WILD TEA. 



19 



may be characterised as dwarf, no stems that I saw exceeding fifteen 

 feet in height; it had just past flowering. It occurs in great abun- 

 dance, and to much greater extent than in any of the places at which 

 we had previously examined it. But here it is neither limited by pe- 

 culiarity of soil or such slight elevation as the place affords ; it grows 

 indiscriminately on the higher ground where the soil is of a brownish 

 yellow, and on which it attains a larger size than elsewhere, or on clump 

 occurring in low raviny ground and associated with fine bamboos. 

 This ground was intersected by a very tortuous dry nullah bed, on the 

 banks of which tea was very abundant. On either side of the jungle in 

 which it is found, extensive clearings occur, so that it is impossible to 

 say what its original extent may have been ; I am inclined to think, 

 however that its limit was with the commencement of a small clear- 

 ing running to the N. W. of a village situated on the west bank of 

 the Tingrei, and that not much has been cut down. 



The extent may be roughly estimated as follows, reckoning from 

 the entrance into the jungle in a south easterly direction : the one 

 in fact of our route from the village to the tea. 



S. E. 180 yards, after which it disappears, but shews itself again 

 sparingly about 100 yards further on, and in the same direction. 



To the S. of this I found none, its direction being totally changed ; 

 its general direction being now, 



N. W. or N. N. W.>in which, and in about 200 yards from the 

 place at which it ceased towards the south, it becomes very abundant, 

 and continues so in a 



W. N. W. course for about 220 yards. 



Thence it appears to be interrupted for the space of 80 or 100 

 yards. 



It then recommences a course 



N. by W. for about 100 yards, when it is terminated by cultivat- 

 ed ground to the east, and low raviny ground to the west. 



200 yards to the north, and close to a small village, it is very abun- 

 dant, and at least its stumps with numerous shoots, occupy almost 

 the whole of a small clearing bounded on the N. E. by the rivulet 

 Tingrei. It may be supposed to extend for a little distance into the 

 contiguous jungle to the N. W. 



On the whole, it may be said to occupy a narrow strip of jungle, 

 extending from the village Tingrei in a S. E. direction about a £ 

 of a mile. I consider the plants here as finer than in any of the 

 other tea jungles, the crown being much better developed owing at 



