BRICK OR TILE TEA. 189 



to its bulk. It, nevertheless, varies much in form 

 as well as in weight. Pallas, Moorcroft, and a 

 Chinese with whom I was acquainted, who was 

 afterwards unfortunately banished for some years 

 to Hi, furnish an average length of 1 6 inches, 

 breadth 5J>, depth 1^, and of weight 1\ lbs. 

 avoirdupois. But Dr. Falconer met with tablets 

 of this tea in cubes of nine inches. 



Again, these tablets not only differ in size but 

 in appearance. Some seem composed of leaves as 

 if wetted, and in that state forcibly compressed * ; 

 others of leaves which have been rolled like tea ; 

 and some of leaves as if macerated in water and 

 reduced nearly to a state of pulp, or pulverised 

 while dry and then wetted. The angular form, 

 shape, and solidity of these tablets, clearly demon- 

 strate, that a mould and considerable pressure are 

 employed in their formation. Their cohesion is 

 supposed to be derived from a process of steeping 

 the leaves in the serum of the blood of animals, 

 agreeably to some ; or from their being sprinkled 

 with a solution of rice, according to others. Both 

 these expedients may be employed, when the leaves 

 are found deficient in viscidity, from age or other 

 defects. I have no information on which I can 

 rely concerning the manipulation of this tea ; but 

 I feel confident that when the leaves are young or 

 in a suitable state of maturity, as regarding growth, 



* Moorcroft's Travels, vol. i. pp. 3o0, 351. 



