PREFACE. XI 



work on Japan, but altogether without advantage 

 as regards the processes of manipulation. 



Mulder's excellent analysis of tea, though it did 

 not determine points on which I sought instruction 

 and confirmation of my own views, was neverthe- 

 less of the highest importance in directing my 

 thoughts in the right channel ; and to this paper 

 and also to Liebig's Chemistry of Agriculture, I 

 am indebted for the means of working out the 

 theory concerning black tea, which I now place 

 before the reader. 



But it was not till the year 1844, when I re- 

 ceived from a very old friend, Mr Bletterman, for- 

 merly chief of the Dutch Establishment at Canton, 

 Mr. Jacobson's Handbook on the cultivation of tea 

 at Java, that I found my own views so far con- 

 firmed, and my information such as to justify me 

 in bringing my labours to a close. It will be seen 

 by the large extracts in the form of notes, which I 

 have subjoined to some chapters, how much I am 

 indebted to this useful work. 



It is unnecessary here to particularize what parts 

 of my work were written in China, and what since ; 

 the subjects sufficiently explain themselves, and 

 will be for the most part intelligible to the reader. 



It has not formed any part of my plan to make 

 quotations except from original sources; but I 

 cannot pass over in silence the excellent work 

 written by Dr. Lettsom ; nor the able chapters on 

 this subject contained in Dr. Royle's work on the 



