Imágenes de páginas
PDF
EPUB

Canton province, where I had an opportunity of seeing tea cultivated, the species proved to be Thea Bohea, or what is commonly called the black-tea plant. In the green-tea districts of the north-I allude more particularly to the province of Chekiang I never met with a single plant of this species, which is so common in the fields and gardens near Canton. All the plants in the green-tea country near Ning-po, on the islands of the Chusan Archipelago, and in every part of the province which I had an opportunity of visiting, proved, without exception, to be the Thea viridis. Two hundred miles further to the north-west, in the province of Kiang-nan, and only a short distance from the tea-hills in that quarter, I also found in gardens this same species of tea. Thus far my actual observation exactly verified the opinions I had formed on the subject before I left England, viz. that the black teas were prepared from the Thea Bohea, and the green from Thea viridis. When I left the north, on my way to the city of Foochow-foo, on the river Min, in the province of Fokein, I had no doubt that I should find the tea hills there covered with the other species, Thea Bohea, from which we generally suppose the black teas are made; and this was more likely to be the case, as this species actually derives its specific name from the Bohee hills in this province. Great was my surprise to find all the plants on the tea hills near Foo-chow exactly the same as those in the green-tea districts of the north. Here were, then, green-tea plantations on the black-tea hills, and not a single plant of the Thea Bohea to be seen. Moreover, at the time of my visit, the natives were busily employed in the manufacture of black teas. Although the specific differences of the tea-plants were well known to me, I was so much surprised, and I may add amused, at this discovery, that I procured a set of specimens for the herbarium, and also dug up a living plant, which I took northward to Chekiang. On comparing it with those which grow on the green-tea hills, no difference whatever was observed. appears, therefore, that the black and green teas of the northern districts of China, (those districts in which the greater part of the teas for the foreign markets are made,) are both produced from the same variety, and that that variety is the Thea viridis, or what is commonly called the green-tea plant. On the other hand, those

It

black and green teas which are manufactured in considerable quantities in the vicinity of Canton are obtained from the Thea Bohea, or black tea.

In the green-tea districts of Chekiang, near Ning-po, the first crop of leaves is generally gathered about the middle of April. This consists of the young leafbuds just as they begin to unfold, and forms a fine and delicate kind of young hyson, which is held in high estimation by the natives, and is generally sent about in small quantities as presents to their friends. It is a scarce and expensive article, and the picking of the leaves in such a young state does considerable injury to the tea-plantations. The summer rains, however, which fall copiously about this season, moisten the earth and air; and if the plants are young and vigorous, they soon push out fresh leaves. In a fortnight or three weeks from the time of the first picking, or about the beginning of May, the shrubs are again covered with fresh leaves, and are ready for the second gathering, which is, in fact, the most important of the season. The third and last gathering, which takes place as soon as new leaves are formed, produces a very inferior kind of tea, which I believe, is rarely sent out of the district. The mode of gathering and preparing the leaves of the tea-plants is extremely simple. We have been so long accustomed to magnify and mystify everything relating to the Chinese, that, in all their arts and manufactures, we expect to find some peculiar and out-of-the-way practice, when the fact is, that many operations in China are more simple in their character than in most other parts of the world. To rightly understand the process of rolling and drying the leaves, which I am about to describe, it must be borne in mind that the grand object is to expel the moisture, and at the same time to retain as much as possible of the aromatic and other desirable secretions of the

species. The system adopted to attain this end is as simple as it is efficacious. In the harvest seasons the natives are seen in little family groups on the side of every hill, when the weather is dry, engaged in gathering the tea-leaves. They do not seem so particular as I imagined they would have been in this operation, but strip the leaves off rapidly and promiscuously, and throw them all into round baskets made for the purpose out of split bamboo or rattan. In the beginning of May, when the principal gathering

takes place, the young seed-vessels are about as large as peas. These are also stripped off and dried with the leaves; it is the seed-vessels which we often see in our tea, and which have some slight resemblance to young capers. When a sufficient quantity of leaves are gathered, they are carried home to the cottage or barn, where the operation of drying is performed.

This is minutely described, and the author continues:

I have stated that the plants grown in the district of Chekiang produce green teas, but it must not be supposed that they are the green teas which are exported to England. The leaf has a much more natural colour, and has little or none of what we call the "beautiful bloom upon it, which is so much admired in Europe and America. There is now no doubt that all these "blooming" green teas which are manufactured at Canton, are dyed with prussian blue and gypsum, to suit the taste of the "foreign barbarians:" indeed, the process may be seen any day, during the season, by those who will give themselves the trouble to seek after it. It is very likely that the same ingredients are also used in dyeing the northern green teas for the foreign market; of this, however, I am not quite certain. There is a vegetable dye obtained from Isatis indigotica, much used in the northern districts, and called Teinching; and it is not unlikely that it may be the substance which is employed. The Chinese never use these dyed teas themselves, and I certainly think their taste in this respect is more correct than ours. It is not to be supposed that the dye used can produce any bad effects upon the consumer, for, had this been the case, it would have been discovered before now; but if entirely harmless or inert, its being so must be ascribed to the very small quantity which is employed in the manufacture.

