other kinds, viz. the Voui and Soumlo, which are reserved for people of the first quality, and for those who 
are sick. 
We have two principal kinds of tea in Europe, viz. green tea, which is the common tea of the Chinese; 
(T. le Compte calls it Bing tea, and says it is gathered in April;) Bohea tea which is the Voui or Vou-tche of 
the Chinese, and which M. le Compte makes to differ from the green tea only by its being gathered a month 
before it, viz. in March, while in the bud. Others take it for the tea of some particular province, the soil being 
found to make as much alteration in the properties of tea as the time of gathering. As to the difference of 
flavour and colour peculiar to these two kinds, Dr. Lettsom thinks that there is reason to suspect that they 
are produced by art. As to the opinion that green tea owes its verdure to an inflorescence acquired from 
the plates of copper on which it is supposed to be curled or dried, there is no foundation for the suspicion, 
as the infusions undergo no change on the addition of volatile alkali, which would detect the minutest portion 
of copper by turning the liquors blue. On the Avhole, Dr. Lettsom thinks it not improbable that some 
green dye, prepared from vegetable substances, is employed in the colouring of the leaves of the green teas. 
And Newman suspects that the brown colour and flavour of the Bohea teas are introduced by art. Both 
convey their own particular colour to water, but to rectified spirits they both impart a fine deep green. 
The process of gathering the tea is one of great nicety and importance. Each leaf is plucked sepa- 
rately from the stalk : the hands of the gatherer are kept clean, and in collecting some of the fine sorts, he 
hardly ventures to breathe on the plant. At a place called Udsi, in the Island of Japan, is a mountain, the 
climate of which is supposed to be particularly congenial to the growth of tea, and the whole crop which 
grows upon it is reserved for the sole use and disposal of the Emperor. A wide and deep ditch round the 
base of the mountain, prevents all access, except to the appointed guardian of its treasures. The shrubs are 
carefully cleansed of dust, and protected from any inclemency of the weather. The labourers who collect the 
leaves, are obliged, for some weeks previous, to abstain from all gross food, lest their breath or perspiration 
might injure the flavour; they wear fine gloves while at work, and during that period bathe two or three 
times a day. 
Owing to the minute division of land in China, there can be few, if any large tea-growers; the plan- 
tations are small, and the business of them carried on by the owner and his own family, who carry the pro- 
duce of each picking immediately to market, where it is disposed of to a class of persons whose business it 
is to collect and dry the leaves, ready for the Canton tea-merchants I Don’s General System of Gardening. 
The activity of tea chiefly resides in the fragrant and volatile parts, which stands charged as the cause 
of those nervous affections that are said to be produced or aggravated by the use of the infusion. 
From Dr. Smith’s experiments it appears, that green tea has the effect of destroying the sensibility of 
the nerves and the irritability of the muscles ; and from the experiments of Dr. Lettsom it appears, that 
green tea gives out on distillation an odorous water, which is powerfully narcotic, but in a more recent 
state, as in China, it is still more powerfully narcotic, therefore the Chinese never use it until it is one year 
old or more, till its volatile parts are still further dissipated. It would therefore appear, that what are con- 
sidered the finer teas, contain more of this narcotic principle, than what are considered the coarser kinds, 
especially the green teas, as the more odorous teas in this country often show their sedative powers, in weak- 
ening the nerves of the stomach, and the whole system. Its effects, however, seem to be very different in 
different persons, hence the contradictory accounts that are reported of these effects. The substitutes for 
tea used by the Chinese may be mentioned. A species of moss common to the mountains or shantung, an 
infusion of ferns of different sorts, and Dr. Abel thinks that the leaves of the common Camellia and oil 
Camellia may be added, and Kampfer asserts that in Japan, a species of Camellia, as well as Olea fragrans 
is used to give tea a high flavour. By far the strongest tea Dr. Abel tasted in China was that called Yutien, 
used only on occasions of ceremony. It scarcely coloured the water, and on examination, was found to con- 
sist of buds and half-expanded leaves. 
Savory speaks of a sort of red tea, or Tartar tea, called Honan-tcha, which tinges the water of a pale 
red; it is said to be extremely digestive; by means of it the Tartars are said to be able to feed on raw flesh; 
the drink tea is made in China and the greatest part of the East, in the same manner as in Europe. 
The Chinese are always taking tea, especially at meals, sometimes three, six, or ten times a day; it is 
the chief treat with which they regale their friends. 
With regard to the commercial history of tea, it was first introduced into Europe by the Dutch East 
India Company, very early in the 17th century, and a quantity of it was brought over from Holland by Lords 
Arlington and Ossory, about the year 1 666, at which time it was sold for 60s. a pound. But it appears, even 
before this time, drinking of tea even in public coffee houses in this country was not uncommon, for in 1660 
a duty of 8 d. per gallon was laid on the liquor made and sold in all coffee-houses. As tea has always held so 
principal a place in our intercourse with China, it requires some particular consideration as an article of com- 
merce. We have seen before, that the fineness and clearness of tea are determined by the tenderness and 
