A Journey to the Tea Countries of China Content Page

IT is now about five years since I submitted to the public my 'Three Years' Wanderings in the Northern Provinces of China.' Shortly after the publication of that volume I was deputed by the Honourable the Court of Directors of the East India Company to proceed to China for the purpose of obtaining the finest varieties of the Tea-plant, as well as native manufacturers and implements, for the Government Tea plantations in the Himalayas. On the 20^th of June, 1848, I left Southampton, with many other passengers, in the Peninsular and Oriental Company's steam-ship 'Ripon,' Captain Moresby, I.N., and landed in Hong-kong on the 14^th of August.

As I went far inland, and visited many districts almost unknown to Europeans, I now venture to lay an account of my travels and their results before the public. Blessed with a sound constitution and good health, I cared little for luxuries, and made light of the hardships of a traveller's life. New scenes, new countries, and new plants were day by day spread out before me and afforded gratification of the highest and purest kind. And even now, when on a different side of the globe and far removed from such scenes and such adventures, I often look back upon them with feelings of unalloyed pleasure.

The important objects of my mission have been brought to a successful termination. Upwards of twenty thousand tea-plants, eight first-rate manufacturers, and a large supply of implements were procured from the finest tea-districts of China, and conveyed in safety to the Himalayas. In the course of my travels I discovered many useful and ornamental trees and shrubs, some of which, such as the Funereal Cypress, will one day produce a striking and beautiful effect in our English landscape and in our cemeteries.

In publishing this account of my journey I may repeat what I said in the introduction to my former 'Wanderings:' — "I have no intention of writing or making a book upon China." My object is to give a peep into the Celestial Empire, to show its strange hills and romantic valleys, its rivers and canals, its natural productions, whether in the field, on the hillside, or in the garden, and its strange and interesting people, as they were seen by me in their every-day life. As I hope my readers will accompany me through the whole of my journey, I shall have the pleasure of taking them to India and the Himalayas, and showing them the Government Tea plantations, from which much is expected, and which are likely to prove of great advantage, not only to India but also to England and her wide-spreading colonies.

Having thus given an idea of what may be expected in the following pages, I have only to express a hope that the work may be received by the public in the same kind spirit, and with the same indulgence and favour, that were shown to my former 'Wanderings.'

Arrive at Hong-kong — Excitement on the arrival of the mail — Centipede boats — Bay of Hong-kong by moonlight — Town of Victoria — Its trees and gardens — Mortality amongst the troops — Its cause — A remedy suggested — Sail for Shanghae — Its importance as a place of trade — New English town and shipping — The gardens of the foreign residents

My object in coming north — Difficulty in procuring tea-plants — No dependence can be placed upon the Chinese — Adopt the dress of the country — Start for the interior — Mode of getting my head shaved — City of Kea-hing-foo and its old cemetery — Lakes and "ling"— Mode of gathering the ling — Great silk country — Increase in exports — City of Seh-mun-yuen — Fear of thieves — Hang-chow-foo — The "Garden of China" — Description of the city and its suburbs — Gaiety of the people — Adventure in the city — Kan-du — A "chop" — A Chinese inn — I get no breakfast and lose my dinner — Boat engaged for Hwuy-chow — Importance of Hang-chow both for trading and "squeezing"

Leave Hang-chow-foo — A China passage-boat — Scenery and natural productions — Remarkable hills — Our fellow-passengers — A smoker of opium — I am discovered to be a foreigner — City of Yen-chow-foo — A Chinaman cheats a Chinaman! — The river and water-mills — Botany of the country — A valuable palm-tree — Birds — Lime-kilns and green granite — Tea-plant met with — The new FUNEREAL CYPRESS discovered — Its beauty — How its seeds were procured — Dr. Lindley's opinion of its merits — Strange echo — River and land beggars — Charity

City of Wae-ping — Threatened attack from boatmen — A false alarm — A border country and a border guard — Enter the district of Hwuy-chow — The tea-plant and other crops — A Chinese play — Ferry-boat and ladies — Cargo transshipped — Two coffins below my bed — A mandarin's garden — Botany of the hills — A new plant (Berberis japonica) — My servant's advice — Leave the boat — The opium-smoker outwitted — Town of Tun-che — Its importance in connection with the tea-trade — Features of country, soil, and productions — First view of Sung-lo-shan

Sung-lo-shan — Its priests and tea — Its height above the sea — Rock 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

