The names whereby some of the principal sorts of tea are known in China, are taken from the places in which they are produced, while others are distinguished according to the periods of their gathering, the manner employed in curing, or other extrinsic circumstances.

Bohea, of which description there are five kinds, takes its name from the mountain of Vou-yee, which is covered with tea plantations. The earliest gatherings, in this district, is called Souchong, the Chinese name for which is Saatyang; and Pekoe, called by the cultivators back-ho, or pack-ho; Congou, Kongfou, and other commoner kinds of Bohea-tea, are made from the leaves when in a state of greater maturity. Padre-Souchong, or Pao-sut-tcha, is gathered in the province where the best green tea is produced. This kind is esteemed on account of some medicinal virtues which it is supposed to possess.

There are three kinds of green tea, of which one called hyson, hayssuen, is composed of leaves very carefully picked, and dried with a less degree of heat than others: it is one-fourth dearer than souchong. The kind of green tea which is most abundant is called Singlo, which is the name of a mountain on which it grows, about one hundred and fifty miles to the southward of Nan-king. Gunpowder tea is made of tender green leaves, which yet have attained a considerable size. This kind is sometimes rolled into balls by hand, and is very highly esteemed; it sells for fifteen per cent. more than hyson. It is a commonly received opinion, that the distinctive colour of green tea is imparted to it by sheets of copper, upon which it is dried. For this belief there is not, however, the smallest foundation in fact, since copper is never used for the purpose. Repeated experiments have been made to discover, by

an unerring test, whether the leaves of green tea contain any impregnation of copper, but in no case has any trace of this metal been detected.

The succulent tea-leaves are sometimes twisted into thin rolls or cords, about an inch and a half or two inches long, and several of these are tied toge ther by their ends, with coloured silk threads. This is done with both green and black tea.

when new.

The Chinese do not use their tea until it is about a year old, considering that it is too actively narcotic Tea is yet older when it is brought into consumption in England, as, in addition to the length of time occupied in its collection, and transport to this country, the East-India Company are obliged by their charter to have always a supply suf ficient for one year's consumption in their London warehouses; and this regulation, which enhances the price to the consumer, is said to have been made by way of guarding, in some measure, against the inconvenience that would attend any interruption to a trade entirely dependent upon the caprice of an arbitrary government.

The people of China partake of tea at all their meals, and frequently at other times of the day. They drink the infusion prepared in the same manner as we employ, but they do not mix with it either sugar or milk. The working classes in that country are obliged to content themselves with a very

infusion.

weak

Mr. Anderson, in his narrative of Lord Macartney's embassy, relates that the natives in attendance never failed to beg the tea-leaves remaining after the Europeans had breakfasted, and with these, after submitting them again to boiling water, they made a beverage which they acknowledged better than they could ordinarily obtain. The tea-plant is found in our conservatories, and in such situations has occasionally put forth blossoms

was

in this country. It is not qualified to bear a full exposure to the cold of our winter; and if even this difficulty could be surmounted, there is but little reason for wishing that it should be naturalized among us, as the amount of labour required for its culture, and for the preparation of the leaves, would, at the lowest rate paid in England, raise the produce to a price out of all proportion greater than we now pay for the tea of China, burthened as it is with the expenses of a lengthened voyage, and with a government duty which doubles the selling price. Attempts have been made to cultivate the plant in Brazil, where no obstacle is offered by the climate; but the comparative dearness of labour in that quarter offers a serious barrier against the successful prosecution of the scheme.

SUGAR.

SUGAR must be considered as one of the most valuable vegetable substances with which civilized man has become acquainted. So varied and extensive are its uses, and so greatly does it minister to the social gratifications of mankind, that we are justified in ranking it as inferior only in the vegetable economy to the cereal grains described in the first division of the present volume.

Sugar, speaking chemically, is included in, or forms a constituent part of, a very numerous range of plants, being either contained ready formed, or capable of being developed in all that will yield alcohol after fermentation and distillation. Among these vegetable bodies there are several from which, at various times and in different countries, sugar has been drawn as an alimentary substance; but of these it is quite impossible for us here to offer any satisfactory description. We must limit ourselves to a

very short notice of that one among the sugarproducing plants, which furnishes our own tables with this indispensable article of daily consumption; and to a few particulars relating to the manufacture of sugar, in France, from the White Beet.

Sugar-canes.

secuted in that empire for two thousand years before sugar was even known in Europe, and for a very long period before other eastern nations became acquainted with its use. For some time after this substance, in its crystalline form, had found its way to the westward, through India and Arabia, a singular degree of ignorance prevailed in regard to its nature, and the mode of its production; and there is reason for believing that the Chinese, who have always evinced an unconquerable repugnance to foreign intercourse, purposely threw a veil of mystery over the subject. Persons have not been wanting, even in modern times, who have approved of this anti-social spirit, as being the perfection of political wisdom;but is it not a complete answer to their opinion, that every nation which has cultivated commercial relations has been steadily advancing in civilization, and adding most importantly to the sum of its comforts and conveniences; while the inhabitants of China, although possessed of the greatest natural advantages, arising from variety of soil and climate, and whereby they had so long ago placed themselves in advance of other people, have remained altogether stationary? The case of this extraordinary people forms altogether, and in many ways, a standing enigma in the history of our species, the solving of which could not fail to prove highly instructive and interesting.

A knowledge of the origin of cane sugar was correctly revealed in the middle of the thirteenth century, by the celebrated traveller Marco Polo; though it was partially known much earlier. The plant was soon conveyed to Arabia, Nubia, Egypt, and Ethiopia, where it became extensively cultivated. Early in the fifteenth century the sugar-cane first appeared in Europe. Sicily took the lead in its cultivation; thence it passed to Spain, Madeira, and