62 
The tea next came under our notice in me report by Coney Bee 
* On the town and port of Samsoon, and on the Circa 
the district.”* Mr. Biliotti states that the Ojai families « Ae 
large quantities of sugar and have introduced the use of tea; but there 
being a sort of native tea produced at Amassia and Tokat, the iio 
importation of this article from Great Britain does not exceed 1500 
pounds.” We thought it was worth while drawing the attention of the 
Foreign Office to the matter, with a view of ascertaining the nature of 
this tea “seo pag Mr. Biliotti took a good deal of trouble, and obtained 
ni to Kew specimens of tea and of the plant prodücing it 
reir, and Tokat, in the province of Roum, and also from Rizeh 
in "Trebiz izond. Writing from Trebizond, he says:——'** As it grows 
profusely here wild on high mountains (not below an altitude of 500 
eet, so far as I have been able to ascertain), it would be of invaluable 
advantage for the population to know whether the plaut belongs to the 
genus tea, and whether cultivation would improve the quality of the tea 
now produced, whieh lacks in flavour. This may also be due to the 
natives using unskilful means for drying the wet 
he tea sent has exactly the appearance and aroma of coarse black 
tea; so much so, that the Customs authorities insisted on charging duty 
2 died specimens sent were identified by Professor Oliver as Vaccinium 
Arctostaphylos, without hesitation. He remarks that the plant is 
: ournefort in "his E Voyage i in diee Levant"; but though that 
tavole mentions the taste of the leaves, he says nothing about its being 
used as Mises an what Mr. Holmes says as to its use for 
this Bbrfith o ing a pract recent 
The Board of Trade, to hie samples of the tea were communicated, 
submitted them to Messrs. George White & Co., the well-known firm 
of tea brokers. They remark that common China tea, selling at 54d. to 
6d. per pound, shows better value in every respect, and the admixture 
of the “ Trebizond tea ” mem Se reduce the cost, while it would 
certainly not eos its flay 
Th the aroma of t 
of a decoction was pee an eed with no appreciable resemblance 
to that of true tea. I sent a sample to Dr. Schorlemmer, of Owen 
College, Manchester, who has paid some attention to the chemistry of 
tea-substitutes, Ledum palustre, belonging to the next natural family, 
ricacee, yields Labrador tea, and it seems odd that two nearly related 
plants should be pitched upon in such — parts of the world for the 
same purpose, if there were no physio S ibn basis for their selection. 
But I have not heard wbether Dr. "Behorla mmer has detected any 
principle in Trebizond tea eee would account jade its GHarütie use. 
Since the above was in type we have been favoured by the Board of 
Trade with a copy of a Bd ahaa (dated ‘Jeary 15, 1885), by M. 
Numa Doulcet, H.M. Vice-Consul, at Samsoo 
I append a translation which, I think, finally exhausts the subject == 
1. The tea in question became a commercial article in 1880 ; at 
first its consumption was limited to the country and particu larly 
to those districts in which Circassian colonies had been founded. 
2. It is manufactured by Circassian planters in the ri nl OR 
of Amassia, Tokat, and Horek, all in the province of Roum, at 
tance from the forest which clothes the mountain 
-4 Commercial Reports from Her Majesty’s Consuls, 1884,” Part, I, p. 147, — 