A NATURALIST'S WALKS TO THE PEAK MOORLANDS.

No. II.

THE moorlands of the Peak of Derbyshire consist of a succession of bold hills, stretching out far as the eye can see, with deep glens or dells between, through many of which mountain-rivulets take their meandering course. From the dells these mountains rise very abruptly, and

tower in stern majesty aloft, the fleecy clouds floating around their summit. Amidst this penine range, here and there, some hills are seen to shoot up above the rest, and serve as landmarks from a great distance; among these, Axe Edge and Kinderscout are conspicuous. When the traveller wandering here gazes around, he is almost startled by the savage wildness of the scene. No green fields, no waving groves, no luxuriant foliage, no tufted hedge-rows meet his eye; a black pine-wood may be seen occasionally covering the declivity of some steep hill; or a cottage of rude stone, as if thrown upon the spot by accident, the shelter of a shepherd, may meet his glance. Where attempts at inclosure have been made, rough walls of grey stone divide the half-reclaimed fields: but these are seen on the borders, and not actually within the bounds of the bleak moorlands. Here, for miles, the soil is tremulous peat, with many a black, spungy quagmire and gulley of soft ooze, swollen during heavy rains into an inky torrent;-to attempt to traverse such spots is madness; the deep black quagmire is treacherous, and man and horse would disappear, as on the quicksands of the shore. These black drainage gulleys are the source of some of the clearest rivers, the Wye, for example, the matters which the water contains being gradually precipitated as it passes onwards. In the mountain dells the rivulets are, many of them at least, of a blood-red colour, owing to the iron with which they are strongly impregnated, in their passage over beds of ironstone.

These wild mountain moorlands produce coarse grass; but there are extensive beds of heath, which, when in bloom, give to the mountain a fine roseate hue, the appearance of which is very beautiful. The bilberry-plant (Vaccinium myrtillus) grows in great abundance; and in some places, the highly-scented cranberry, (Vaccinium oxycoccus.) Over the more boggy parts, we see large patches of cotton-grass, (Euphorum angustifolium,) with its snowy tuft, appearing as if a number of snow-flakes had thickly fallen over a circumscribed space, and were hanging to the wiry stems of grasses.

Such are the moorland mountains of the Peak-stern, gloomy, wild, and well calculated to produce a sense of loneliness; for seldom will the traveller hear

any sound to break the stillness that reigns, save the tinkling sheep-bell, or the cry of the wild bird. "Travellers," says another writer, "accustomed to wellwooded and highly-cultivated scenes, have frequently expressed a feeling bordering on disgust at the bleak and barren appearance of the mountains on the Peak of Derbyshire; but to the man whose taste is unsophisticated by a fondness for artificial adornments, they possess superior interest and impart more pleasing sensations. Remotely seen, they are often beautiful. Many of their forms, even when near, are decidedly good; and in distance the features of rudeness by which they are occasionally marked, are softened down into general and harmonious masses. The graceful and longcontinued outline which they present; the breadth of light and shadow that spreads over their extended surfaces, and the delightful colouring with which they are sometimes invested, never fail to attract the attention of the picturesque traveller." Nor, we may add, are they destitute of objects attractive to the naturalist. In many parts, flocks of black-faced sheep, wild as the roe, and as active and timid, feed on the moorlands, watched perhaps by some solitary shepherd, who ranged the moorlands in summer's heat and winter's cold-grim and grey like the rocks of his native mountains; such a man we know, and many were the tales he had to tell of the hardships of a shepherd's life,—of snow-drifts levelling the glens between the hills, and burying sheep and cottages, and, on one occasion, even a low, lonely little church, which is hidden in one of these dales, and in which the truth is preached to a few rude mountaineers. His details, given in the broad dialect of that part of the country, realized Thompson's description, in his "Winter."

"In this dire season, oft the whirlwind's wing
Sweeps up the burden of whole wintry plains
At one wide waft, and o'er the hapless flocks,
Hid in the hollow of two neighbouring hills,

The billowy tempest whelms; till, upward urged,
The shining valley to a mountain swells,
Tipt with a wreath high curling in the sky."

