plant, and we are content to agree with him,—­the differences in the leaves being owing to climate, situation, soil, and other accidental influences.  The shrub is generally from three to six feet high, having numerous branches and a very dense foliage.  Its wood is hard and tough, giving off a disagreeable smell when cut.  The leaves are smooth, shining, of a dark green color, and with notched edges; those of the Thea Bohea, the black tea, being curled and oblong,—­while those of the Thea viridis, the green tea, are broader in proportion to their length, but not so thick, and curled at the apex.  The plant flowers early in the spring, remaining in bloom about a month; and its seeds ripen in December and January.  According to Chinese authority, tea is grown in nearly every province of the empire; but the greater part of it is produced in four or five provinces, affording all that is shipped from Canton.  Very large quantities, however, are consumed by the countries adjoining the western frontier, and Russia draws an immense supply by caravans, all of which is the product of the northwest provinces.  The Bohea Hills, in Lat. 27 deg. 47’ North, and Long. 119 deg.  East, distant about nine hundred miles from Canton, produce the finest kinds of black tea; while the green teas are chiefly raised in another province, several hundred miles farther north.  The soil of many plantations examined by Mr. Fortune is very thin and poor, in some places little more than sand, such soil as would grow pines and scrub oaks.  The shrubs are generally planted on the slopes of hills, the plants in many places not interfering with the cultivation of wheat and other grain.  They are always raised from seeds, which in the first place are sown very thickly together, as many of them never shoot; and when the young plants have attained the proper size they are transplanted into the beds prepared for them, although in some cases the seeds are sown in the proper situations without removal.  Care is taken that the plants be not overshadowed by large trees, and many superstitious notions prevail as to the noxious influence of certain vegetables in the vicinity.  Although the shrub is very hardy, not being injured even by snow, yet the weather has great influence on the quality of the leaves, and many directions are given by Chinese authors with regard to the proper care to be observed in the culture of the plant.  Leaves are first gathered from it when it is three years old, but it does not attain its greatest size for six or seven,—­thriving, according to care and situation, from ten to twenty years.

The famous Bohea Hills are said to derive their name from two brothers, Woo and E, the sons of a prince in ancient times, who refused to succeed him, and came to reside among these mountains, where to this day the people burn incense to their memory.  Another legend states that the people of this district were first taught the use of tea as a beverage by a venerable man who suddenly appeared among them, holding a sprig in his hand, from which he proposed that they should make a decoction and drink it.  On their doing so and approving the drink, he instantly vanished.