THE SUB-TROPICAL ZONE, 127 



55, 624,946 pounds. It has been calculated thai 

 the consumption of tea in England is equal to 

 a pound and a half per annum for each indi- 

 vidual ; but in China it must be much greater 

 in proportion, for there every one, who can, 

 drinks tea at every meal three, six, or even 

 ten times in the day. Tea, too, is much 

 cheaper there than in England, the average 

 price being one-fourth of a piastre per pound 

 in Canton, equal to about tenpence English. 

 If, then, the consumption be only at the same 

 rate as in England, 450,000,000 pounds, at least, 

 are annually consumed in that empire alone. 

 How vast the quantity of fresh leaves, the 

 extent of plantations, and the number of hands 

 necessarily engaged in the culture and manu- 

 facture of this enormous bulk of the one articl 

 tea ! 



But ere we leave China, we must briefly 

 notice rice, which, with tea and cotton, form 

 the three most important products of the east. 

 Rice probably supports more persons than any 

 other kind of grain. It is a native of South 

 America, as on the Rio Negro and in Para ; 

 also of Ethiopia, and probably of Asia. It is 

 most generally cultivated in the east and south 

 parts of Asia, where it forms the staple article of 

 food ; and, to a great extent, it is similarly em- 

 ployed in the north of Africa, Egypt, Nubia, 

 Persia, Arabia, Asia Minor, Greece, Italy, and 

 especially in the Southern States of North Ame- 

 rica, the W^st Indies, Venezuela, and the Brazils. 

 In India ar^d China, where rice is the chief food, 



