200 VARIETIES PROCURED. [Cuar. XI. 
Thea Bohea to be seen. Moreover, at the time of _ 
my visit, the natives were busily employed in the 
manufacture of black teas. Although the specific 
differences of the tea-plants were well known to me, 
I was so much surprised, and I may add amused, at 
this discovery, that I procured a set of specimens 
for the herbarium, and also dug up a living plant, 
which I took northward to Chekiang. On com- 
paring it with those which grow on the green tea 
hills, no difference whatever was observed. 
It appears, therefore, that the black and green 
teas of the northern districts of China (those dis- 
tricts in which the greater part of the teas for the 
foreign markets are made) are both produced from 
the same variety, and that that variety is the Thea 
viridis, or, what is commonly called the green tea 
plant. On the other hand, those black and green 
teas which are manufactured in considerable quan- 
tities in the vicinity of Canton are obtained from 
the Thea Bohea, or black tea. ‘And, really, when 
we give the subject our unprejudiced considera- 
tion, there seems nothing surprising in this state 
of things. Moreover, we must bear in mind that 
our former opinions were formed upon statements 
made to us by the Chinese at Canton, who will say 
any thing which suits their purpose, and rarely give 
themselves any trouble to ascertain whether the in- 
formation they communicate be true or false. 
The soil of the tea districts is, of course, much 
richer in the northern provinces than it is in Quan- 
tung. In Fokien and Chekiang it is a rich sandy 
. 
