both trade and consumption that now has existed for some years since the war.

The censor then recommended the following regulation to be passed, which, having been considered and approved by the Criminal Board, was confirmed by the emperor, and published in 1833 as the amended law upon the subject:

"Let the buyers and smokers of opium be punished with one hundred blows, and pilloried for two months. Then let them declare the seller's name, that he may be seized and punished; and in default of this declaration, let the smoker be punished, as an accomplice of the seller, with a hundred blows and three years' banishment. Let mandarins and their dependents, who buy and smoke opium, be punished one degree more severely than others; and let governors and lieutenant-governors of provinces, as well as the magistrates of subordinate districts, be required to give security that there are no opium-smokers in their respective departments. Let a joint memorial be sent in, at the close of every year, representing the conduct of those officers who have connived at the practice. The Criminal Board will communicate this decision to the Boards of Civil Appointments and Military Affairs ; and a general order will be sent to the governors of all the provinces, that they may yield obedience and act accordingly." It was now to be seen whether the increased severity of the law would operate in restraining or abolishing a habit whose prevalence had rendered opium the only article of commerce that could be carried with success to the prohibited ports on the coast of China. The result was, that the law became a dead letter, and opium was at length conveyed openly about the streets.

The following statement shows that opium, about the end of the Company's charter, formed one-half of the total

value of British imports at Canton and Lintin, and that tea constituted something less than the same proportion of our exports :—

The amount of the opium imported by us was thus greater than that of the tea exported. The narcotic drug sold to the Chinese exceeded in market-value the refreshing leaf purchased from them; and the balance of the trade was paid to us in silver. In the fourth chapter it has been already shown that the free trade which commenced in 1834 had the immediate effect of giving an impetus to all kinds of smuggling, at the expense of the fair trade. The Company had always effectually prevented the introduction of opium within the river; but notwithstanding the wish of the king's authority at Canton (grounded on his conviction of its danger) to stop this desperate traffic, his control over British subjects proved altogether inadequate to the purpose. Opium continued to be run up in British boats to Whampoa, and even to Canton. The government was at length roused, a Chinese smuggler was executed before the factories, and Commissioner Lin immediately afterwards commenced that course of violence which has before been detailed,* and which ultimately led through the war to the abolition of the Hong monopoly, of the exactions at Canton, and all the other benefits secured by our treaty in 1842.

As tea has always held so principal a place in our intercourse with China, it requires some particular consideration as an article of commerce. We have seen

*See Chap. IV.

before that the fineness and dearness of tea* are determined by the tenderness and smallness of the leaf when picked. The various descriptions of the black diminish in quality and value as they are gathered later in the season, until they reach the lowest kind, called by us Bohea, and by the Chinese Ta-cha, "large tea," on account of the maturity and size of the leaves. The early leaf-buds in spring, being covered with a white silky down, are gathered to make Pekoe, which is a corruption of the Canton name, Pak-ho, "white down." A few days' longer growth produces what is here styled "blackleaved pekoe." The more fleshy and matured leaves constitute Souchong; as they grow larger and coarser they form Congou; and the last and latest picking is Bohea. The tea-farmers, who are small proprietors or cultivators, give the tea a rough preparation, and then take it to the contractors, whose business it is to adapt its farther preparation to the existing nature of the demand. The different kinds of tea may be considered in the ascending scale of their value.

1. Bohea, which in England is the name of a quality, has been already stated to be, in China, the name of a district where various kinds of black tea are produced. The coarse leaf brought under that name to this country is distinguished by containing a larger proportion of the woody fibre than other teas; its infusion is of a darker colour, and, as it has been more subjected to the action of fire, it keeps a longer time without becoming musty than the finer sorts. Two kinds of Bohea are brought from China the lowest of these is manufactured on the spot, and therefore called "Canton Bohea," being a mixture of refuse Congou with a coarse tea called Woping, the growth of the province. The better kind of Bohea

* See Chap. XXI.

comes from the district of that name in Fokien, and, having been of late esteemed equally with the lower Congou teas, has been packed in the same square chests, while the old Bohea package is of an oblong shape.

2. Congou, the next higher kind, is named from a corruption of the Chinese Koong-foo, "labour or assiduity.” It formed for many years the bulk of the East India Company's cargoes; but the quality gradually fell off, in consequence of the partial abandonment of the old system of annual contracts, by which the Chinese merchants were assured of a remunerating price for the better sorts. The consumption of Bohea in this country has of late years increased, to the diminution of Congou, and the standard of the latter has been considerably lowered. A particular variety call Campoi is so called from a corruption of the original name Kien-poey," selection-choice;" but it has ceased to be prized in this country, from the absence of strength—a characteristic which is stated to be generally esteemed beyond delicacy of flavour.

3. Souchong (Seaou-choong, "small or scarce sort") is the finest of the stronger black teas, with a leaf that is generally entire and curly, but more young than in the coarser kinds. What is called "Padre Souchong" is packed in separate paper bundles of about half a pound each, and is so fine as to be used almost exclusively for presents. The probability is, that its use in that way by the Romish missionaries first gave rise to the name. The finest kinds of Souchong are sometimes scented with the flowers of the Chloranthus inconspicuus and Gardenia florida; and they cannot be obtained, even among the Chinese, except at dear prices. A highly crisped and curled leaf called Sonchi has lately grown into disrepute and been much disused, in consequence of being often found to contain a ferruginous dust, which was pro

bably not intended as a fraud, but arose from the nature of the ground where the tea had been carelessly and dirtily packed.

4. Pekoe being composed mainly of the young springbuds, the gathering of these must, of course, be injurious in some degree to the future produce of the shrub, and this description of tea is accordingly both dear and small in quantity. With a view to preserving the fineness of flavour, the application of heat is very limited in drying the leaves, and hence it is that Pekoe is more liable to injury from keeping than any other sort of tea. There is a species of Pekoe made in the green-tea country from the young buds, in like manner with the black kind; but it is so little fired that the least damp spoils it; and for this reason, as well as on account of its scarcity and high price, the hyson-pekoe, as some call it, has never been brought to England. The mandarins send it in very small canisters to each other, or to their friends, as presents, under the name of Loong-tsing, "Dragon's well," which is probably the name of the district where the tea is made.

son;

Green teas may generally be divided into five denominations, which are-1. Twankay; 2. Hyson-skin; 3. Hy4. Gunpowder; 5. Young Hyson. Twankay tea has always formed the bulk of the green teas imported into this country, being used by the retailers to mix with the finer kinds. The leaf is older, and not so much twisted or rolled as in the dearer descriptions: there is altogether less care and trouble bestowed on its preparation. It is, in fact, the Bohea of green teas; and the quantity of it brought to England fully equalled threefourths of the whole importation of green. "Hyson-skin is so named from the original Chinese term, in which connexion the skin means the refuse or inferior portion