42 WHERE BEST BLACK TEAS ARE FOUND. 



they erect their temples and religious houses. 

 Around these they plant the tea shrubs, the leaves 

 of which they gather every year. The north 

 range produces the best." 



Jt is these mountains only which are properly 

 considered the Bohea mountains. It is here that the 

 Ming Yen tea and the finest Souchongs are pro- 

 cured, teas which rarely find their way to Europe, 

 and perhaps never but in very small quantities as 

 presents. This tea is commonly known to Euro- 

 peans under the denomination of Padre Souchong, 

 from its being cultivated by the bonzes or priests, 

 or Pao-chong tea, from being packed in small paper 

 parcels ; and to the Chinese, in addition to these 

 names, by the appellation of Yen or Gam tea, from 

 its growing on the Yen, or ledges and terraces 

 of mountains. Also Nei Shan tea, i. e. inner moun- 

 tain tea, or inner range tea. 



It is here that the imperial enclosures are esta- 

 blished for the supply of the court of Peking, and 

 chains are said to be employed for the purpose of 

 collecting the leaves of shrubs growing on the 

 summits and ledges of inaccessible and precipitous 

 rocks. But it may be suspected, without much 

 detraction, that this is one of the many artifices 

 and devices here employed by the priests to in- 

 crease the interest of their secluded residences, and 

 to attract strangers and devout benefactors to 

 the spot, as well as to enhance the price of their 

 tea. 



