ground was accurately marked off, and in one place the little plants,
only an inch or two in height, were just showing above the ground. In
another, the seeds--little round balls they looked like--were being
planted in the rows. Passing another field, where some men were at work
with their hoes in true Chinese style, stopping every few moments to
smoke their pipes, we came at last to where the plants had attained
some size and the actual picking was going on. The plants themselves
were from two to six feet high, according to age, and from repeated
cuttings down had grown into dense masses of small twigs. Many of them
were covered with little white flowers, somewhat similar to the
jasmine, and seeds inclosed in a casing not unlike that of the
hazel-nut, but thinner and full of oil. Charley thought they looked
like little laurel bushes; to me, those that had been well picked were
not unlike huckleberry bushes, only the leaves were, of course, a much
darker green. The first picking, usually in April, is when the leaves
are very young and tender, commanding a much higher price than those
subsequently plucked. The second is a month later, when they have
attained maturity; and as unpropitious weather would be likely to ruin
them, great expedition is used in getting in the crop, the entire
population turning out to assist. A third, and even a fourth, follows;
but the quality rapidly deteriorates, and but a small proportion of
these last pickings is prepared for export.

[Illustration: DRYING THE TEA.]

The plantations were filled with a merry crowd, composed principally of
women and children, all engaged in stripping the bushes as rapidly as
possible, yet with great care and dexterity, so as not to bruise the
leaves. They looked up from their work and screamed to each other in
their harsh guttural tones, casting glances of astonishment at the