No. 196. (Signature of the Kwang-Chow-Hee), and endorsed, 'To be returned and cancelled.'
The House Compradores were always glad to avail themselves of such an opportunity to send to Macao a lot of 'Chow-chow' cargo on their own account, a privilege we never refused. This accounts for the sentence in No. 4--'proceeding to Macao with fine tea for sale.' Whence came the 200 catties (266 pounds) of lead was a mystery to me, but the 270 catties of 'iron ware' were iron chests, and 270 catties of foreign white paper certain office books of accounts and stationery, removed from the Canton offices in consequence of the unsettled state of affairs, with a quantity of house stores, &c. The details of everything is peculiarly a Chinese idea, and as similar documents are now no longer issued, and the _inside_ passage to Macao never taken under former circumstances, they are curious in their way. The _outside_ passage, by the way of the Bogue and in splendid steamers, is now the order of the day.
The word _tea_ is of Chinese origin, being a corruption of _tay_ in the Fuh-Keen dialect, the province from whence it was first exported to Europe. The leaf has always retained its name of tea in the West, notwithstanding that in Canton, from which port it has been shipped for nearly 250 years, it is called _cha_. This word means the _infusion_, while _cha-yip_, analogous to 'leaves for infusion,' is the tea of commerce. The varieties are very numerous, and are classed under the heads of _black_ and _green_. It is only within fifty-five years that _Oolongs_ and _Ankoys_ have been shipped, and chiefly to the United States. These are of a light brown colour. _Blacks_ consisted of _Bohea_, _Congo_, _Souchong_, and _Powchong_. The first derives its name from the celebrated _Woo-E_ Hills of Fuh-Keen; the second signifies _Workmen's_ tea; the third 'small seeds;' and the fourth 'seeds in bundles,' it having been always done up in paper packages. _Greens_ were, 1, 'Young Hyson,' 2, 'Hyson,' 3, 'Hyson Skin,' 4, 'Gunpowder,' and 5, 'Imperial.' The first means in Chinese 'before the rains' (when it was gathered), the second the 'opening of spring,' and the third the 'refuse or end of the crop.' The Chinese name of the fourth signifies 'small pearls' and of the fifth 'large pearls.'