4 TEA 



CHAPTER II 



WE CONTINUE OXTR CHAT OVER A CUP OF TEA 



The tea-plant, which, belongs to the Camellia family of 

 vegetation, is a native of the Far East ; but there is 

 considerable difference of opinion as to whether China 

 or India has the honour of being its homeland. There 

 are several varieties of the plant, the principal being 

 the Assam and the China, which two are closely asso- 

 ciated with the dispute between India and China. 



According to certain statements made by ancient 

 Chinese authors, the tea-plant was growing in the 

 Celestial Empire as early as about 2700 B.C. More- 

 over, there is a Japanese legend which credits China 

 with being the home of the tea-plant. India, on her 

 side, cannot produce any legendary or historical evi- 

 dence to support her claim that hers is the honour of 

 being the original home of this plant ; nevertheless, 

 she can back her case with a very sound and appealing 

 argument of the " seeing is believing " character. 



The tea-plant has been found growing wild in the 

 Province of Assam, in India. True, this important 

 discovery was not made until the early part of last 

 century ; but as the plant was certainly a wild inhabi- 

 tant of the forests of Assam in the nineteenth century, 

 and was then found to be occupying large tracts of 

 primeval country in this Province, it is more than likely 

 that it has been flourishing on the same ground from 

 time immemorial. 



Consider now another important fact : no tea-plants 

 have been found growing wild in China, and the ancient 



