374 



TEA DISTRICTS OF CHINA. 



Chap. XXII. 



The land is muck more fertile than about Mus- 

 sooree, and more thickly inhabited. Cultivated spots 

 are everywhere visible, particularly on the lower 

 portions of the hills and to about half way up their 

 sides. All above that is generally barren, and, I 

 should think, is rarely visited by man. 



The Chinese manufacturers whom I had brought 

 round from China were located on this farm. They 

 had nice cottages and gardens given them, and every- 

 thing was done which could add to their comfort in a 

 strange land. On the morning I left Paorie the poor 

 fellows got up early, and were dressed in their holiday 

 clothes to bid me good bye. They brought me a 

 packet of letters addressed to their relations in China, 

 which they begged me to forward ; they also offered 

 me a small present, which they asked me to accept as 

 a slight token of their gratitude for the kindness I 

 had shown them during our long journey. This, of 

 course, I declined, while I told them how much I 

 was pleased with the motives by which they were 

 actuated. I confess I felt sorry to leave them. We 

 had travelled together for a long time, and they had 

 always looked up to me with the most perfect confi- 

 dence as their director and friend. While I had 

 always treated them kindly myself, I had taken mea- 

 sures to have them kindly treated by others, and 

 never, from the time of their engagement until I left 

 them in their new mountain home, had they given 

 me the slightest cause for anger. 



We now proceeded to visit the plantations in the 

 vicinity of Almorah. The country became more and 



