506 Report on the manufacture of Tea, and on the [June, 



Mingehew Black-Tea. The leaves (Pouchong) are plucked and 

 dried in the sun, and are then beaten and dried in the shade for half 

 an hour ; this is done three successive times, and the leaves are very 

 much shaken by a circular motion given to them in a sieve, so as to keep 

 them rolling and tumbling about in the centre of it. This treatment 

 continues until they are very soft ; they are then allowed to re- 

 main for a short time ; the contents of the first sieve are then placed 

 in the centre of a close worked bamboo basket with a narrow edge, and 

 the leaves are divided into four equal parts. The contents of the second 

 sieve are placed in another bamboo basket like the former, and this 

 basket is placed on the top of the first, and so on, piling one basket 

 upon another until all is finished ; — there may be about two pounds 

 of leaves in each basket. The red hot pan is used the same as in Sy- 

 chee, only now the men cast in one division of the leaves into the bas- 

 ket, and this is tumbled and tossed about in the red hot pan, like a 

 plaything, for about thirty seconds, and then swept out ; another divi- 

 sion is cast in, and so on, until all the prepared baskets have been emp- 

 tied. The contents of each basket are still kept separate, by placing 

 the leaves when they come out of the pan in separate baskets. The 

 whole is a brisk and a lively scene, and quite methodical, every one 

 knowing his station, and the part he has to perform. The baskets are 

 then arranged on shelves to air ; the contents are afterwards tatched 

 the same as our Black-Teas, and fired in the drying baskets, but with 

 this difference, that each division is placed on paper and dried. When 

 it is half dry (the same as our Teas) it is put away for the night, and 

 the next morning it is picked, and put into the drying baskets over 

 gentle deadened fires, and gradually dried there; it is then packed 

 hot. This Tea is a difficult sort to make. 



Shung Paho Black-Tea. Pluck the young (Paho) leaf that has not 

 yet blown or expanded, and has the down on it ; and the next one 

 that has blown with a part of the stalk; put it into the sun for half an 

 hour, then into the shade ; tatch over a gentle fire, and in tatching 

 roll the leaves occasionally in the pan, and spread them all round the 

 sides of the same ; again roll them until they begin to have a withered 

 and soft appearance ; then spread them on large sieves, and put them in 

 the shade to air for the night ; next morning pick, and then fire them 

 well. Some Tea makers do not keep them all night, but manufacture 

 and pack the Tea the same day. This Tea is valued in China, as it is 

 very scarce ; but the Chinamen acknowledge that it is not a good sort. 

 They prefer the Teas, the leaves of which have come to maturity. 



The China Black-Tea plants which were brought into Muttuck in 

 1837, amounted in all to 1609 — healthy and sickly. A few of the lat- 





