NUMEROUS OTHER TEA-LANDS 76 



areas under this crop. Chief among the minor tea- 

 producing lands are the British West Indian Island of 

 Jamaica ; the Ratoum region, in the C'auca.sUH, Russia ; 

 the Andaman Islands. British India, in the Bay of 

 Bengal ; Tongking. in French Indo-China ; the native 

 State of Johore, in the Malay IVninfJula ; and the 

 Fiji Isles, British crown colony, in the South Pacific 

 Ocean. 



The leaves of several plants which do not belong to 

 the tea family are used in the preparation of beverage- 

 giving products, both product and beverage being 

 spoken of as " tea." Chief amongst these preparations 

 is the famous Paraguaj'' tea, or Yerba de Mate, which 

 is one of South America's most important products. 

 Ita source is a shrub belonging to the Holly family, 

 which flourishes in Brazil and Paraguay. South 

 America uses several million pounds of mate annually : 

 the bulk of the output is contributed by Paraguay. 

 At present Europe only takes small quantities of mate, 

 but there are rumours afloat of a scheme to bring this 

 product more before the notice of European and other 

 foreign markets. 



CHAPTER XVII 



now TEA LEAVES HOME 



Tf\ htm many adventures during its long jouniey to 

 market. F'irst it has to go to the chief port of the 

 district where it is obtained. In Ceylon, the port 

 of Colombo is the distribution dej)ot. The tea, packed 

 in wooden cases which bear the name of the estate 

 and that «>f the particular variety of the enclosure. 



