148 MANIPULATION BY 



employing the stove for the same purpose, though 

 in principle the same as the mode adopted in 

 the black tea district for drying black tea, yet 

 obviously indicate the employment of make-shifts, 

 and rough methods, fit only for peasants and small 

 plantations. It will also be seen, when we come to 

 examine into the mode of manipulating green tea, 

 that the forms of the stoves and vessels, used in 

 the Hyson district, differ essentially from those 

 seen by Mr. Fortune in the parts of China which 

 he visited. 



I shall now explain the manner in which I have 

 seen black tea manipulated in the sun by a man 

 from the village of Puck-Uen-Hiang, in the district 

 of Sy-Chu-Shan, about a day's journey from Canton. 



1. I first made him divide the leaves into three 

 parcels, with a view of trying some experiments. The 

 leaves of the first parcel were then placed in sieves 

 in the sun for three quarters of an hour. They were 

 afterwards rolled in the manner already described 

 under the article on "Rolling;" and upon the 

 ball being shaken to pieces, the leaves were equally 

 well twisted as if they had been previously roasted. 

 In the district where the man resided a square 

 stone channelled in a regular manner is used for 

 this purpose. The one I saw was a piece of granite 

 measuring eighteen inches by fourteen, and two 

 inches thick. The surface was channelled and made 

 rough. It was hollowed out on two sides to afford 

 a place for the hands to lift it. 



