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made up his mind to put into execution, and to which he now begged that I would agree.

I thought over the business for some few minutes, and then came to the determination not to adopt his suggestions. I was unwilling to leave behind me the seeds of the tea-shrub and of the other new plants which I had discovered, and I did not think the state of the case so urgent as to force me to the unworthy measure of leaving the other man behind and the boatman unpaid. "This plan of yours will not do," said I; "if you can leave the boat in an open manner, taking your companion along with you and paying all charges, I have no objection either to go on shore or to hire another boat, but I cannot consent to go away in the manner you propose." I was very glad afterwards that I was firm enough to pursue this

course.

A day or two after this I was informed in the morning that we were within thirty le of the town of Tun-che, and that we should arrive there in the evening. This was the destination of our boat, and here we should leave it. In the afternoon, about two o'clock, we were only four miles distant from this place, and as the water was very shallow, and we were making but little progress, most of the passengers determined to walk onwards to the town. all began to pack up our luggage and make preparations for the journey. The opium-smoker, who, with all his civility, was a man I could not trust, was now very anxious to know to what part of the country we were bound. My Chinese servants, who had learned

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a little wit by experience, took good care to keep all these matters to themselves, their great object being to cut off all connection between their friends in the boat and those with whom we might have to associate afterwards.

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Our passage-money was now fully paid up, our luggage packed, and an arrangement made between my two men with regard to the station to which we were bound. When this was all arranged I left the coolie in charge of the luggage, took Wang on shore, and walked onwards to Tun-che, which we reached between three and four o'clock in the afternoon. is a thriving, busy town, and forms as it were the port of Hwuy-chow-foo, from which it is distant about twenty miles. It is situated in lat. 29° 48' N., and in long. 2° 4' E. of Peking. All the large Hang-chow and Yen-chow boats are moored and loaded here, the river being too shallow to allow of their proceeding higher up, and hence it is a place of great trade. Nearly all the green teas which are sent down the river to Hang-chow-foo, and thence onward to Shanghae, are shipped at this place. The green teas destined for Canton are carried across a range of hills to the westward, where there is a river which flows in the direction of the Poyang lake.

This part of the country is very populous. Nearly the whole way from the place where we had left our boat was covered with houses, forming a kind of suburb to Tun-che. This place itself is supposed to contain about 150,000 inhabitants. The great article of trade is green tea. There are here a number of

large dealers who buy this article from the farmers and priests, refine and sort it, form it into chops, and forward it to Shanghae or Canton, where it is sold to the foreign merchant. Seven or eight hundred chops are said to be sent out of this town annually. I observed also a great number of carpenters' shops for the manufacture of chests, a trade which of itself must employ a large number of men. In fact, this town and the surrounding populous district may be said to be supported by the foreign tea-trade.

Nearly all the way from Yen-chow-foo the river was bounded by high hills on each side. Now, however, they seemed, as it were, to fall back, and left an extensive and beautiful valley, through the middle of which the river flowed. Nearly all this low land is under tea cultivation, the soil is rich and fertile, and the bushes consequently grow most luxuriantly. I had never before seen the tea-plant in such a flourishing condition, and this convinced me that soil had much to do with the superiority of the Hwuy-chow green teas.

The very sandy soil near the river yielded good crops of the ground-nut (Arachis hypogæa).

After spending about an hour in the town we inquired where we could hire a chair to take us onward about thirty le further, and were directed to an inn or tea-house, where chairs are let on hire. A circumstance happened in this inn which gave me some amusement at the time, and which I have often laughed at since. When we entered this house we found a great number of travellers of all ranks; some

were drinking tea, others smoking, and the remainder stretched upon chairs or tables sound asleep. Seeing strangers arrive, some of the more restless were rather inquisitive, and began to put a number of questions to us. My man Wang was a native of this district, and of course understood the dialect perfectly, but he evidently wanted to have as little to say as possible. As for myself, I told them I did not understand what they said. One fellow in particular, who probably was sharp enough to detect something unusual in my appearance, was determined not to be put off in this way, and kept asking me a variety of questions. At length the old innkeeper came up and said with the utmost gravity, "It is of no use your talking to this person, he understands the Kwan-hwa (or Court dialect) only; you do not speak that, and of course he cannot understand you, nor you him." This seemed to be perfectly satisfactory to all parties, and I was left unmolested.

Our chairs being ready, we got into them, and, passing through the town, crossed the river and took the road for Sung-lo and Hieu-ning. We reached our destination a little before dark, and I had the first view of the far-famed Sung-lo-shan, the hill where green tea is said to have been first discovered.

CHAPTER V.

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- Its height above the sea

- Rock

Sung-lo-shan - Its priests and tea formation Flora of the hills - Temperature and climate Cultivation of the tea-shrub Mode of preserving its seeds The young plants-Method of dyeing green teas - Ingredients employed Chinese reason for the practice Quantity of Prussian blue and gypsum taken by a green-tea drinker Such teas not used by the Chinese Mr. Warrington's observations.

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THE hill of Sung-lo, or Sung-lo-shan, is situated in the province of Kiang-nan and district of Hieu-ning, a town in lat. 29° 56' N., long. 118° 15' E. It is famous in China as being the place where the greentea shrub was first discovered, and where green tea was first manufactured. In a book called the 'Hieuning-hien chy,' published A.D. 1693, and quoted by Mr. Ball, there is the following notice of this place :

"The hill or mountain where tea is produced is Sung-lo mountain. A bonze of the sect of Fo taught a Kiang-nan man, named Ko Ty, the art of making tea, and thus it was called Sung-lo tea. The tea got speedily into great repute, so that the bonze became rich and abandoned the profession of priest. The man is gone, and only the name remains. Ye men of learning and travellers who seek Sung-lo tea may now search in vain, that which is sold in the markets is a mere counterfeit."

Sung-lo-shan appears to be between two and three

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