296 
WANDERINGS IN CHINA. 
Chap. XIX. 
abhors and considers unhealthy. Tea is his favourite 
beverage from morning until night ; not what we call 
tea, mixed with milk and sugar, but the essence of the 
herb itself drawn out in pure water. Those acquainted 
with the habits of this people can scarcely conceive the 
idea of the Chinese existing were they deprived of the 
tea-plant ; and I am sure that the extensive use of this 
beverage adds much to the health and comfort of the 
great body of the people. 
The people of India are not unlike the Chinese in 
many of their habits. The poor of both countries eat 
sparingly of animal food, and rice with other grains and 
vegetables form the staple articles on which they live ; 
this being the case, it is not at all unlikely the Indian 
will soon acquire a habit which is so universal in China. 
But in order to enable him to drink tea it must be 
produced at a cheap rate ; he cannot afford to pay at 
the rate of four or six shillings a pound. It must be 
furnished to him at four ijence or six pence instead, and 
this can easily be done, but only on his own hills. If 
this is accomplished, and I see no reason why it should 
not be, a boon will have been conferred upon the people 
of India of no common kind, and one which an en- 
lightened and liberal Government may well be proud of 
conferring upon its subjects. 
But while the cultivation of the tea-plant is of the 
first importance, there are in China other productions of 
the vegetable kingdom which ought not to be over- 
looked, and which, if introduced, would add greatly to 
the comforts of the people of India. There is a fruit- 
