S90 



HISTOKY OF THE VEGETABLE KINGDOM. 



those whioli are last collected are of a dark green, 

 and possess an inferior value. The quality is 

 farther influenced by the age of the wood on 

 which the leaves are borne, and by the degree of 

 exposure to which they have been accustomed; 

 leaves from young wood, and those most exposed, 

 being always the best. 



The leaves, as soon as gathered, are put into 

 wide shallow baskets, and placed in the air or 

 wind, or sunshine, during some hours. They 

 are then placed on a flat cast iron pan, over a 

 stove heated with charcoal, from a half to three 

 quarters of a pound of leaves being operated on 

 at one time. These leaves are stirred quickly 

 about with a kind of brush, and are then quickly 

 swept off the pan into baskets, The next pro- 

 cess is that of rolling, which is effected by care- 

 fully rubbing them between men's hands; after 

 which they are again put, in larger quantities, 

 on the pan, and subjected anew to heat, but at 

 this time to a lower degree than at first, and just 

 sufficient to dry them effectually without risk of 

 scorching. This effected, the tea is placed on a 

 table and carefully picked over, every unsightly 

 or imperfectly dried leaf that is detected being 

 removed fi-om the rest, in order that the sample 

 may present a more even and a better appearance 

 when ofifered for sale. With some finer sorts of 

 tea a different manipulation is employed; the 

 heated plates are dispensed with, and the leaves 

 are carefully rolled into balls, leaf by leaf, with 

 the hands. 



The names whereby some of the principal sorts 

 of tea are known in China, are taken from the 

 places in which they are produced, while others 

 are distinguished according to the periods of their 

 gathering, the manner employed in curing, or 

 other extrinsic circumstances. 



Bohea, of which description there are five 

 kinds, takes its name from the mountain of Vou- 

 yee, which is covered with tea plantations. The 

 earliest gatherings, in this district, is called Sou- 

 chong, the Chinese name for which is Saatyang ; 

 and Pe/coe, called by the cultivators hack-ho, or 

 naclc-ho; Congou, Konpfou, and other commoner 

 kinds of Bohea tea, are made from the leaves 

 when in a state of greater maturity. Padres 

 Souchong, or Pao-sut-tcha, is gathered in the 

 province where the best green tea is produced. 

 This kind is esteemed on account of some medi- 

 cinal virtues which it is supposed to possess. 



There are three kinds of green tea, of which 

 one called hyson, (hayssuen,) is composed of 

 leaves very carefully picked, and dried with a 

 less degree of heat than others : it is one-fourth 

 dearer than souchong. The kind of green tea 

 which is most abundant is called singlo, which 

 is the name of a mountain on which it grows, 

 about one hundred and fifty miles to the south- 

 ward of Nan-king. Gunpowder tea is made of 

 tender gn:rn lea^■("-, which yet have attained a 



considerable size. Thisjwind is sometimes rolled 

 into balls by hand, and is very highly esteemed; 

 it sells for fifteen per cent, more than hyson. It 

 is a commonly received opinion, that the dis- 

 tinctive colour of green tea is imparted to it 

 by sheets of copper, upon which it is dried. For 

 tills belief there is not, however, the smallest 

 foundation in fact, since copper is never used for 

 the purpose. Repeated experiments have been 

 made to discover, by an unerring test, whether 

 the leaves of green tea contain any impregnation 

 of copper, but in no case has any trace of this 

 metal been detected. 



The succulent tea leaves are sometimes twisted 

 into thin roUs or cords, about an inch and a half 

 or two inches long, and several of these are tied 

 together by their ends, with coloured silk threads. 

 This is done with both green and black tea. 



The, Chinese do not use their tea until it is 

 about a year old, considering that it is too ac- 

 tively narcotic when new. Tea is yet older when 

 it is brought into consumption in England, as, 

 in addition to the length of time occupied in its 

 collection, and transport to this country, the 

 East India Company were obliged by their charter 

 to have always a supply sufficient for one year's 

 consumption in their London warehouses; and 

 this regulation, which enhanced the price to the 

 consumer, is said to have been made by way of 

 guarding, in some measure, against the incon- 

 venience that would attend any interruption to 

 a trade entirely dependent upon the caprice of 

 an arbitrary government. 



The people of China partake of tea at all their 

 meals, and frequently at other times of the day. 

 They drink the infusion prepared in the same 

 manner as we employ, but they do not mix with 

 it either sugar or milk. The working classes in 

 that country are obliged to content themselves 

 with a very weak infusion. Mr Anderson, in his 

 narrative of Lord Macartney's embassy, relates 

 that the natives in attendance never failed to 

 beg the tea leaves remaining after the Europeans 

 breakfasted, and with these, after submitting 

 them again to boiling water, they made a bever- 

 age which they acknowledged was better than 

 they could ordinarily obtain. 



The tea plant is found in our conservatories, 

 and in such situations has occasionally put forth 

 blossoms in this country. 



The tea plant, and its use as affording an agree- 

 able and exhilarating beverage, must have been 

 familiar to the Chinese from a very early period, 

 and the following extract would show that even 

 as an article of traffic with other nations, it was 

 known so early as the first century of the Chris- 

 tian sera. In an ancient work entitled the Peri- 

 plous of the Erythrosan sea, the following passage 

 occurs, "But there use to come yearly to the 

 frontier of the Sinse, a certain people called Se- 

 satie, %\'ith a sliort body, broad forehead, flat 



