ETHNOLOGY OF THE PRESENT DAY. 219 



exposed to the sun for two hours, in large bamboo baskets placed upon 

 a scaffold, being carefully turned from time to time. They are then carried 

 into the workhouse, and spread out upon a hurdle for half an hour, in order 

 to cool, after which they are placed in baskets on a scaffold. Next the 

 leaves are worked with the flat of the hands for about ten minutes, and 

 then taken to a hurdle again, where they remain for about half an hour. 

 This process is repeated until they become soft, and are ready to be 

 roasted in a cast-iron basin. The basin stands upon a round brick oven, 

 where it is brought to a red heat. The overseer of the workshop attends 

 to the roasting : at his left hand a man holds a basket with leaves to 

 be roasted, and at his right hand stand two others to receive the roasted 

 leaves in small baskets. The roasted leaves are now spread upon a table, 

 around which men, women, and children stand and roll them together in 

 the shape of a ball. In order to free them from their moisture, they are 

 finally exposed to heat in a basket, upon an oven, until they are half dried. 

 They are then again placed on a hurdle, in baskets, in order to be com- 

 pletely dried in the air. The leaves designed for green tea are gathered 

 without their pedicles, and immediately thrown, two or three pounds at 

 a time, into a cauldron heated to redness, where they are turned about in 

 all directions, at first with the hands, then with small bamboo sticks. After 

 about three minutes, they have become so flexible that they are capable 

 of being rolled up. They are now taken from the fire, thrown into flat 

 baskets, and swung in the air, in order to cool. The leaves are then 

 softened by kneading with the hands, and formed into conical balls. 

 These balls are exposed to the sun for eight or ten minutes, or are warmed 

 slowly in a drying room. When the leaves, by means of repeated knead- 

 ing, have lost the greater portion of their moisture, they are thrown a 

 second time into the caldron heated to redness, and again studiousl}^ turned. 

 After this, they are poured into a basket, and then rammed, fifteen or 

 twenty pounds at a time, into a thick linen bag, four feet long and two 

 broad, in which they are tightly pressed together. The sack is then tied 

 up, and trodden with the feet until it becomes as hard as stone. After the 

 lapse of a day, the leaves are taken out of the bag, put into baskets, and 

 placed near the fire, where they remain until ihey are sufficiently curled, 

 and rolled up in a spiral form. They are now packed in chests, or bamboo 

 baskets, and allowed to stand from two to six months. The leaves are then 

 taken out, and spread in large baskets upon hurdles, where they remain 

 until ihey have become sufliciendy soft to be rolled up. They are then 

 again thrown into a hot basin (six to seven pounds at a time), where they 

 are rolled together with both hands alternately, after which they are passed 

 through three sieves, standing one above another, and whose holes are 

 of different widths, in order that the leaves may be sorted according to 

 their various sizes. For further sorting, other peculiar contrivances are 

 employed. After this sorting, the tea is thrown once more into a heated 

 basin, and again rolled and sorted. During this final roasting, half a tea- 

 spoonful of a powder consisting of three parts of sulphate of lime and one 

 part of indigo, is added to everv seven pounds of tea, rolling the whole for 



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