264 COFFEE. 



each of which is placed an iron kettle, in which the tea is refired, 

 to expel the surplus moisture, and to give it the rich " toasty " 

 flavor which is desired by American consumers. During this 

 process it loses from five to ten per cent, in weight from the mois- ' 

 ture and dust which are taken out. The tea is taken as it comes 

 from the country in boxes and jars, weighed, and dumped into a 

 large pile, and thoroughly mixed to insure uniformity in the 

 quality of each lot. Sometimes, when a particular grade or style 

 is desired, different lots will be mixed together to produce the 

 quality and style required. Each of the kettles is in charge of a 

 Japanese workman, or workwoman, and these come along in reg- 

 ular file with their little baskets, and receive a quantity of tea 

 sufficient for one charge. This they take back and place in their 

 kettle, and keep constantly stirring it with their hands until it is 

 sufficiently dried or toasted. They then take it out of the kettle, 

 carry it back to where they received it, get a fresh charge, and 

 keep repeating this operation. After it is fired, it is sifted to 

 remove the surplus dust, re-packed into new half -chests, many of 

 which are made from the old chests which come down from the 

 country. Inside of each of these half -chests is placed a lining of 

 lead, weighing, upon an average, about three and one-half pounds. 

 This is soldered up air-tight, and the lid of the package nailed on. 

 It is then matted, faced, ratanned, and is ready, for shipment. A 

 tea " go-down," when firing, presents a very animated and inter- 

 esting spectacle. Different establishments vary in size, but some 

 of them have as many as two hundred to three hundred furnaces, 

 and, with aU. the other help required in carrying on the various 

 parts of the process, such as receiving, packing, delivering, etc., in 

 the busy season, employ five or six hundred hands, and turn out 

 as many packages of tea per day. Men, women, and children are 

 all employed in the different parts of this work, and the average 

 Wages paid are about twenty cents per day. For this sum a 

 Japanese will work ten or eleven hours over a " go-down furnace," 

 in a temperature which I can only compare to that of the stoke- 

 hole of an ocean steamer, which, measured by the thermometer, 

 ranges anywhere from 100 to 130 degrees. 



