230 
WANDERINGS IN CHINA. 
Chap. XIV. 
The above statements would seem to show that it 
is greatly to the interest of the Chinese merchant to 
encourage the production of the finer classes of tea, 
those being the kinds upon which he gets the largest 
profits. 
I have now shown in detail the cost of the different 
classes of tea in the tea country, the distance which it 
has to travel before it reaches the seaport towns, and the 
total expenses upon it when it reaches the hands of the 
foreign merchant. It forms no part of my plan to say 
what ought to be a sufficient remuneration for the 
Chinese tea-dealer or broker ;* but if the above calcu- 
lations are near the truth, we may still hope to drink 
our favourite beverage, at least the middling and finer 
qualities of it, at a price much below that which we now 
pay. 
While I encourage such hopes, let me confer a boon 
upon my countrywomen, who never look so charming as 
at the breakfast- table, by a quotation or two from a 
Chinese author's advice to a nation of tea-drinkers how 
best to make tea. " Whenever the tea is to be infused 
for use,'' says Tung-po, 'Hake water from a running 
stream, and boil it over a lively fire. It is an old custom 
to use running water boiled over a lively fire ; that from 
springs in the hills is said to be the best, and river-water 
the next, while well-water is the worst. A lively fire is a 
clear and bright charcoal fire. 
" When making an infusion, do not boil the water 
too hastily, as first it begins to sparkle like crabs' eyes, 
* I do not think the small farmer and manipulator is overpaid ; 
the great profits are received by the middlemen. 
