240 TWANKAY TEA. 



instruction on that point. I have no information 

 on such practices." 



It may here be observed, that most other mer- 

 chants or factors agree with the foregoing account 

 of the Twankay teas ; and particularly as to the cir- 

 cumstance of their being partly glazed or coloured 

 by factitious means ; and, also, that some chops 

 are mixed with leaves which are not tea leaves. 

 Others say, that some leaves are simply dried in the 

 sun. A factor furnished me with the following 

 account of the mixture of his tea, which was gene- 

 rally classed in the first class of contract teas pur- 

 chased by the East India Company : — 



Two parts of the first gathering of common Twankay shrubs 

 from Tuon Ky, Hoang Shan, and other places. 



Two parts of the second gathering, ditto. 



Three parts of leaves produced at Thie Ping, which is an unfa- 

 vourable district, and where teas are always glazed, and some 

 dried in the sun. 



The chop Hong Sing (a well known and much 

 esteemed chop) was frequently what in my time 

 was considered very much glazed ; but which in the 

 present day would be called unglazed. Thus, the 

 Twankays imported into England consist of a mix- 

 ture of leaves of inferior shrubs gathered in a care- 

 less manner, some by whole branches at a time; 

 are indifferently rolled with the hands or feet; 

 some merely dried in the sun ; and all mixed more 

 or less with tea coloured by factitious means. 



It may now be remarked, that it was long an 



