October i, 1888. J THE TROPICAL 
AGRICULTURIST. 
281 
The whole transaction which has led to the 
formation of the Imperial British East Africa 
Company and the granting of the charter has 
been carried out with credit to all concerned ; 
but the fortunate result is without doubt largely 
due to the energy and business capacity of Mr. 
William Mackinnon. 
Mr. George S. Mackenzie, who has had a long 
and varied experience of the Arab and Persian 
tribes in the Persian Gulf, has left for East 
Africa for the responsible duty of taking 
over the concession from the Sultan and inaugu- 
rating this important work. He takes with him 
a well-selected staff of Englishmen, whose quali- 
fications fit them for the work, and the opera- 
tions of the company will be commenced at once 
by the despatch of a well appointed caravan to 
open up the interior to European trade. Already 
one has been sent up the country, and with the 
energy, capital, and experience which direct the 
great enterprise we may hope at no distant date 
to be able to measure results in proportion. 
And, while every Englishman will feel proud of 
the success of an undertaking so distinctly 
characteristic of British enterprise, not the least 
Bentiruent of national gratification will be that 
which arises from the hope we may now feel 
that we are within measurable distance of the 
end of the unholy slave trutlic of the dark region 
into which the light is now about to enter. ^ 
London Times, Sept. 8th. 
A DAY IN A CEYLON TEA FACTORY. 
My chief object in Ceylon being to see what I 
could of the ten- pi an ting and the manufacturing indus- 
try of the same, I made my way upcouutry from 
Colombo at once to the estate to which I had secured 
an introduction. 
1 arrived between tight and nine in the morning, 
and tound work iu full swing; the gentleman who 
superintends the tea- making was already in his office 
— 11 small room adjoining 1 the store, and having windows 
on every side to overlook the engines. He received 
me very courteously, and seemed delighted to show me 
everything, but offered first to explain tho method 
which was pursued with the leaf before it reached tho 
factory. 
" Our principal work," began Mr. 8., ''is the plucking 
of the leaf, which goes on for a good part of the year. 
This is done by my coolies, who pick the leaf into small 
baskets tied at their waists. They empty these into 
larger ones which are taken twice a day to my assis- 
tant's bungalow (ho lives a mile from here, in the middle 
of the tea garden) and weighed, after which they are pour- 
ed iuto u cart fitted with trays, and brought down hero." 
" llow often do you pluck tho trees?" I asked. 
"Wo go over the estate about eviry eight or nine 
dayB. We pluck the unfolded leaf or tip at the top of 
the shoot (which makes tho bright yellow tip seen in 
tie higher class teas) ami the two next leaves, accor- 
ding to the season. Women are the best pluokers; they 
get tho most practice, as tho meu are often taken off 
lor other work." 
" When tho lenf reaches tho factory your work 
bogtni, I suppose P" 
"If you will come ronud and have some breakfast 
with mo, we shall just be iu time to get before the leaf 
carts come in," he answered; and 1 gladly followed 
him to a pretty little bungalow, covered with creepers, 
not a hundred yards from the store, whero a very clean 
and attentive servant, dressed all iu white, had spread 
an excellent breakfa-r in the one sitting-room— a fairly 
largo one, with a lovely view. 
Dhc Fish Ulub, which has a box up from Colombo 
«>ue t > ft w,.(.|t, hail provided a capital dish of fish, very 
liko salmon, but white ll«shed ; besides this, we had 
buttered eggs, a " devil id a peculiarly Singhalese 
warmth, and a tine sirloin of beef, cold, with a salad, 
which my host said he raised from Knglish seed, and of 
which he had only one complaiot to make, that it 
Mi) 
would grow to such a gigautic size that it took him a 
week to get through one lettuce. Our beverages 
were beer, and whisky and soda; for a second course 
wo had tea, toast, and jam, the former very strong 
and of a delicious flavour. 
On going down to the factory after breakfast, we 
found a leaf -cart, drawn by bullocks, had just arrived. 
" The first thing to do," said Mr. S., " is to see that 
the quality of the leaf is nil right; if I find any hard 
or coarse leaf, I make the coolies pick them out." 
The upper floor of the factory was filled with coarsely 
woven cloths, called Jute-Hessian, stretched from side 
to side of the store, one sheet six inches above the 
other, leaving just room for a man to pass at ends and 
sides. 
On these tats, as they are called, the leaf is spread, 
very thinly, a pound of leaf taking up about ten super- 
ficial feet, and there left until it gets soft and flabby 
and withered. In fine, hot weather this takes place 
iu about eightoeu hours ; in cold and wet, double the 
time. When properly " withered," it is swept off the 
tats, through a hole in the floor into the roller. 
'• Now let us go down to the lower floor, and see tho 
different kiuds of machines. This large press moving 
rapidly backwards and forwards on a table, is tho 
roller, which bruises and twists the leaf ; then it is 
passed on to the poll-sifter (a horizontal sheet of fine 
wire netting, moving, by means of a crank, with 
a quick, shaking motion) where the fine leaf falls 
through the netting, and the coarse is once more 
returned to the roller to be further bruised and pres- 
sed. The roll (as the leaf is now called) is then 
spread out on tables, some three or four inches deep, 
and covered with a damp cloth, ia left to ferment." 
" And what," I asked, " is that enormous kind of 
box, with doors and wheels, which suggests a bathing 
machine ?" 
"That is the dryer, into which the roll is put when 
it is fermented, a process of from one to three hour-, 
according to the temperature and quality of the leaf. 
It is put in at "the top, and carried along a series of 
zinc trays working on an endless chain and at differ- 
ent levels, through which hot air is drawn by the fan 
from the furnace below. The passage through the 
dryer takes about twenty minutes, and when the leaf 
is discharged the tea is made." 
" But," I objected, taking up a handful of tea from 
below the dryer, " this is not like the tea one gets 
in Euglaud." 
"No ; what you are looking at is what we call bulk 
tea. It has still to be sorted, either by hand or 
machine-worked sieves, and tho tea may be divided 
into many grades. Here we i\it into three grades 
only. The first which contains those yellow- tips I 
showed you, wo call broken pekoe. This, I fancy, you 
never get unblcuded at home, and, indeed, it is too 
strong for drinking alouo. After separating the bro- 
ken pekoe, the rest goes into >\ machine called a cutter 
in which knives work to and fro over a perforated plate 
and tho tea which drops through the holes ia called 
pekoe — tho second grade. This mokes, iu my opinion, 
the best tea for ordinary drinking. The third grade — 
pekoe (-ouchong — is that whicii, after the admixture 
of a largo percentage of the commoner China tea, is 
sold retail at homo for 2s or 3s a pound." 
"Do you do anything iu tho way of sending tea 
home yourself ?" I asked Mr. S. 
"No; except occasionally seudiug my people a box 
for their own use." 
" Aud may I ask what that costs you I said. 
"Something under 3s a pound, duty' aud all charges 
paid and delivered free. For this 1 cuu send my 
people u first-rate strong aud tlowery pekoe." 
"I suppose you have been a long time in the 
country." 
"About ten years," Mr. S. answered ; " seven were 
devoted to coffco and cinchona, aud the last three 
to tea.'' 
"And have you cot beeu home iu all that time ?" 
"No; I always look forward to taking a trip some 
day, but we are only just beginning to rocover from 
the depths of poverty into which we were throwu by 
tho failure of coffee." 
