18 
BOTANIC GARDEN. 
tity of’ dirt. On reaching the Botanic Garden, I received from the 
kindness of Senhor Gomez, its curator, refreshment of a more sub- 
stantial and attractive kind. 
The Botanic Garden is of considerable extent ; and if its support 
by the Portuguese government was proportionate to the zeal of its 
superintendant, and the means of its improvement, it would become 
the first establishment of the kind in the world. The climate would 
favour the growth of all the plants of the east ; and there can be no 
doubt, that such of them as afford commercial produce, might be 
cultivated with success and profit. But it has no other care bestowed 
on its management than what it receives through the judgment and 
exertion of Senhor Gomez, whose particular appointment is that of 
superintendant of some powder-mills situated in its neighbourhood. 
This gentleman has, notwithstanding the defects of its establishment, 
contrived through the aid of a few Chinese gardeners, to cultivate 
the Tea-plant with great success. It was in seed at the time of my 
visit, and its leaves had been repeatedly and effectively manufactured. 
The process pursued is very simple. The leaves are gathered in the 
month of January, after heavy falls of rain, before they are wholly 
expanded, care being taken that no foot-stalks are mingled with them ; 
they are then put into an iron vessel, and exposed to heat till they begin 
to shrink ; when they are taken out, and rolled between the hands till 
they become spirally folded. They are then returned into the vessel, 
and again exposed to heat till it becomes intolerable to the hand, which 
continually agitates them, to prevent their burning ; and thus the 
process is finished. 
Many other Chinese plants, besides the Tea, were growing in the 
garden in full vigour. Amongst these, the Tallow-tree (Stillingia 
Sebifera), the Wax-tree (Ligustrum Lucidum), and Camellia Sesan- 
qua, were the most conspicuous. The last-mentioned plant, Senhor 
Gomez was disposed to call the Thea Oleifera, from the belief, that 
it is not a Camellia, but a Thea, and that it is the Oil-plant of the 
Chinese. In the former opinion, he is probably correct ; in the 
latter, he accords with the statement of others ; but in another part 