On these mountain moorlands the fox is not uncommon, though seldom to be seen in the day-time, for he lurks in his den till evening, and retires to it early in the morning. During the night he prowls about, and often travels far to some solitary farm-house, in quest of poultry, whose numbers he sadly thins;

occasionally he destroys young lambs, or sickly sheep; he also makes wild rabbits, which in some spots are rather abundant, hares and grouse, his prey. No animal knows the surrounding country better than the fox-every bye-path, every cabin, every farm for miles around, are familiar to him; he knows where the coveys of grouse lurk in the heather, where they rear their broods-where the rabbits feed in the dusk. Innumerable are his wiles; generally, he steals with a noiseless gliding pace towards his prey, and suddenly seizes it with the utmost address, often, indeed, without being observed by its companions. In the moorlands of the Peak, the fox sometimes makes his burrow in the pine-woods, or the steep mountain side: sometimes he appropriates deep winding holes in the outcropping limestone crags, to the galleries of which there are several entrances, perhaps little suspected. He never lays aside his vigilance, and as the chase with hounds in these hills is out of the question, there are no means of destroying the animal, excepting by traps, which are seldom successful, or by watching with the gun, or by making a determined attack on its strong-hold, with various implements, levers, pickaxes, and the like, till, if possible, the animal is unearthed, and falls a sacrifice to the men and the dogs congregated together.

But there are other destructive animals on the moorlands besides the fox, and besides the polecat and weazel. A species of hawk, called the hen harrier, or blue harrier (Circus cyaneus) is here not uncommon. The male of this beautiful species is generally of a bluish grey colour, lighter on the under parts; the female (the ringtail of most of the olden authors) is amber-brown, varied with yellow, with a sort of stiffish white feathers round the top of the neck. We have often watched this bird quartering the moorlands in quest of prey; occasionally it mounts aloft on buoyant wings, but generally skims low, and its flight is peculiarly rapid, noiseless, and graceful. It is a most indefatigable and skilful hunter, dropping upon its prey like a shot, and seizing it, while unsuspiciously reposing on the ground. Lapwings, leverets, young moor-fowl, larks, and various reptiles, constitute its habitual food. The actions of this bird are very interesting, and may be more easily watched than those of most hawks, both

from the open nature of the place it frequents, and also from the mode in which it beats up its hunting-ground, every part of which it quarters with great regularity, flying but a few feet above the surface of the heath, without paying much attention to the spectator, unless he purposely disturb it. Mr. Selby says this bird is "common in France, Germany, and Holland, inhabiting the low and flat districts; but in Switzerland, and all mountainous countries, it is of rare occurrence." It is, as we have said, far from uncommon on the swampy moorlands of the Peak; and Mr. Thompson informs us, that in Ireland it is generally distributed, breeding at Claggan, and is to be met with at all seasons on the

merely. God created the rapacious as well as the timid; and could we pierce the veil which hangs over creation, we should find that all the laws established, the results of which sometimes startle us, are ordained in mercy and in wisdom. As it is, we know that, constituted as the world is, all would sink into ruin and confusion, as it respects organic beings, if the law of destruction and renovation, which can alone preserve the balance of creation, were even for a short time suspended. Viewed in this light, (and in this light they must be viewed,) the most ferocious beasts and birds of prey are not cruel. They fulfil their allotted part in the great polity of creation, and are essential to the well-being of the M.

THE NEW HOUSE OF PEERS.

As in our January number we gave a short description of the palace at Westminster, we now abridge from "The Builder some particulars of the new House of Peers, just brought into use.

mountains of Ballymena. "A gentle-whole.
man of my acquaintance (he adds)
has long known white hawks, as they
called them, to have their nests every
summer in his mountains at Ballyna-
screen, Londonderry, where he had two
of them last year; the nests are always
placed on the ground among the heath."
"When looking for snipes in
a boggy spot in the Belfast mountains, I
once shot a female of this species, hover-
ing in the manner of a kestrel over it.
She was not alarmed at the presence of
myself and friend, nor by that of our
dogs, engaged in heating the ground im-
mediately beneath." Mountain moor-
lands then, as well as low marshes, are
frequented by this daring and elegant
hawk, and also by an allied species, the
marsh or moor harrier (Circus rufus),
which we have also seen on the same range
of hills, and which quarters the ground
precisely in the same manner. Were it
not for these hawks, and the four-footed
beasts of prey, how comparatively undis-
turbed would be the existence of the
wild tenants of these gloomy mountain
moorlands! Yes! there goes the wily
hawk, hunting his victims-and one will
soon be secured in his clutch. Thus the
great enemy hovers over his prey, quar-
ters the ground, and leaves no passion of
the human heart untried; unsuspected,
he explores every recess; and too often
carries away his captive in triumph,
exulting in the success of his wiles. Yet
when the great despoiler draws nigh, of
many it may be truly said, "Thou shalt
hide them in the secret of thy presence;"
"for the Lord preserveth the

faithful."

