Chap. XXII. SUGGESTIONS ON TEA-CULTURE. 



395 



produce will scarcely pay the carriage to the nearest 

 market-town, far less yield such a profit as will enable 

 him to purchase even a few of the necessary and 

 simple luxuries of life. A common blanket has to 

 serve him for his covering by day and for his bed at 

 night, while his dwelling-house is a mere mud-hut, 

 capable of affording but little shelter from the incle- 

 mency of the weather. If part of these lands pro- 

 duced tea, he would then have a healthy beverage to 

 drink, besides a commodity which would be of great 

 value in the market. Being of small bulk compared 

 with its value, the expense of carriage would be 

 trifling, and he would have the means of making 

 himself and his family more comfortable and more 

 happy. 



Were such results doubtful, we have only to look 

 across the frontiers of India into China. Here we 

 find tea one of the necessaries of life in the strictest 

 sense of the word. A Chinese never drinks cold 

 water, which he abhors, and considers unhealthy. 

 Tea is his favourite beverage from morning until night ; 

 not what we call tea, mixed with milk and sugar, but 

 the essence of the herb itself drawn out in pure water. 

 Those acquainted with the habits of this people can 

 scarcely conceive the idea of the Chinese existing, 

 were they deprived of the tea-plant ; and I am sure 

 that the extensive use of this beverage adds much to 

 the health and comfort of the great body of the people. 



The people of India are not unlike the Chinese in 

 many of their habits. The poor of both countries 

 eat sparingly of animal food, and rice with other 



