Cuar. XX.] TEA HILLS. 377 
be obliged to leave the district. When the Chi- 
nese have an end to gain, the only question with 
them is, whether they are most likely to succeed 
by telling the truth or telling lies; either method 
is resorted to as may best suit their purpose, with 
a slight preference, perhaps, for the latter. 
When they found that, notwithstanding all their 
descriptions of the fierce and hostile disposition of the 
people, I was still determined to go, they declared 
that no tea was grown in this district ; being fully 
persuaded that an Englishman could have no other 
object in exploring the country than to see the 
cultivation of his favourite beverage. Indeed, every 
Chinaman firmly believes we could not continue to ° 
exist as a nation were it not for the productions of 
the celestial empire. It has been stated that his 
celestial majesty the Emperor himself, during the 
war, recommended his subjects to use every means 
in their power to prevent the English from getting 
tea and rhubarb—the one being what they lived 
upon, and the other their medicine, without which, 
his majesty said, they could not continue to exist 
for any length of time ; and consequently would be 
more easily conquered in this way than by the 
sword. 
I told the mandarins that I did not care whether 
there were tea farms on these hills or not; but 
that, to cut the matter short, I was determined to 
go and see. 
Accordingly, on the following morning I started 
early, taking the road for the tea hills. The flat 
