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Tea, the dried leaves of the tea-plant,
xe2x80xa2 commodity in general use it. Europe,
America and Asia. The tea-plant is a
native of Japan. China and Tonquin.
It attains the greatest perfection in the
regions of Nankin. In commerce, eight
principal sorts of tea are distinguished,
three of green and five of bobea. The
three sorts of green tea are, 1. The Im-
perial or Bloom tea. 2. The Haisven
ot Hyson, so called from the name of an
Indian merchant, who first brought it
into Europe. 3. The Singlo, or'Songlo.
The five sorts of Bohea tea are, 1. The
Souchong. 2. The Sumlo, Camho or
Campoi. 3. The Congou. 4. The Peko.
5. The Bohea.
The first gathering commences at the
end of February, or beginning of March.
The leaves are then small, tender, and
* unfolded, and not above three or four
days old ; these are called jicki-tsian or
“ tea in powder,” because it is pulver-
ised ; it is algo called sometimes bloom
tea. It is sold in China at 20d. or 2s.
per pound. The laborers employed in
collecting it, do not pull the leaves by
handfuls, but pick them up one by one,
and take every precaution that they may
not break them. However long and
tedious this labor may appear, they gath-
er from four, to ten, or fifteen, pounds
per day.
The second crop is gathered about the
xe2x80xa2nd of March, or beginning of April.
At this season part of their leaves have
attained their full growth, and the rest
are not above half their size. This
difference does not, however, prevent
them from being all gathered indiscrim-
inately. They are afterwards picked,
and sorted into different parcels, ac-
cording to their age and size. The
youngest, which are carefully separated
from the rest, are often sold for leaves
of the first crops. Tea gathered at this
season is called too-tsiaa, or “ Chinese
Tea,” because the people of Japan in-
fuse it, and drink it after the Chinese
manner.
The third crop is gathered at the end
of May, or in the month of June. The
leaves are then very numerous and
thick, and have acquired their full
growth. This kind of tea, which is
called ben-tsiaa, is the coarsest of all,
and is reserved for the common people.
Some of the Japanese collect their tea
only at two seasons of the year, which
correspond to the second, and third, al-
ready mentioned ; others confine them-
selves to one general gathering of their
crop, towards the month of June; how-
ever, they always form afterwards dif-
ferent assortments of their leaves.
The finest and most celebrated tea of
Japan, is that which grows near Ud-si,
a small village situated close to the sea,
and not far distant from Meaco. In the
district of this village is a mountain,
extremely well adapted for the culture
of fine tea. It is enclosed by hedges
and ditches, to prevent all access to it.
n’he tea-shrubs that grow on this moun-
tain, are planted in regular order, and
Bre divided by different avenues and
alleys. The care of this place is in-
trusted to people, who are ordered to
guard the leaves from dust, and to de-
fend them from the inclemency of the
weather. Before collecting the tea, it
is said, they abstain from every kind
of gross food for some weeks, that their
breath and perspiration may not injure
the leaves, which they do not touch but
with very fine gloves.
Teak, or Teck-Wood, the produce of a
tree growing in Ava and Pegu and on
the coast of Malabar, is employed in the
construction nf the vessels fitted out at
Bombay, Madras, and Calcutta. The im-
putance ofthe traffic to which this wood
g ves rise, may readily be conceived,
-/hen it is asserted, that the total bur-
den of the vessels belonging to Calcutta,
which are formed of it, amounts to 40,000
tons. This is the only species of wood
which can be advantageously employed
in the construction of the large Bengal-
ese vessels; for it has been ascertained,
that the indigenous wood of Bengal is
scarcely serviceable at all in the Indian
seas. |
Tent, a strong, sweet-flavored red
wine, made in the province of Andalu-
sia.
Tiffany, a sort of transparent gauze,
stiffened with gum and pressed.
Tin, a metal of a fine white color, a
slight disagreeable taste, and emitting a
peculiar smell when rubbed. There are
considerable tin-mines on the Malabar
coast, in the island of Banda, in Spain,
and in the Spanish West Indies. The
tin-mines of Cornwall, Eng., are the
most productive.
Tobacco, a plant, the leaves of which
form an extensive branch of commerce.
It is cultivated in the E. Indies and Af-
rica, though little is exported thence.
In the Levant, Salonica is the grand
market for this commodity. The to-
bacco of Dalmatia and Croatia is of a
good quality ; and the plant is success-
fully raised in other parts of Europe. N.
America indubitably yields the finest
tobacco in the world; Virginia and
Maryland producing it in the greatest
abundance and of the best quality.
Tortoise-Shell, the shell of the testa-
ceous animal called a tortoise.
Trade Winds, certain winds which
regularly blow in ascertained directions
for given periods, in different parts of
the world ; and are taken advantage of
in the course of commerce and naviga-
tion. They prevail especially in the
Indian seas.
Train Oil, a general name for differ-
ent sorts of fish oil.