My reception in the house of Wang's father — A smoky Chinese cottage — My coolie and the dwarf — The dangers to which they had been exposed — Chinese mode of warming themselves on a cold day — Tea-seeds, &c., obtained — Anecdote of the new Berberis — Obtain some young plants of it — Deceitful character of the Chinese — Leave the far-famed Sung-lo-shan — Wang tries to cheat the chairmen — Invents a story of a "great general" — Leave Tun-che — Mountain scenery — Pleasure of going down the river — Gale of wind amongst the mountains — Arrive at Nechow — Shaou-hing-foo — Tsaou-o — Pak-wan — Arrive at Ning-po

Kintang or Silver Island — Its inhabitants and productions — Bay of Chapoo — Advantages of an inland route — New year at Shanghae — Flower-shops and flowers — Sacred bamboo — The Chrysanthemum — Mode of cultivating it — Weather-prophets — Sail for Hong-kong — A game-ship — The Enkianthus — Canton seeds, and mode of packing them — False notion regarding their being poisoned

Foo-chow-foo — Jealousy of the mandarins — A polite way of getting rid of a spy — Scenery amongst the mountains — Temple of Koo-shan — Its priests and idols — Buddha’s tooth and Other relics — Trees and shrubs — City of Foo-chow-foo — Chinese mode of getting out when the gates are shut — Journey up the Min — Chinese sportsmen and their dogs — A deer-hunt — Scenery about Tein-tung — Wild flowers — Roadside temples — The bamboo — A priest and siphon — Lakes of Tung-hoo

Leave Ning-po for the Bohea mountains — My guides — A flag and its history — The Green River again — Spring scenery on its banks — Yen-chow and Ta-yang — A storm in a creek — Boatwomen — A Chinese Mrs. Caudle and a curtain lecture — Natural productions — Funereal cypress and other trees — Our boat seised for debt and the sail taken away — A Chinese creditor — Town of Nan-che — Its houses, gardens, and trade — Vale of Nan-che — Productions and fertility — City of Chu-chu-foo — Moschetoes and Mosoheto "tobacco" — Arrive at Chang-shan

City of Chang-shan and its trade — Land journey — My chair and chair-bearers — Description of the road — Trains of tea coolies — Roadside inns — Boundary of two provinces — Dinner at a Chinese inn — Value of the chopsticks — Adventure with two Canton men — City of Yuk-shan — Its trade and importance — Quan-sin-foo — My servant speculates in grass-cloth — A Chinese test of respectability — Description of the country and its productions — Arrive at the town of Hokow

Town of Hokow — Its situation, trade, and great importance — Bohea mountain chair — Mountain road — Beggars by the wayside — Beautiful scenery — the priest and his bell — Town of Yuen-shan — Appearance of the road — Tea coolies — Different modes of carrying the tea-chests — Large tea-growing country — Soil and plantations — My first night in a Chinese inn — Reception — Dirty bed-rooms — I console myself, and go to dinner

First view of the Bohea mountains — Mountain pass — A noble fir-tree — Its name and history — Flora of the mountains — New plants — Source of the river Min — Entertainment for man and beast — A rugged road and another pass — A gale amongst the mountains — An amusing old China-woman — Sugar and tea-spoons — A kind landlord — The Tein-sin — Arrive at the city of Tsong-gan-hien — Its situation, size, and trade — Tea-farms

Woo-e-shan — Ascent of the hill — Arrive at a Buddhist temple — Description of the temple and the scenery — Strange rocks — My reception — Our dinner and its ceremonies — An interesting conversation — An evening stroll — Formation of the rocks — Soil — View from the top of Woo-e-shan — A priests' grave — A view by moonlight — Chinese wine — Cultivation of the tea-shrub — Chains and monkeys used in gathering it — Tea-merchants — Happiness and contentment of the peasantry

Stream of "nine windings" — A Taouist priest — His house and temple — Du Halde's description of these hills — Strange impressions of gigantic hands on the rocks — Tea-plants purchased — Adventure during the night — My visitors — Plants packed for a journey — Town of Tsin-tsun and its trade — Leave the Woo-e hills — Mountain scenery — The lance-leaved pine — Rocks, ravines, and waterfalls — A lonely road — Trees — Birds and Other animals — Town of She-pa-ky — Productions of the country — Uses of the Nelumbium — Pouching teas — City of Pouching-hien

Some advice to the reader — Botany of the black-tea country — Geological features — Soil — Sites of tea-farms — Temperature — Rainy season — Cultivation and management of tea-plantations — Size of farms — Mode of packing — Chop names — Route from the tea-country to the coast — Method of transport — Distances — Time occupied — Original cost of tea in the tea-country — Expenses of carriage to the coast — Sums paid by the foreign merchant — Profits of the Chinese — Prospect of good tea becoming cheaper — Tüng-po's directions for making tea — His opinion on its properties and uses

