1892 Drinks of the world

DRINKS.

239

Portugal, Bahamas, Switzerland, Norway, Germany, Grenada, Morocco, St. Vincent,

Australian Colonies, New Zealand, Tasmania, Great Britain, Newfoundland, Canada, Bermuda, United States, Holland, Cape Colony, Natal, Russia, Denmark, Uruguay, Argentine Republic; B. Honduras, Barbadoes, Trinidad, Antigua, British Guiana, Persia,

Jamaica, Belgium, Sweden, France, Roumania, Austria-Hungary, Bulgaria, Spain, Turkey (no returns), Italy (ditto), Greece (nominal),

Mauritius, 1888, 106,589 lbs. Sierra Leone, 1888, 6,008 lbs.

The tea shrub grows wild in Assam, and in other parts between the limits of N. Latitude 15° to 40°, and this zone is most favourable to its growth in its culti- vated form, although of late years Ceylon, which is nearer the equator, has made enormous strides in the production of tea. Up to the present time, however, China has furnished the largest quantity, and for cen- turies has enjoyed the monopoly of its production ; a monopoly now broken down, and every day vanishing, ijiainly owing to the roguery of its manufacturers and the folly of its growers. Of course) such a plant could have had no common origin, and no reader need be surprised at its story. The legend runs that Prince Darma, or Djarma, the