THE SEVERAL PROCESSES. Ill 



seen this process performed was thus : a man 

 collected together as many leaves as his hands 

 and arms could compass ; these he turned over 

 and over, then raised them a considerable height, 

 and shook them on his hands : he then collected 

 them together again, tossed and turned them as 

 before. In the manuscript already quoted, it is 

 stated that this operation is continued about three 

 or four hundred times ; and that it is this part of 

 the process which produces the red edges and spots 

 on the dried leaves. 



Another man whom I saw make tea, after having 

 completed the operation of To Ching, pressed the 

 leaves of each parcel together with a slight degree 

 of force into a heap or ball, which seems to agree 

 with what some Chinese call Tuon Ching. In both 

 cases they were kept until they emitted what the 

 workmen deemed the necessary degree of fragrance, 

 when they were roasted. With respect to the 

 quantity tossed at one time, the Chinese differ con- 

 siderably. Some say that the Siao Poey, Ta Poey, 

 with other Souchong teas, and Congou teas, are 

 made in large quantities. The leaves of six or seven 

 small trays are mixed, they say, together, and placed 



literally tossing and tumbling about the leaves. Now the tossing, 

 patting, rubbing, collecting the leaves in a heap and covering 

 them up as in the process of Oc Ching, are doubtless different 

 methods used for the purpose of checking or hastening ferment- 

 ation, as the leaves may require. The finest descriptions of Yen 

 or Paochong tea are not handled at all, but are simply whirled 

 round in sieves. 



