392 



HISTORY OP THE VEGETABLE KINGDOM. 



in making as tlie otiier, can yet be made from 

 any crop, provided it is made on a sunny morn- 

 ing. Tlie Chinese dislike gatliering leaves on a 

 rainy day for any description of tea, and never 

 will do so unless necessity requires it. The As- 

 sam season for tea making generally commences 

 about the middle of March; the second crop in 

 the middle of May; the third -crop about the first 

 of July; but the time varies according as the rains 

 set in, sooner or later. 



The mode of manufacturing the sycliee, or 

 black tea, is as follows. The leaves for this sort 

 are what are termed the souchong and povjchong. 

 After they have been gathered and dried in the 

 sun, they are beaten four difTerent times; they 

 are then put into baskets, pressed down, and a 

 cloth put over them. When the leaves become 

 of a brownish colour by the heat they throw 

 out and have a peculiar smell, they are then ready 

 for the pan, the bottom of which is made red 

 hot. This pan is fixed in masonry, breast high, 

 and in a sloping position, forming an angle of 

 forty degrees. Thus the pan being placed on an 

 inclined plane, the leaves when tossed about in 

 it cannot escape behind or on the sides, as it is 

 built high up, but fall out near the edge close to 

 the manufacturer, and always into his hands, so 

 as to be swept out easily. When the bottom of 

 this pfin has been made red hot by a wood fire, 

 the operator puts a cloth to his mouth to prevent 

 inhaling any of the hot vapour. A man on the 

 left of him stands ready with a basket of pre- 

 pared leaves; one or two men stand on his right 

 with doUahs or shallow baskets, to receive the 

 leaves from the pan; and another keeps lifting 

 the hot leaves thrown out of the pan into the 

 doUah, that they may quickly cool. At a given 

 signal from the China man, the person with the 

 basket of prepared leaves seizes a handful and 

 dashes it as quick as thought into the red hot 

 pan. The China man tosses and turns the crack- 

 ling leaves in the pan for half a minute, then 

 draws them all out by seizing a few leaves in 

 each hand, using them by way of a brush, not 

 one being left behind. They are all caught by 

 the man with the doUah or basket, who, with 

 his disengaged hand, continues lifting the leaves 

 and letting them fall again, that they may quickly 

 cool. Should a leaf be left behind in the pan by 

 any accident, the cloth that is held ready in his 

 mouth is applied to brush it out; but all this is 

 done as quick as lightning. The man that holds 

 the basket of leaves watches the process eagerly, 

 for no sooner is the last leaf out of the pan than 

 he dashes in another handful; so that to an ob- 

 server at a little distance, it appears as if one 

 man was dashing the leaves in and the other as 

 fast dashing them out again, so quickly and dex- 

 terously is this managed. As soon as one basket 

 has received about four handfuls of the hot leaves 

 from the pan it is removed, and another basket 



placed to receive the leaves, and so on until all 

 is finished. A good fire of wood is kept undej- 

 the pan to keep the bottom red hot, as the suc- 

 cession of fresh leaves tends greatly to cool it. 



The leaves are next rolled up and latched the 

 same as other teas, and put into the drying basket 

 for about ten minutes. When a little dry, people 

 are employed to work and press them in their 

 hands, in small quantities at a time, for about 

 half a minute; they are then put into small square ' 

 pieces of paper and rolled up; after this they are 

 put into the drying basket, and permitted to dry 

 slowly over a gentle fire for some hours, until 

 the whole is thoroughly dry. This tea is not 

 sold in the China market, but is used chiefly 

 as offerings to the priests, or kept for high days 

 and holidays. 



The manufacture of green tea under the direc- 

 tion of Chinese labourers, at Assam, is as follows. 

 All leaves, up to the size of what is called sou- 

 chong, are taken for the green tea. About three 

 pounds of the fresh leaves, or sometimes those 

 that have lain gathered over night, are cast into 

 a hot pan, and rolled, and tossed about until they 

 become too hot for the hand, when they are fur- 

 ther stirred by pieces of bamboo. They are then 

 taken from the pan and rolled in doUahs, in a 

 similar way as the black tea, for about three 

 minutes. The leaves are then pressed hard be- 

 tween both hands until they assume a pyramidal 

 form, and are then placed in open baskets ex- 

 posed to the sun for a few minutes; these pyra- 

 mids are then gently opened, and the leaves 

 spread out to dry. The rolling up and spreading 

 out is repeated three times in the open air if tlie 

 weather be sunny and dry; if r^iiny, over a fire. 

 After the third rolling and drying there is very 

 little moisture remaining in the leaves. They 

 are now turned into a hot pan, gently stirred and 

 dried, and from this transferred to a strong bag, 

 where they undergo gi-eat compression by the 

 hands and feet of the operator. After remaining 

 a night in this bag, the leaves are again emptied 

 out, gently separated, and for the last time dried ' 

 over the fire, till they become quite crisp. In 

 this state the tea is placed in boxes or bamboo 

 baskets, where it may remain for months, until 

 it undergoes the second process, which is as fol- 

 lows. The boxes being opened, the tea is taken 

 out and exposed in large shallow baskets, until 

 it has become soft enough to roll. It is then put 

 into cast iron pans, set in brick fire-places, the 

 same as those used for the sychee black tea. 

 The pan is made very hot, and about seven pounds 

 of the leaves are thrown in at a time, and rubbed 

 against the sides for a considerable time. The 

 pan being placed on an inclined plane the leaves 

 always come towards the operator, while he 

 pushes them from him again, moving his hand 

 backwards and forwards, and pressing on the 

 leaves with some force with his palms, keeping 



