1839.] extent and produce of the Tea Plantations in Assam. 513 



leaf required, then the next, and so on, by which process much time is 

 lost, and a greater number of hands are wanted. Not having a regu- 

 lar set of pluckers is a very great drawback to us ; for the men whom 

 we teach this year we see nothing of the next ; thus every year we have 

 to instruct fresh men. This difficulty will be removed when we get 

 regular people attached to the Tea plantations ; or when the natives of 

 these parts become more fixed and settled in their habitations, and do 

 not move off by whole villages from one place to another, as they have 

 of late years been doing ; and when the aversion they have throughout 

 Assam to taking service for payment, has been overcome. They seem to 

 hold this as mean and servile ; preferring to cultivate a small patch of 

 ground which barely yields a subsistence. I can perceive, however, that 

 there is a gradual change taking place in the minds of the labouring 

 class of people, or coolies ; for occasionally some good able-bodied men 

 come forward for employment. The generality of those that have 

 hitherto offered themselves, has been from the very poorest and the most 

 worthless in the country. In the cold season, when the men have 

 nothing to sow or reap, two or three hundred can be collected ; but as 

 soon as the rains set in, all but those that have not bonds, or are not 

 involved in debt, go off to their cultivations, at the very time when 

 our Tea operations commence. As long as things continue in this 

 state, the price of Tea will be high ; but if this drawback were removed, 

 there is nothing to prevent our underselling the Chinese, except the 

 experience of a few more years. 



But let us return to our Teas, and take a comparative view of the 

 qualities of the Black and Green-Teas, which may nearly be as follows : 

 Paho Black-Tea leaf would make Green-Tea, some Gunpowder, and 

 some Young Hyson. Pouchong, although classed as a second Black-Tea, 

 on account of the price it fetches in the market, is a third-rate leaf, for 

 it is rather larger than the Souchong. Some of it would make Young 

 Hyson, and some Skin-Tea. Souchong would make Hyson and 

 Young Hyson. Toychong would make Skin-Tea. — I will here men- 

 tion the different kinds of Black-Teas, to make the matter more 

 clear to those who take an interest in the subject. Thowung-Paho 

 (the Sung fa is the same leaf as this) is the downy little leaf not 

 expanded, and the one next to it that has just unfolded a little. 

 This Tea when made appears full of small white leaves, which 

 are the little downy leaves just mentioned. Twazee-Paho is from 

 the second crop, and nearly the same kind of Tea, only a little older ; 

 the leaf, next the small downy one (being a little more expanded) 

 and the small leaf below this, are taken, making three in all ; 

 this has also numerous white leaves, but not so many as the former. 



