1839.] Note on the perfumed Oils of Jasmine and Beta. 497 



same way ; this also is a third time repeated, if it is desired to have the 

 scent very strong. After the last process, the seeds are taken in their 

 swollen state and placed in a mill ; the oil is then expressed, and possesses 

 most fully the scent of the flower.* The oil is kept in prepared skins called 

 dubbersy and is sold at so much per seer. The Jasmine and Bela\ are 

 the two flowers from which the natives in this district chiefly produce 

 their scented oil, the Chumbul\ is another; but I have been unable 

 to procure any of this. The season for manufacture is coming on. The 

 present oils were manufactured a year ago, and do not possess the power- 

 ful scent of that which has been recently prepared. Distillation is never 

 made use of for this purpose as it is with the roses, the extreme heat, 

 (from its being in the middle of the rains, when the trees come into 

 flower) would most likely carry off all the scent. The Jasmine, or 

 Chymbele as it is called, is used very largely amongst the women, the 

 hair of the head, and the body, being daily smeared with some of it. 

 The specimen I send you costs at the rate of two Rupees per seer. 

 July 10, 1839. 



Art. VII. — Report on the manufacture of Tea, and on the extent 

 and produce of the Tea Plantations in Assam. By C. A. Bruce, 

 Superintendent of Tea Culture. 



(Presented by the Tea Committee, August 16th, 1839.) 



I submit this report on our Assam Tea with much diffidence, on 

 account of the troubles in which this frontier has been unfortunately 

 involved. I have had something more than Tea to occupy my mind, 

 and have consequently not been able to commit all my thoughts to 

 paper at one time ; this I hope will account for the rambling man- 

 ner in which I have treated the subject. Such as my report is, I trust 

 it will be found acceptable, as throwing some new light on a subject of 

 no little importance to British India, and the British public generally. 

 In drawing out this report, it gives me much pleasure to say, that our 

 information and knowledge respecting Tea and Tea tracts are far more 

 extensive than when I last wrote on this subject ; — the number of tracts 

 now known amounting to 120, some of them very extensive, both on 

 the hills and in the plains. A reference to the accompanying map will 



* A closely similar plan is followed in Europe in the preparation of the Jasmine, and 

 several other very fugitive perfumes. The fixed oil employed is usually that of the 

 Ben or Moringa nut, with which cotton is soaked. The cotton and flowers are then 

 placed in alternate layers, as in the Indian process. — Eds. 



f Jasrninum zambac. 



X Jasrninum grandijlorum. 



