Chap- XIV. 
TRANSPORT OF TEAS. 
223 
necessary to rest them on the ground, which is often wet 
and dirty. The finest teas, however, as I have already 
stated, are never allowed to touch the ground, but are 
carried on the shoulders of the coolies. 
The distance from Tsong-gan-hien to Huen-shan is 
220 le, or to Hokow 280 le. A merchant can per- 
form it in his chair in three or four days, but coohes 
heavily laden with tea-chests require at least five or 
six days. 
In the country about Yuen-shan and Hokow — ^that is, 
on the northern side of the great mountain-range — a 
large quantity of tea is cultivated and manufactured for 
the foreign market Thousands of acres were observed 
under tea-cultivation, but apparently the greater part of 
this land had been cleared and planted within the last 
few years. The teas made here, as well as those on the 
southern side of the Bohea mountains, are brought to 
Hokow on their way to one of the ports of exportation. 
What are called Moning or Ning-chow teas, made in a 
country further to the westward, near to the Poyang lake, 
are also brought up the river, and pass Hokow on their 
way to Shanghae. 
The town of Hokow — or Hohow, as it is commonly 
called by Canton men — is situated in latitude 29° 54' 
north, and longitude 116° 18' east It stands on the 
banks of the river Kin-keang,* which rises amongst the 
hills to the north-east of Yuk-shan, and, flowing west- 
ward, empties its waters into the Poyang lake. Hokow 
is a large and flourishing town, abounding in tea-hongs, 
* This is the name the river bears near its mouth. Further up 
it is called in the map Long-shia-tong-ho. 