But we wrong the hawk by this comparison-we mean it in a figurative sense

The foundation of the building next the river was commenced in 1839, by Messrs. Lee, of Chiswell-street. Messrs. Grissell and Peto undertook the first contract for the superstructure of the new houses in 1840. It comprised the range of buildings fronting the river, with the returns next Westminster-bridge and at the south end towards Abingdonstreet. This building includes the residence for the speaker at the north end, the corresponding terminal towards the south being the residence for the usher of the black rod. Between the two extremes, and comprising what are called the curtain portions, are the libraries for the House of Peers, and the libraries for the House of Commons: in the immediate centre is the conference-room for the two houses. All this is on the principal floor, which is some fifteen feet above the terrace, or high-water mark. The whole of the floor above the libraries, and overlooking the river, is appropriated to committee-rooms for the purposes of parliament, the peers occupying about one-third towards the south, and the commons two-thirds towards the north. The House of Peers and House of Commons are situated in the rear of that next the river, and will, when completed, be inclosed also towards the west, so as to be entirely surrounded by parliamentary offices.

The general plan of the building is exceedingly simple and beautiful. From the central hall, an octagon of seventy feet, a corridor to the north (to your right, if you stand with your back to the Thames) leads to the commons' lobby and commons' house; and a corridor to the south, to the peers' lobby, one of the chambers completed, and the House of Peers. Opposite to the spectator (still standing as before) is St. Stephen's Hall and porch, communicating, by noble flights of steps, with Westminster Hall, and forming an approach of unequalled magnificence. It is worthy of remark, that when the floor of St. Stephen's Hall is reached, there is no one step throughout the whole extent-all is of one level. In a line with the House of Lords, still further to the south, are the Victoria Hall, (now finished,) the royal gallery, (a noble apartment, 108 feet long, fortyfive feet wide, and forty-five high, to be filled with paintings and sculptures,) and the queen's robing-room, communicating with the royal staircase and tower at the south-west corner of the pile, now rearing itself in Abingdon-street.

The construction of the building throughout is externally of magnesian limestone from North Anstone, in Yorkshire, near Worksop, in Notts. It is a beautiful close-grained stone, of a texture considerably harder than Portland, and somewhat warmer in colour. The interior parts of the walls are of hard-burnt Cowley-stocks, exclusively from the fields of Mr. Westbrook, of Heston, the best manufactured for the London market. The bearers of the floor are of cast-iron, with brick arches turned from girder to girder; the entire roofs are of wroughtiron, covered with cast-iron plates galvanized; the gutters are also of cast-iron galvanized; so that the carcasses of the entire buildings are fire-proof, not any timber having been used in their construction. Wrought-iron bond, in courses of brickwork in cement, is used throughout all the walls. The interior stonework is from Caen. The whole building stands on a bed of concrete twelve feet thick. The libraries and committeerooms will be generally lined with Riga wainscot, and have wood-panelled ceilings.

The interior of the House of Lords is entirely of Riga wainscot of the finest quality, richly and elaborately carved throughout. The throne and the other parts, which are almost covered with

[ocr errors][ocr errors]

gilding, are also entirely of carved oak— no composition ornaments being used. The roof over the House of Peers, of wrought and cast-iron, is of vast dimensions, (perhaps thirty feet high from the ceiling to the ridge,) and is divided into compartments for hot and cold air, with reference to ventilation. The compartments are divided by massive moulded beams (projecting as much as three feet.) Its general ground is rich blue, bordered with red and gold, and blazoned with the royal badges of the United Kingdom, radiating from centres in which are the emblems of royalty, carved and gilt. The beams and mouldings are painted a deep gold colour, the enrichments and projections being all gilt, including the inscription, "Dieu et mon droit," variously repeated on the main beams.

Six traceried windows range on each side of the east and west walls; and three corresponding arched openings are formed to the north and south ends of the chamber. The piers between the windows are occupied by canopied niches, eighteen in all, intended for bronze statues of the principal barons, etc., who were instrumental in obtaining Magna Charta. Two models in plaster, one of archbishop Langton, and the other of Fitzwalter, bronzed and gilt to show the effect, have been put up at the throne end; and arrangements are being made with artists for the whole series to be cast in bronze.

From the ceiling to the cill of the windows the walls are of a brown stone colour. Around the jambs of the windows is painted the inscription," Vivat Regina,' many times repeated, intersected by roses on coloured grounds in quatrefoils. The niches, rather lighter in colour than the piers, are relieved with gilding and partly with colour, the backgrounds being painted a diapered pattern in chocolate brown and gold. Under the niches are gilt angels holding shields, blazoned with the arms of the barons intended to be placed above. The windows will be ultimately filled with stained glass, but only one on the west side is yet completed. This is the work of Mr. Hardman, of Birmingham, by whom also the ornamental iron-work and brasswork have been executed. The contract for the other windows has been taken by Messrs. Ballantyne and Allan, of Edinburgh.

The walls at the back of the arches will eventually be painted in fresco, to

« AnteriorContinuar »