1837.1 



the Assam Tea Plant. 



433 



again j we then entered upon level ground, the soil dark and firm un- 

 der the feet, covered with grass and a few scattered trees. This whs of 

 short extent, as we suddenly entered the forest again and were sur- 

 rounded by tea plants. 



The first remarkable thing that presented itself here, was the pecu- 

 liar irregularity of the surface ; which in places was excavated into na- 

 tural trenches, and in other situations raised into rounded accumu^ 

 lations at the roots, and trunks of trees, and clumps of bamboos. The 

 excavations seemed as if they had been formed artifici- 

 ally, and were from two, to three, and even four feet deep, of very 

 irregular shapes, and seldom communicating with each other. 

 After many conjectures, I found the' size of the excavations bear ex- 

 act proportion to the size and height of the nearest adjoining trees, 

 and that they never appeared immediately under the shade of large 

 branches. The cause then appeared to be the collection of rain on the 

 foliage of lofty trees; from which the water so collected is precipitated 

 in heavy volumes on the loose and light soil, excavating it in the man- 

 ner described. 



The trenches are from one yard to ten in length, and generally a. 

 yard, or two yards wide ; and their general figures correspond to the 

 form of the interstices between the branches above. The tea plants are 

 most numerous along the margins of these natural excavations, as 

 well on the accumulations of dry soil raised around the roots of bam- 

 boos. The soil is perfectly loose, and sinks under the feet with a cer- 

 tain degree of elasticity derived from dense meshes of succulent fibres, 

 prolonged in every direction from various roots. Its colour is light 

 grey, perfectly dry and dusty, although the surrounding country was 

 still wet, from the effects of rain that had fallen for several days im- 

 mediately prior to our visit. 



Even the trenches were dry, and from their not communicating with 

 each other, it seemed quite evident, that the soil and substratum must 

 be highly porous, and different in this respect from the structure of the 

 surrounding surface of the country. 



Extending examinations farther, I found the peculiar character of 

 the soil in regard to colour, consistency, and inequality of surface dis- 

 appear, with the tea plant itself, beyond the extent of a circular space 

 of about 300 yards in diameter. 



It was also to be remarked here as well as in other situations in 

 which the tea plant was afterwards examined, that insulated indivi- 

 duals were smaller in size, the farther they were found detached from 

 the natural limits of the colony j which last were always found to be 



