184 
WANDERINGS IN CHINA. 
CHAr. XI. 
black teas are sorted and packed for the foreign markets. 
All those coolies whom I had met on my journey across 
the mountains were loaded here. Tea-merchants from 
all parts of China where teas are consumed or exported 
come to this place to make their purchases of tea and 
the necessary arrangements for its transport. Canton 
men in particular come in great numbers, as they carry- 
on a large trade with foreigners, both at Canton and 
Shanghae. I saw many of them walking about in the 
streets, but for obvious reasons avoided them as much as 
possible. They are easily distinguished by their features 
from the natives of Fokien, as well as from the more 
northern Chinese. 
The plain in which the town of Tsong-gan-hien is 
situated is not of great extent. Hills are seen appa- 
rently surrounding it on all sides, on some of which the 
tea-shrub is extensively cultivated. Many of these hills 
have a most barren appearance, although there are here 
and there Yery fertile spots on their sloping sides. Tea 
is also cultivated extensively in the lowlands, but these 
are invariably well raised above the banks of the river. 
It will be better, however, to collect into one chapter the 
remarks I have to make upon the tea cultivation in this 
important part of the country. 
As I arrived at Tsong-gan-hien early in the day, I 
stopped there only three hours. This was sufficient to 
enable me to take a survey of the town, and to obtain 
some refreshment both for myself and my men. At the 
end of that time I got into my chair and took the road 
for Woo-e-shan, which was only forty or fifty le further 
