228 HAUNTS AND HOBBIES 



It was when thus encamped in the plantation that 

 I made acquaintance with the tea-plant, and witnessed 

 the process by which its leaves are prepared. Some 

 account of the plant, of its leaves, and the mode of 

 their preparation may perhaps be interesting to the 

 reader. The tea-plant is one of the prettiest of shrubs. 

 The stem and branches are so smooth and clean, the 

 leaves so green and glossy ; and then in the spring- 

 time it bears a delicate white flower, something re- 

 sembling a miniature camellia. If allowed to do so, 

 the plant will grow to a height of ten or twelve feet ; 

 and there were several of this size then in the planta- 

 tion, but these formed separate clumps, and were 

 kept for seed or for ornament. The ordinary plants, 

 those whose leaves were to be made into tea, were kept 

 by clipping to a size not much exceeding that of 

 gooseberry bushes. 



The leaves were picked in the spring, that is towards 

 the end of the cold season. The picking occupied a 

 period of some weeks, and while it lasted the plantation 

 presented a scene of the busiest activity. The leaf- 

 pickers, I may mention, were mostly women, and they 

 were employed by hundreds, certainly by many scores 

 and scores. The leaves were picked in succession, ac- 

 cording to their size and age, for on the age and size of 

 the leaf depended the quality of the tea it would pro- 

 duce: the finest tea was that prepared from the youngest, 

 and consequently the smallest, leaves ; the coarsest tea 

 was that made from the leaves which were the oldest 

 and largest. After a certain age and size the leaves 

 were no longer fit for manufacture at all, 



