Cuar. XL] TEA MERCHANTS. 213 
the country, with which they pay for their pur- 
chases. As soon as the merchants are known to 
have arrived .in the district, the tea growers bring 
their produce for inspection and sale. These little 
farmers or their labourers may now be seen hasten- 
ing along the different roads, each with two baskets 
or chests slung across his shoulder on his bamboo 
pole. When they arrive at the merchant’s abiding 
place the baskets are opened before him, and the 
quality of the tea inspected. If he is pleased with 
its appearance and smell, and the parties agree as 
to the price, the tea is weighed, the money paid 
down, and the grower gets his strings of copper 
money slung over his shoulder, and returns to his 
farm. But should the price offered appear too low, 
the baskets are immediately shouldered with the 
greatest apparent independence, and carried away 
to some opposition merchant. It, however, some- 
times happens that a merchant makes a contract 
with some of the tea growers before the season com- 
mences, in which case the price is arranged in the 
usual way, and generally a part paid in advance. 
This, I understand, is frequently the case at Canton 
when a foreign resident wishes to secure any par- 
ticular kind of tea. 
After the teas are bought up in the district: 
where they are grown, they are conveyed to the 
most convenient town, where they are assorted and 
properly packed for the European and American 
markets. Such is the system of green tea culture 
e 3 
