132 



TEA. 



the fires. But the general good order that prevails, speaks much in favor of 

 the tea produced in this neighbourhood. The colonel showed me his ware- 

 house, where the tea is stored in iron jars, narrow-necked and closed by a tight 

 fitting stopper. I ventured to put some questions to Colonel Anastosio respect- 

 ing the sale of the produce. He gave me to understand that he was by no 

 means eager to sell ; but, confident of the good quality, he waited till application 

 was made to him for it, as the tea is thought to improve by time, and the price 

 is kept up by there being a small supply. "With respect to the cost of its pro- 

 duction in Brazil, he said, this was so great that, to make it answer to the 

 grower, a price of not less than 2,000 reis, about six francs (5s.), must be got 

 for each pound. The whole labor in Brazil is done by slaves, who certainly 

 do not cost much to keep, but who, on the other hand, work as little as they 

 can help, having no interest in the occupation. The slaves, too, bear a high 

 price, and the chances of mortality, with the exorbitant value of money in 

 Brazil, augment their selling value. 



The Major da Luz kindly presented me with 300 young tea-plants, which he 

 had caused his negroes to pull up for me ; and in an adjoining farm, where an 

 immense tract planted with tea is now allowed to run to waste, being no object 

 of value to the proprietor, I was permitted to take all I could carry away ; and 

 in a single day's time, M. Houlet and I, aided by some slaves, succeeded in pos- 

 sessing ourselves of 3,000 young plants, which we carefully arranged in bamboo 

 baskets (here called cestos). To diminish the weight, M. Houlet removed as 

 little soil as possible ; but carefully wetted the roots before closing the baskets, 

 and covered them with banana leaves. In one garden, the largest I have seen 

 devoted to the growth of tea, but which is not particularly well kept, I saw 

 that the spaces between the shrubs were planted with maize, and the bordering 

 of the squares which intersect this vast plantation, and the whole of which is 

 inclosed with valleys of Araucaria JBrasiliensis, is formed of little dwarf tea- 

 plants, which are kept low by cutting their main shoots down to the level of the 

 soil. 



On the 8th of February I again embarked in the steam-boat to return to Eio 

 Janeiro, and when we came in sight of St. Sebastian, I left M. Houlet to pro- 

 ceed to the city alone, charging him to take the very greatest care of our package 

 of tea-plants, as well as of the nursery-ground at St. Theresa, while I should visit 

 the flourishing colony of Ubatuba, inhabited by French families, who cultivate 

 most successfully co^'ee, and other useful vegetables. After a delightful sail 

 through an archipelago of enchanting islands, I landed at Pontagrossa, where I 

 was most kindly received, and spent a week, obtaining much and varied infor- 

 mation, both respecting cultivated plants and the kinds of trees which grow 

 spontaneously in the virgin forests of this lovely land, and aff'ord valuable woods 

 for building, cabinet- work, and dyeing. Finally, I visited the tea lolantations 

 of M. Vigneron, which are remarkably fine, though their owner finds a much 

 more profitable employment in the growth of coffee, which is very lucrative. He 

 kindly gave me a quantity of young tea-plants and chocolate trees. Reluctantly 

 quitting these worthy colonists, I re-embarked in a Brazilian galliot, which took 

 me back to Bio Janeiro in the close of February. There I found the tea-plants 

 from St. Paul, set by M. Houlet, in our garden at St. Theresa, and I added to 

 them the stock I had brought from Ubatuba. All the very young ones had 

 perished on the way, from the excessive heat, and M. Houlet had much difficulty 

 in saving the others. 



* «- 



M. Guillemin concludes his interesting narration with this partially discou- 

 raging fact; — that though the culture of the tea-shrub succeeds perfectly well 

 in Brazil ; though the gathering of the foliage proceeds with hardly any inter- 

 ruption during the entire 3^ear ; though the quality (setting aside the aroma, which 

 is believed to be artificially added) is not inferior to that of the finest tea from 

 China — still the growers have not realised any large profits. They have manu- 

 factured an immense quantity of tea, to judge by what he saw in the warehouses 

 at St. Paul, but they cannot afford to sell it under six francs for the half kilo- 

 gramme (a pound weighr) . v/hich is higher than Chinese tea of equally good 

 quali i ) . This is, however, precisely one of those commodities in which free labour, 



