nese themselves, a matter not at all needful
to be considered at present, the Committee report that "the
cultivation of the plant may be indefinitely extended;" whilst Mr.
Fortune, who has been upon the spot, states "that there is not the
slightest doubt that there is a great part of the land which is nearly
uncultivated now, which, were there a demand for tea, could be brought
into cultivation. The cost would be very little indeed; they would cut
down a quantity of brushwood, and probably dig over the ground and
plant the bushes. They could clear and plant it in the same year, and
in about two years they could get something from it." As, however,
without this extension they have hitherto found enough for the
increase of their own vast population, for every extension of demand
from us and every other foreign customer, whether by land or water,
without the least tendency to an advance in price, there is no need
to do more than thus touch upon the undeveloped resources of tea
production.--_Travers on the Tea Duties_.

The consumption of tea in Russia is very great, as the middling
classes make a more frequent use of that beverage than the rest. Every
year 60,000 chests of tea arrive at Maimiatchin and Kiakhta, of the
declared official value of L1,185,000 sterling; and to this may be
added L38,650 for inferior tea used by the people of the south, which
makes the total declared value of the tea introduced about one and a
quarter million sterling. The consumption of Russia may be assumed at
over fifteen millions of pounds, although we have no correct data, as
in the case of shipping returns, to calculate from. In 1848, however,
the Russians took 136,2171/2 boxes of fine tea of the Chinese, for which
they paid 5,349,918 silver roubles--one million sterling. The quantity
forwarded from Kiakhta into the interior consisted of--

Foods.
Flowery or Pekoe tea 69,677
Ordinary tea 183,752
Brick tea 116,249
Equal to about fifteen million lbs. English.

_Brick tea of Thibet._--A sample of this curious product was shown by
the East India Company in 1851. It is formed of the refuse tea-leaves
and sweepings of the granaries, damped and pressed into a mould,
generally with a little bullock's blood. The finer sorts are friable
masses, and are packed in papers; the coarser sewn up in sheep's skin.
In this form it is an ar