TEA. 



S91 



noses, and of a wild aspect. They come with 1 

 their wives and children, bearing large mats full 

 of leaves, resembling those of the vine. When 

 they have arrived on the frontier of the country 

 of tlie Sinfe, they stop and spend a few days in 

 festivity, using the mats for lying upon; they 

 then return to the abode of their countrymen 

 in the interior. Tlio Sinae next repair to the 

 place and take up the articles which they left; 

 and having drawn out the stalks and fibres, they 

 nicely doul^le the leaves, make them into a cir- 

 cular. shape, and thrust into them the fibres of 

 the seeds. Thus three kinds of malabathrurii are 

 formed; that from the larger leaf is called /ia<7;'0S- 

 phwrum, that from the middling one mesospkcer- 

 um, and from tlie smaller microsphosrum." Al- 

 though Vossius Vincent, and some other writers, 

 have conjectured this description to refer to the 

 betel nut, it appears much more likely to allude 

 to tea. 



Tea was first introduced into Europe by the 

 Dutch East India Company; and about the year 

 1066, a small quantity was brought from Hol- 

 land to England, by the lords Aldington and Os- 

 sory. At first it was sold for sixty shillings per 

 lb.; and for many years its great price limited 

 its use only to the most opulent. 



According to the experiments of Dr Smith, as 

 detailed by Cullen, a strong infusion of green tea 

 has the efl'ect of destroying the sensibility of the 

 nerves, and the irritability of the muscles; and 

 by distillation affords an odorous water, which 

 is powerfully narcotic when long infused: the 

 leaves also yield a bitter principle, wliich is tan- 

 nin, known by its eff'ects in forming a black pre- 

 cipitate with iron. 



The recent plant is much more narcotic than 

 that preserved dried for some time. Before tea 

 leaves can be used with safety, they must be 

 subjected to a considerable heat, and kept, as al- 

 ready stated, in the dry state for at least twelve 

 months. 



Tlie tea manufacture has been prosecuted 

 within these last three years in Assam, a recently 

 acquired district to tlie north-east of Bengal, in 

 our Indian possessions. 



According to Mr Bruce, the superintendent's 

 report, there arc not less thaul20 tea tracts among 

 the mountains and plains. Some of them are 

 of considerable extent; one near Jaipore, he 

 mentions as being from two to three miles in 

 length : the trees were in most parts as thick as 

 they could grow, and the ripe seeds strewed the 

 ground in abundance. One of the largest trees 

 here was two cubits in circumference, and full 

 forty cubits in height. The country around is 

 popuFous, and grain plentiful and cheap; labour 

 is easily procured, but the mass of the people 

 are addicted to the pernicious and Inervating use 

 of opium, which is also raised in the district, 

 and thus have less energy to exert themselves 



than could be desired. A few Chinese tea gather- 

 ers have been introduced into the country, and 

 under their direction the manufacture of the vari- 

 ous sorts of tea has been commenced. 



Although, in China, the tea plant is said to 

 tlirive best on the sides of rather elevated hills, 

 Mr Bruce thinks that in Assam the trees are 

 most thriving in the valleys between the jungles, 

 and on the banks of running streams. The tea 

 shrubs are six feet and upwards in height; while 

 in China they seldom exceed three feet. The 

 Cliinese tea gatherers pluck the leaves squatting 

 on the ground; but the Hindoos find it a tedious 

 and tiresome employment, as from the height of 

 the trees they have to stand erect. By trans- 

 planting the trees, and denuding them of their 

 leaves annually, Mr Bruce is of opinion that 

 the Assam trees which have grown in a rich 

 soil, and in a state of nature from time im- 

 memorial, may be gradually reduced to a more 

 convenient height. Mr Bruce, in his report, al- 

 ludes not to more than one species or even var- 

 iety of the tea tree, the different kinds of tea 

 being described as produced according to the 

 time and manner of pulling the leaves, and of 

 drying them. 



The light of the sun is found to influence the 

 colour of the leaf, turning it from a deep green 

 to a yellow. The more the leaves are plucked 

 the greater number of them are produced; thus 

 successive crops are procured; but if the first set 

 of leaves were not taken off, one might look in 

 vain for the leaves of a second crop. The tea 

 made from those leaves grown in the shade, is 

 inferior to that from leaves exposed to the sun; 

 the latter are also produced much earlier than 

 the former. The leaves from the sliadj' tract 

 give out a more watery liquid when rolled, and 

 those from the sunny a more glutinous substance. 

 When the leaves of either are rolled on a sunny 

 day, they emit less of this liquid than on a rainy 

 daj'. Thi5 juice decreases as the season advances. 

 The plants exposed freely to the sun produce 

 flowers and seed much earlier than those in the 

 shade, and in greater profusion. They blossom 

 in July, and the seeds are ripe in November. 

 Numerous plants are to be seen that by some 

 accident, either cold or rain, have lost all their 

 flowers, and commence throwing out fresh flower 

 buds more abundantly than ever. Thus it is 

 not unfrequent to see some plants in flower so 

 late as March, bearing at once the old and the 

 new seeds, flower buds, and full blown flowers, 

 all at one and the same time. The rain also 

 greatly affects the leaves, for some sorts of tea 

 cannot be made in a rainy day. The leaves for 

 powchong and mingehew ought to be collected in 

 the morning of a sunny day, when the dew has 

 evaporated. The powchong can only be manu- 

 factured from the leaves of the first crop; but 

 the mingehew, although it requires tlie same care 



