of tea, are not of the tea species." In fact, 

 they use the term "tea" in a general sense as we 

 do, to signify any infusion of leaves, as balm, camo- 

 mile tea, and others. 



Bell observes (Travels in China, pp. 297. 309.), 

 that he went to a public tea house at Peking, where 

 he saw many people drinking tea and smoking to- 

 bacco ; and adds, that with a cash (about the tenth 

 part of a penny English) a man can buy a dish of 

 hot tea. The late Sir George Staunton also informs 

 us, " That tea, like beer in England, is sold in pub- 

 lic houses in every town, and along public roads, 

 and the banks of rivers and canals ; nor is it un- 

 usual for the burdened and wearied traveller to 

 lay down his load, refresh himself with a cup of 

 warm tea, and then pursue his journey." # It has 

 already been observed, that the Arabian travellers 

 who entered China in the ninth century, speak ol 



* Lord Macartney's Embassy to Peking, vol. ii. p. 96. 



