(58 
To complete the preparation, after the Tea has been kept 
for fome months, it muft be taken out of the veffels, in which 
it had been contained, and dried again over a very gentle fire, 
that it may be deprived of any humidity which remained, or 
‘might fince have been contracted. 
The common Tea is kept in earthern pots with narrow 
mouths; but the beft fort of Tea ufed by the Emperor and 
nobility is put in porcellane or China veflels. The Bantsjaa, 
or coarfeft Tea, is kept by the country people in ftraw bafkets, 
made in the fhape of barrels, which they place under the roofs 
of their houfes, near the hole that lets out the fmoke, and 
‘imagine that this fituation does not injure the Tea. 2 
This is the relation we have from Kempfer of the method 
in which the Japanefe collected and cured their Tea. In the - 
accounts of China, authors have in general treated very flightly 
‘of the cultivation and preparation of Tea. Le Compte' indeed 
obferves, that to have good Tea, the leaves fhould be gathered 
while they are fmall, tender, and juicy. They begin com- | 
‘monly to gather them in the months of March and April, ac-_ : 
cording as the feafon is forward; they afterwards expofe them > 
to the fteam of boiling water to foften them ; and, as foon as — 
they are penetrated by it, they # draw them. over copper gee 
: Journey through the ganas of China. te ee 
2 Upon this fubject, fee Scr. VI. and VIII. It may be doubted alfo Stsetee ae 
the conclufion of Le Compte’s relation is not erroneous, as it 1s improbable 1 that any — 
leaves fhould of themfelves take fo perfect a curl as that in which Tea is brought — 
into Europe. No materials are ufed but iron and earthen for dr ring -Tea, as obferved 
in note *, p. 33. 
