It is interesting to see the process of cultivating this valuable plant. First the seeds are placed in cold water, and, as soon as they begin to sprout, they are planted. When the little tea plants are four or five inches high, they are set out in rows. The tea plant yields its first crop at the end of the third year, and after this four crops are taken every year.

During the picking season the tea farmer and his family may be seen gathering the precious leaves in wickerwork baskets. The leaves are first dried in the sun for a short time, and then taken to the tea factory to be fired. These tea factories are large buildings, each divided into several rooms, some for firing, others for sorting, and yet others for weighing and packing the tea.

The firing room contains many stoves, and, on the top of each, a pan made of iron or copper is placed. The tea is placed in these pans, each one of which is cared for by a coolie whose duty it is to keep turning the leaves over and over until they are thoroughly dried. The leaves are then rolled into the shape so familiar to all of us.

If you will place a small quantity of tea in cold water for a short time, and then carefully unroll each leaf, you can see its original size and shape.

Finally the prepared tea is sorted and packed into the chests we so frequently see in our tea and grocery stores. These chests are lined with lead, the tops are soldered to make them air tight, and the tea is then ready for the market.

It would be a valuable study for us to try to esti

mate the influence this one little plant has had upon the whole world. We can hardly think there ever was a time when tea was not an important article in every home, but it is not very many generations since Dutch traders learned the habit of tea drinking from the Chinese and taught it to the western world. Now millions of pounds are imported every year into our country alone, and the whole civilized world counts it no longer a luxury but a necessity.

There is a pretty legend told in the tea countries of the origin of tea. There was an Indian saint, so the story runs, who had watched and prayed for many years. One day he fell asleep. When he awoke he was so ashamed of his great weakness,- for so he esteemed it, that he cut off his eyelids and threw them on the ground. They took root, and grew into "the shrub which has ever since had power to keep the world awake."

There is

The rearing of silkworms is one of the most ancient as well as important industries of China. no real record of its origin, so old is this industry; but history tells us that in very early times the queens and nobles of China considered it worthy of their special attention.

One of the great festivals of the Chinese year, the cocoon festival, is in honor of that empress who, the legend says, discovered the use of silk. The story is that, as she was walking one day among the mulberry trees in the palace garden, she became much interested in the cocoons hanging among the branches. She thought the tiny fibers might be unwound and made

into a fabric which could be used for clothing. After many trials, a way to unwind the cocoons was invented, and the delicate threads were twisted and woven into the beautiful fabric we are now familiar with as silk.

The people were so grateful to the empress for her discovery that they gave her the name by which she has since been known, "The Goddess of the Silkworm."

Silk is produced in every province of China. Especial care is necessary to obtain the best quality of silk. The silkworm is a kind of caterpillar which feeds on the leaves of the mulberry, and great mulberry orchards are cultivated to provide food for these worms. The eggs are carefully watched, and as soon as the silkworms are hatched they are fed every half hour with fresh leaves. After a little while they require less food, and eat only twenty-four times a day. For five weeks the silkworms eat in this way, and then begin spinning. In about five days the cocoons are complete. These are at once collected and placed, on bamboo shelves, near a slow charcoal fire to kill the silkworms and prevent them from breaking through the silk. When the cocoons have been carefully unwound, the chrysalids are sometimes boiled and eaten by the Chinese as a great delicacy.

For many years all the silk used in the world came from China; and the people were forbidden to send any silkworms out of the country, or to tell any one the secret of making silk. At length two Persian monks, who were traveling in China, saw the process of rearing the silkworms. They succeeded in obtaining some of

the eggs and, hiding them in a bamboo cane, they took them to Constantinople. When the silkworms were hatched they were fed on the leaves of the wild mulberry. From this small beginning the great silk industries of western Asia and the countries of Europe have been developed.

CHAPTER XIII.

GREAT CITIES OF CHINA.

THE most eastern of Great Britain's possessions in Asia is Hong-Kong. This little island, about forty miles in circumference, is a mass of hills and mountains rising abruptly from the water's edge. The harbor is one of the best on the eastern coast of Asia. It is a natural stronghold, like Gibraltar, and commands the approach to Canton, as well as the commerce of the Chinese coast. It is nearly surrounded by hills, which shelter it from the terrible winds that frequently sweep along the coast. Hong-Kong is one of the most important ports in the British Empire, and is sure to become of yet greater importance when the commerce of China is developed.

There is a large city here which is of especial value to England as a naval station. This is the city of Victoria, which appears to every traveler approaching it to have been built in three layers. The lowest layer, near the water, is, of course, the commercial part of the city. Here are the business streets