154 
TEA TREE. 
the process has proceeded thus far, he takes off the 
leaves with a kind of shovel resembling a fan, and 
pours them upon the mats to the rollers, who, taking 
a small quantity at a time, roll them in the palms 
of their hands in one direction, while others are 
continually employed in stirring them in order to 
cool them the sooner, and make them preserve their 
shrivelled figure a longer time. 
That their moisture may be thoroughly evapo- 
rated, and their curl more completely preserved, 
this process is repeated twice or thrice, and some- 
times oftener, before the tea is deposited in the 
warehouses ; with this difference, that on every re- 
petition the pan is less heated, and the operation 
performed in a more slow and cautious manner. 
The people in the country are not so particular 
in preparing of their tea : they are contented with 
drying the leaves in earthen vessels over the fire, 
which being a much simpler process is of course 
less expensive ; and on this account they are en- 
abled to sell their tea at a much lower price. 
The common tea is preserved in earthen pots 
w ith narrow mouths ; but the best sort of tea, used 
by the emperor and nobility, is put in porcelain or 
china vessels. The Bantsjaa , or coarsest tea, is 
kept by the country people in straw baskets, made 
in the shape of barrels, which they place under the 
roofs of their houses, near the hole that lets out 
the smoke, and imagine that this situation does not 
injure the tea. 
The popular opinion, that the green colour of the 
