196 ALL ABOARD FOR SUNRISE LANDS.

“Well, what do you call them?” asked Rick.

“Oh I know,” said Ralph. “I remember, now, that I saw a picture
of them once. They are tea-plants, doctor.”

“Yes, these are tea-bushes; and, as you see, they grow to be pretty
stout. They are now picking the new leaves on top—the tender
_ growth; they gather older leaves also, but the nicest teas come
from the tender tips of growth in the spring. What is sold generally
in our home is the older leaf-growth, and some of it, as I remeraber
the taste, was pretty old indeed. And do you want to see the next
step in this tea-business? Come this way.”

They followed one of the tea-pickers who was now carrying a basket
filled with leaves, and she entered a building where several men were
at work. The leaves were then steamed a little while and softened.
The next stage in the process was the drying; and the boys watched
it intently. The leaves, still moist, were placed in pans, and heat
applied. Beginning with the hottest pans, a Japanese then worked
the leaves over, and after a lengthy rubbing and rolling, the dried
leaves were gathered in baskets.

“There is one other thing to be seen,” said the doctor; and he led
Uncle Nat and the boys tc a house where the leaves were sifted and
picked over. Everything of a refuse nature was thrown away, the
nicer leaves put by themselves, and also the coarser growth.

“The last process I guess you all smelt at Yokohama. Do you
remember any tea-odor in the street after your landing?”

“Oh yes, doctor,” said Uncle Nat; “and I wanted a cup of tea at
once.” ,

“ At Yokohama the tea is re-fired, as they call it; heated and worked
over and prepared for a sea-voyage to distant markets; and the most
of this, they tell me, is colored to suit foreign customers.”

The jinrikishas were now resumed, and the journey continued.