184 BOHEA TEA. 



bearing a roughly printed chop-mark or inscription, 

 in unusually large and conspicuous Chinese charac- 

 ters to distinguish these teas from the regular Congou 

 teas. Thus the large chests intended for the floor- 

 ing of the ships were again obliged to be prepared 

 and packed at Canton. But the packing was now 

 performed at the risk of the Hong merchant ; and 

 the price settled on examination of a sample of 

 packed, instead of unpacked tea, as in all other 

 ca&co. 



The leaves of this tea, whether collected in the 

 Bohea or Wo Ping districts, all consist, as before 

 observed, of the old and coarse leaves left on the 

 shrubs after the gathering of the usual harvest. 

 Suey Lan states, that these leaves are plucked in 

 July and August, but not bought before Sep- 

 tember or October. They are gathered by bending 

 down the branches of the shrubs, stripping them in 

 the rudest manner, by passing the hand along the 

 branch, as described by Mr. Fortune, and sometimes 

 with a bamboo knife held between the forefinger 

 and the thumb. 



They are then exposed to the sun, or air, a short 

 time, when they are packed in baskets. 



In the Bohea country, it is the practice of the 

 merchant to send the tea, which he has contracted 

 for, or purchased in the rough state, to his own 

 packing houses, where it is roasted two days in 

 roasting houses constructed for that purpose. In 

 the Wo Ping country, it is packed sometimes in 



