1839.] extent, and produce of the Tea Plantations in Assam. 509 



spring up, so that in the place of a single plant you have now a fine 

 Tea bush. I think from what I have seen of these plants, that if 

 cut down every third year, they would yield far superior Teas ; 

 neither am I singular in this opinion; the Green-Tea Chinamen 

 having told me that they cut down their plants every ninth year, 

 which may be reckoned equivalent to our third year, taking into 

 consideration the size of our trees and the richness of our soil. Our 

 trees, or plants, are certainly more than four or five times the size 

 of theirs, and must consequently yield so many times more pro- 

 duce ; theirs is the dwarf, ours the giant Tea. The size of the leaf 

 matters nothing, in my opinion, provided it is young and tender ; even 

 their diminutive leaf, if one day too old, is good for nothing. 



As the Green-Tea Chinamen have just commenced operations, I will 

 try to give some account of this most interesting process. All leaves 

 up to the size of the Souchong are taken for the Green-Tea. About 

 three pounds of the fresh leaves, immediately they are brought in, are 

 cast into a hot pan (sometimes they are kept over night when abun- 

 dance have been brought in, and we have not been able to work all 

 up); they are then rolled and tossed about in the pan until they 

 become too hot for the hand. Two slips of bamboo, each about a foot 

 long, split at one end so as to form six prongs, are now used to tum- 

 ble and toss the leaves about, by running the sticks down the sides of 

 the pan, and turning the leaves up first with the right hand, then 

 with the left, and this as fast as possible; which keeps the leaves 

 rolling about in the pan without being burnt : this lasts about three 

 minutes ; the leaves will then admit of being rolled and pressed with- 

 out breaking. They are now taken from the pan and rolled in 

 dollahs, much the same as the Black- Tea, for about three minutes, in 

 which process a great quantity of the juice is extracted, if they be fresh 

 leaves; but if they have been kept over night, very little juice can be 

 expressed from them in the morning, on account of its having evaporated. 

 The Chinamen say, this does not matter, as it makes no difference in 

 the Tea. The leaves are then pressed hard between both hands, and 

 turned round and pressed again and again, until they have taken the 

 shape of a small pyramid. They are now placed in bamboo-baskets 

 or dollahs with a narrow edge, and the dollahs on bamboo frame- 

 work (see fig. 2 of my former account of Black-Tea) where they are ex- 

 posed to the sun for two or three minutes, after which these pyramids of 

 Tea are gently opened and thinly spread on the dollahs to dry. When 

 the Tea has become a little dry, (which will be the case in from five to 

 ten minutes if the sun be hot) it is again rolled, and then placed in 

 the sun as before ; this is done three successive times. But should the 



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