270 



TEA DISTRICTS OF CHINA. Chap. XV. 



Chinese dealers and brokers could not be amply 

 remunerated by a lower price than any yet quoted. 



The above statements would seem to show that it is 

 greatly to the interest of the Chinese merchant to en- 

 courage the production of the finer classes of tea, those 

 being the kinds upon which he gets the largest profits. 



I have now shown in detail the cost of the differ- 

 ent classes of tea in the tea country, the distance 

 which it has to travel before it reaches the seaport 

 towns, and the total expenses upon it when it reaches 

 the hands of the foreign merchant. It forms no part 

 of my plan to say what ought to be a sufficient remu- 

 neration for the Chinese tea-dealer or broker ;* but if 

 the above calculations are near the truth, we may 

 still hope to drink our favourite beverage, at least the 

 middling and finer qualities of it, at a price much 

 below that which we now pay. 



While I encourage such hopes, let me confer a boon 

 upon my countrywomen, who never look so charm- 

 ing as at the breakfast-table, by a quotation or two 

 from a Chinese author's advice to a nation of tea- 

 drinkers how best to make tea. " Whenever the 

 tea is to be infused for use," says Tiing-po, " take 

 water from a running stream, and boil it over a lively 

 fire. It is an old custom to use running water boiled 

 over a lively fire ; that from springs in the hills is 

 said to be the best, and river-water the next, while 

 well-water is the worst. A lively fire is a clear and 

 bright charcoal fire. 



* I do not think the small farmer and manipulator is overpaid ; the 

 great profits are received by the middlemen. 



