Page:An account of the manufacture of the bla.pdf/24

 of the Muttuck country know now the Tea leaf, seeing how much we prize it, and getting little rewards from me when they bring in a branch from any new tract. There is plenty of Tea in Rajah Purundah’s country, but he is too lazy to trouble himself about it; he is not even acquainted with those places laid down in my map. I have lately heard of a very extensive tract in his country, said to be as large as a dozen tracts put together. Several tracts are 800 paces long and nearly the same in breadth, and others only 100; but they have not all been properly examined, and may prove much larger. All these tracts can be enlarged almost to any extent from the numerous seedlings that are found amongst the Tea plants, from the great number of seeds that can be collected every year, and from the immense number of cuttings that may be planted. With respect to the seedlings, I have sown numerous seeds at Suddeeah in the sun; many have come up and appeared to thrive very well for the first year, but there was an insect, the Mole Cricket I think it is called. which used to nip off the young and tender leaves, and carry them into a hole under ground near the root of the plant; and I never succeeded in getting one plant to live. But last year I sowed some seeds in my garden under the shade of trees and bushes, they have come up and are thriving very well. The seeds I sowed in the sun last year, in the Muttuck country, and in their native soil in one of my Tea tracts, have also come up and are doing well. The Tea tracts in the Singpho country are much larger than those in the Muttuck. The Singphos have known and drank the Tea for many years, but they make it in a very different way from what the Chinese do. They pluck the young and tender leaves and dry them a