498 



ORIENTAL COMMERCE. 



\ China. 



Tea.— The dried leaves of the tea-plant, which grows in China and 

 Japan, are a commodity which about a hundred and fifty years ago was 

 scarcely known as an article of trade ; it is now in common use throughout 

 the British dominions, and in most parts of Europe and America. 



The Chinese all agree that there is but one sort or species of the tea- 

 tree, and that the differences in tea arise from the mode of curing, and the 

 difference of seasons when gathered. The tea-tree is an evergreen, and 

 grows to the height of five or six feet ; the leaves, when full grown, are 

 about an inch and a half long, narrow, indented, and tapering to a point 

 like those of the sweet briar, of a dark green colour, glossy, and of a firm 

 texture, veined on the under side, flattish, and channelled above ; the root 

 is like that of a peach-tree, and its flowers resemble those of the white wild 

 rose, and are followed by a pod about the size of a filbert, containing two or 

 three grains of seed, which are wrinkled, and very unpleasant to the palate. 

 The stem spreads into many irregular branches, inclining to an ash colour, 

 but reddish towards the ends ; the wood is hard, of a whitish green colour, 

 and the bark is of a greenish colour, with a hitter, nauseous, and astringent 

 taste. The leaves are not fit for being plucked till the shrub is three years 

 old ; in seven years it rises to about (i feet; it is then cut down to the stem, 

 and this produces a new crop of fresh shoots the following year, every one of 

 which bears nearly as many leaves as a whole shrub. Sometimes the plants 

 are not cut down till they are ten years old. The trees are not manured, 

 but the ground is kept clean, and free from weed.-;. The tea is not always 

 gathered by the single leaf, but often by sprigs, and in general by men, though 

 women and children gather it. It is gathered from morning till night, when 

 the dew is on the leaves as well as when it is off. 



Teas are generally in parcels, denominated chops by the Chinese, 

 consisting of from 100 to 1000 chests each, bearing the iiame of the grower, 

 or place where grown ; and they are, generally speaking, found to be of an 

 equal quality throughout, although, from a variety of seasons, or some other 

 cause, it is found fresher and better in one year than another. 



Teas are divided into black and green. The former are again divided 

 as follow: — 



Black Teas. — I. Bohea, or Voo-yee, the name of the country ; it is in 

 the province of Fokien, and very hilly ; not only the hills are planted with 

 tea trees, but the vallies also : the former are reckoned to grow the best tea. 

 On them grow Congou, Pekoe, and Souchong; in the vallies or flat parts of 

 the country, Bohea. There are four or five gatherings of Bohea tea in a 

 year, according to the demand there is for it, but three, or at most, four 

 gatherings are reckoned proper ; the others only hurt the next year's crop. 



