438 



The Physical Condition of 



[Oct. 



surface, covered with grasses, moist, uniform, firm and solid. When 

 rubbed between the fingers this soil possesses considerable coherency 

 and softness. 



Constituent parts in 200. 



Water 52 



Extractive matter, 5 



Vegetable matter, 81 



Silex, 114 



Alumina, 91 



Oxide of iron, 4 



193 



From the foregoing enquiries it appears that the tea plant of Assam 

 grows spontaneously under slightly distinct circumstances as follows : 



1. In the level plain. 



2. On embankments or mounds somewhat raised above the plain. 

 Cuju, Noadwar and Tingrai are examples of the first, Nigroo and 

 Gubru-purbut are examples of the second. 



The first class of situations, are distinguished from the general plain 

 by a porous structure, and the peculiar character of maintaining a dry 

 surface under exposure to excessive moisture ; the second by a struc- 

 ture less porous than the first. In both, the plants are situated at the 

 verge of inundations which prevail during the greater portion of the 

 year on the adjoining lands. 



The important peculiarity of these sites is, that they are less secure 

 from inundation by their elevation than by their structure. Indeed 

 the lower sites are scarcely raised more than a yard above the adjoin- 

 ing flat plains, which are exposed to inundations not merely during 

 falls of rain, but also from the overflowings of the great rivers. But 

 these circumstances, which are sources of fertility to the adjoining 

 lands, appear to produce an opposite effect on the sites of the tea plant, 

 thus causing the peculiar condition on which the presence of the plant 

 in some measure depends. All soluble and subtile matters are pre- 

 vented from accumulating in the soil of those sites, and are washed as 

 it were from a filter into a loose sandy bottom — all vegetable and 

 animal decompositions, and all chemical operations except the oxida- 

 tion of particles of iron, are here prevented from taking place. Hence 

 the characteristic colour of the generality of these soils already point- 

 ed out. Protected in Assam under the shade of dense forests and a 

 gloomy and excessively humid atmosphere (the latter the most indis- 



