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leaves. By October the cakes are dry to the touch and fairly 

 solid when they are packed in chests furnished with a double 

 tier of wooden partitions, each tier holding 20 cakes. Each 

 case contains 120 catties (160 IbsA This is the Chinese opium. 

 What is intended for internal consumption is made in this 

 way: It is hardened by exposure to direct rays of the sun 

 till it contains only 10% of moisture. It is then moulded into 

 square bricks weighing i seer each, which are wrapped in 

 oiled Nepaul paper and packed in boxes furnished with com- 

 partments for their reception. This opium has not the 

 powerful aroma of the ' cake' drug meant for China, but it is 

 more concentrated and more easily packed. 



CHAPTER LXXIV. 



TEA ( GAMBIA 



^"pHE natural habitat of the tea plant is the chain of hills 

 which passes through Tippera, Lushai, China, Manipur, 

 Naga, Patkai and Kamti, whence it has spontaneously distri- 

 buted itself by natural means to the adjacent valleys and 

 plains, east and west, diminishing in size owing to changed 

 climate and soil of the plains. The tea plant was not origi- 

 nally introduced into India from China as is generally suppos- 

 ed, but was carried by man from the Indo-Burman hills into 

 China. The natural habitat of the tea plant being the hills of 

 Assam the suggestion has been made to use Assam hill seed 

 from wild trees for propagating tea bushes in the Darjiling 

 hills. Naturally seed collected from tea plants in plains or seed^ 

 gardens does not thrive at high elevations and even seed 

 gathered from wild tea plants growing in plains gives poor 

 result, Plain seed should be used for plains and hill seed for 



