REMARKS ON MODE OF MANIPULATION. 141 



and of good age, Nature must first be bountiful in 

 her season, and the fermentation so regulated that 

 the saccharine matter and the ferment may be both 

 destroyed, so that no second fermentation shall take 

 place. But here enters the nicety of the art : a 

 certain practical knowledge is required, which 

 though every operator does not possess, and some 

 never, yet is this art neither difficult to acquire, 

 nor are skilful workmen rare or expensive to 

 obtain. The same may be said of the first and 

 highest flavoured teas. But if we simply speak of 

 the art of making wine, in what does it consist ? 

 Press a quantity of grapes in a vat with the feet or 

 otherwise ; strain off the juice into a cask ; allow it 

 to ferment, and you have very good Yin de Pays. 

 Thus with tea : place the leaves in a sieve, expose 

 them to the sun and air ; toss them and turn them 

 as hay ; then place them in the shade till they give 

 out a certain degree of fragrance ; then roast them 

 in an iron vessel, roll them with the hands or feet, 

 and finally dry them over a charcoal fire, and you 

 have fair Congou tea. The cost of Congou tea at 

 its place of growth will show, when we come to 

 treat of that part of our subject, that not much 

 skill, labour, or expense are bestowed on its cul- 

 tivation and manipulation. At the same time it 

 must be obvious, that this art is not to be learned 

 from description : and that our only teachers are 

 the Chinese, such namely as belong to the Bohea 

 and, failing these, the Ankoy districts. Let us beware 



