144 MODES DESCRIBED 



where the means employed are the same, presents a 

 discrepancy which we find it embarrassing to recon- 

 cile. The only mode of doing this, is, by supposing 

 that some of the teas so manipulated were not truly 

 what we understand by black and green tea, but 

 were peculiarities, such as Lin-czu-sin or others, 

 made exclusively for Chinese consumption. Indeed, 

 Mr. Fortune speaks only of one tea in each pro- 

 vince, which seemed to correspond with the teas 

 of European consumption. It is true that black 

 tea may be produced in an iron pan, as we have 

 already seen; but the Chinese all agree that this is 

 an inferior method, of which the tea-men from the 

 Bohea district deny the usage. It therefore seems 

 probable, that Mr. Fortune was misinformed, when 

 he was told that this was the mode employed for 

 the manufacture of " our common black teas*," if 

 by that term be meant the black teas commonly in 

 use. It has been shown that the mode adopted in 

 the Bohea district for the final drying of black tea 

 is in sieves over a charcoal fire. 



And with respect to green tea, it would be im- 

 possible to produce the peculiar and characteristic 

 colour of green tea, by any process of drying the 

 leaves in a sieve or basket. When Mr. Fortune 

 states, that the green teas which he saw manufactur- 

 ed in Chekiang were not the painted bloom-like teas 

 seen in our shops, which he so justly ridicules, the 



* Wanderings in China, p. 210. 