Geography of the tea-shrub — Best tea districts of China — Names of tea-plants — Black and green tea made from the same variety — My Chinamen asked to make tea from Pongamia glabra — They succeed! — Difference between black and green tea depends upon manipulation — Method of making green tea — of making black — Difference in the manipulation of the two kinds — Mr. Warrington's remarks on this subject — A familiar illustration — The tea-plant — Inferior teas made from Thea bohea — Best teas made from Thea viridis — The Woo-e-shan variety — The tea-plant affected by climate and reproduction — Tea cultivation in America and Australia — In English gardenss

Inn at Pouching-hien — Opium-smokers and gamblers — Value of life in China — A midnight disturbance — Sing-Hoo fights with a joss-stick — Difficulty of procuring men next day — Sing-Hoo carries the luggage, and we march — His bamboo breaks — Scene amongst beggars — Description of beggars in China — A "king of the beggars" — Charity always given — I continue my journey — Mountain passes and Buddhist temples — A border town and Tartar guard — We are inspected and allowed to pass on

A celebrated Buddhist temple — Scenery around it — Its trees and shrubs — Buddhist worship — Leave the temple — Reflections on Buddhism — Important station for Christian missionaries — Privations they would have to endure — Roman Catholics and their labours — Christian charity — Protestant missionaries — Their views as to the interior of China — A day-dream of China Opened — Bamboo paper — A mandarin on a journey — Town of Ching-hoo — Engage a boat for Nechow — Return to Shanghae

Tea-plants, &c., taken to Hong-kong — Shipped for India — I sail again for the north — Shanghae gardens in spring — "South Garden" — Double-striped peach and other plants — Moutan gardens — Fine new varieties of the tree-pæony — Chinese method of propagating them — Mode of sending them to Canton — Value there — Introduction to Europe — Size in England — Azalea gardens — Skimmia Reevesiana — New Azaleas — The "Kwei-wha" — The Glycine — Its native hills — Chinese mode of training it — The yellow Camellia

Safe arrival of tea-plants in India — Means taken in China to engage tea-manufacturers — I visit Chusan — My lodgings — A mandarin who smoked opium — His appearance at daylight — A summer morning in Chusan — An emperor's edict — The Yang-mae — Beauty of its fruit — City of Ting-hae — Poo-too, or Worshipping Island — Ancient inscriptions in an unknown language — A Chinese caught fishing in the sacred lake — He is chased by the priests — The bamboo again — The sacred Nelumbium — My holidays expire — Collections of tea-seeds and plants made — Return to Shanghae — Tea-manufacturers engaged — We bid adieu to the north of China

Experiments with tea-seeds — Best method of sending them to distant countries — How oaks and chestnuts might be transported — Arrive at Calcutta — Condition of the collections — East India Company's botanic garden — Amherstia and other plants in bloom — Proceed onwards — The Sunderbunds — Arrive at Allahabad — Land journey — Reach Saharunpore — State of the tea-plants — Saharunpore garden — Musscoree garden — Its trees and other productions — Its value to the country and to Europe

Ordered to inspect the tea-plantations in India — Dens Doon plantation — Mussooree and Landour — Flora of the mountains — Height and general character — Our mode of travelling — Hill-plants resemble those of China — Guddowli plantation — Chinese manufacturers located there — I bid them farewell — The country improves in fertility — Tea-plantations near Almorah — Zemindaree plantations — Leave Almorah for Bheem Tal — View of the Snowy range — Bheem Tal tea-plantations — General observations on tea culture in India — Suggestions for its improvement — Other plants which ought to be introduced — Nainee Tal — Arrive at Calcutta — The Victoria regia

1. View in the Green Tea Country
2. Engraved Title page
3. Map
4. Curious mode of gathering the Ling near Kea-hing-foo
5. Palm-tree (Chamærops excelsa?)
6. Funereal Cypress
7. Relic-Cage
8. Buddha’s Tooth
9. Crystal Vase
10. Mo-ze, the Chinese Sportsman
11. Roadside Altar
12. Mode of carrying the finest Tea across the Bohea mountains
13. Mode of carrying common Tea
14. Chinese Tomb
15. Chinese Bird’s-eye View of the "Stream of Nine Windings" and strange Rocks
16. Ancient Inscription
17. Old Stone at Poo-too


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