Turmeric, a root used in dying yel-
low. It comes from the E. Indies.
Tumsol, a valuable dying drug, pre-
pared near Montpelier.
Turpentine, a resinous juice extracted
from several species of trees.
Turquoise, a mineral of a pale sky-blue
color.
ULTRAMARINE, a very fine blue
powder, made from the blue parts of
lapis lazuli.
Usquebaugh, a strong compound liquor,
chiefly taken by way of dram ; it is made
in the highest perfection at Drogheda in
Ireland, and is similar to whisky.
VALONIA, a plant brought from Ita-
ly and the Levant, and used as a dying
ingredient.
Vanilla, a plant whose aromatic pods
are used in the manufacture of choco-
late. It comes from S. America and
the Indies.
Velvet, a rich kind of silk stuff cover-
ed on the outside with a close, short,
fine and soft nap. Florence and Genoa
are most noted for the manufacture of
this article.
Verdigris, an acetat of copper used as
a pigment.
Vermicelli, an Italian preparation of
flour, used in soups, broths, &c.
Vidonia, a white wine, the produce
of the island of Teneriffe.
WEIGHTS AND MEASURES, are
used to ascertain the quantities of any
article or commodity, according to its
nature.
Weight, in a commercial sense, de-
notes a body, legally defined, appointed
to be put in the balance against other
bodies, whose momentum is requir-
ed.
The word measure, taken in a similar
sense, can require no definition. The
original standards appear to have been
pointed out by the size and proportions
ofthe human frame ; and these natural
measures are still used when artificial
ones cannot be conveniently resorted to ;
thus the fathom of a well-proportioned
man is supposed equal to his height or
stature; the pace, one half of his stature :
the cubit, one fourth; t he foot, one sixth,
and the span, one igUth, The hand is
reckoned one third of the foot, and the
breadth of the thumb one twelfth. |
Standards of weights and measures
were held sacred by the ancients, and
a uniformity was strictly observed in
many countries of Asia. Among the
Romans there was but one weight and
one measure; every town and city
throughout their vast empire having a
standard, which was an exact copvjjf
the archetype kept in the capitol, aud
therefore called capitohna.
In latter times, from various abuses
and a diversity of usages, a variety of
weights and measures have obtained,
and do at present prevail, in the various
countries of Europe and the otherparts
of the world. There is, however, with
few exceptions, a similarity in the sys-
tems of all countries, which seems to
indicate a common origin. Thus the
foot, which is the general unit for mea-
sures, is duodecimally divided ; and the
pound, which is the unit for weights, is
divided either into twelve or sixteen
ounces, &c. In almost every nation,
there are two descriptions of weights,
one for the precious metals, and the
other for common articles ; such are the
Troy and Avoirdupois weights in Eng-
land.
Standards generally signify any mea-
sure or weight of acknowledged author-
ity, by which others of the same de-
nomination are to be compared and ad-
justed. They are distinguished into
arbitrary standards and invariable
standards from nature. The former are
universally adopted except in France;
and the latter are intended to correct or
to restore them, if lost.
The origin of the old standards of
weight or capacity is not certainly
known ; but those of linear measures
may be inferred, from their names, to
have been taken from some part of the
human frame, as noticed above. Hence
the foot, the hand, the span, the nail, the
cubit or elbow, the ulna, aune, or arm,
the fathom, the pace, &c. The inch, in
some places, is determined by barley-
corns ; but in others, it is called the
thumb. The finger, too, is reckoned as
two-thirds of an inch.
The foot is the most general unit for
measures as the pound is for weights;
and both are mostly divided into the
same number of equal parts, and their
divisions were anciently called by the
same name, uncia, which signifies a
twelfth part of the whole. Hence tbe
inch was called the uneia pedis, and tbe
ounce the uncia librte.
As measures derived in the manner
described, must vary with the different
sizes of men, the standards, formed of
some durable substance, have been
taken from the foot, or arm, of some
distinguished person. Thus the Saxon
gyrd, or girth, the modern yard, is said
to have been adjusted by the arm of
king Henry I. It is supposed, that, from
a similar reason, the old French foot
has been called pied de roi.
The following list embraces some of
the principal foreign weights and mea-
sures.
Weights used in several parts of Asia, the
East Indies, Chinn, Persia, fyc.
In Turkey, at Smyrna, Sec., they use
the batman, or batteman, containing
six occos, the occo weighing three
pounds four-fifths English. They have
another batman much less, consisting,
as the former, of six occos ; but the occo
only containing 15 ounces English; 14
occos of the first kind make the Turk-
ish quintal.
At Cairo, Alerandretta, Aleppo, and
Alexandria, they use the rotto, rotton, or
rottoli; at Cairo, and other parts of
Egypt, it is 144 drachms, betog above
an English pound weight
At Aleppo there ?re three sects of rot-
tos; the first TJ0 drtcvjtna making
about seven pounas Er,j. et and used
in weighing ;ottons. sails, and other
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