utterly insufficient to afford the necessary quantity, for any thing
approaching to the numbers which it is currently asserted to contain.

The system of husbandry, too, is defective, though the cultivators of
the soil are industrious; about Canton and Macao, they transplant every
stalk of rice by hand with great regularity, and make two crops in the
year; one in July, the other in October. In the cultivation of
vegetables of all sorts, they are not surpassed by any nation of the
globe. Rents are usually paid in cattle, hogs, fowls, rice, and the
various productions of the soil, and the tenure is a species of feudal
one, derived primarily from the emperor, who is considered theoretically
as the actual proprietor of all the soil.[6] Fruits are so plentiful,
that there is less attention paid to them than in colder climates;
almost every month of the year has its peculiar fruits; but those most
esteemed are the oranges, mangoes, and lichees. Of the productions of
the soil, however, that most prized by foreigners, as well as most used
and esteemed in China, is tea. To the history of this celebrated plant,
Mr. Dobell has devoted a whole chapter, but we confess that we have
found it less perspicuous, except as to the commercial value of the
various qualities offered for sale, than we desired or expected, after
the opportunities of observation which he possessed. We infer, that he
agrees with the prevailing opinion, that there is but one species of the
tea plant. He speaks of four _stocks_, by which he seems to mean the
varieties arising from a difference of cultivation, soil, or
temperature. These four stocks are _Bohea_, _Ankay_, _Hyson_, and
_Singlo_--names derived from the places in which they are particularly
cultivated. From the two former are prepared what we call _black_ teas,
from the two latter _green_ teas. According to the season at which the
leaves are gathered, and the manner in which they are subsequently
prepared, is the excellence of each kind. Of _black_ teas, the Bohea
kinds are superior to the Ankay; thus, the simplest or commonest sort of
the first, sells at Canton for twelve to fourteen taels per pecul,[7] of
the other for eight to ten; and the finest sort of the first, Bohea
Pecho, brings from forty to one hundred and twenty taels; but of the
latter, Ankay Pecho, only thirty-two to forty-two taels. In like manner
of _green_ teas, the Hyson kinds are superior to the Singlo; thus the
commonest sort of the