The choicest of all teas, and which we saw only on special occasions, when it came with the annual New Year presents from the Hong merchants, was 'Padre Souchong,' so called from its having been grown by the priests of a famous monastery. The whole quantity was small; it was put up in canisters of two or three ounces, and was currently supposed to be sent to the Emperor. His Celestial Majesty deigned as a rare favour to present some of it to the most favoured of the high officers of Government at Pekin, and they in their turn, as a great compliment, forwarded a portion to the Hong merchants. This was in return for valuable watches set with pearls, for clocks, musical snuff-boxes, or 'smellum water' (as the Chinese call lavender-water and eau de cologne), which foreign objects it was customary to send to influential mandarins for favours in the past and those in prospective. The following tradition exists as to this peculiar tea. In spite of the assertion that the entire annual crop is 'offered up to the reigning Emperor,' it is brought to Canton, but in a very limited quantity. In a deep recess of the Woo-E (Bohea) Hills, surrounded by shrubbery and trees, almost impenetrable to the human eye, stands the Temple of the 'Silver Moon.' Its antiquity is so great that all traces of its origin are lost. The temple has been inhabited from time immemorial by a family of the 'Tea Sect,' which, at the period of the year coinciding with the maturity of the leaves, makes offerings to its patron saint of fine tea. Close by the temple stand three small tea trees, which are tended by the family. They produce but _one_ catty each. These trees were originally planted thousands of years ago by divine hands, and they have never been known to yield more nor less than three catties (4-1/3 pounds). The original paper of which this is a translation was given to me by Pwan-Suy-Lan, with a small canister of this famous tea; but on asking him if he considered it to have been originally planted by 'Joss,' he answered, he thought not, but that 'he own come'--that is to say, 'it sprang from the ground spontaneously.' It was known that the senior Hong merchant received the greatest quantity of it. As with Pwan-Suy-Lan and Pwankeiqua, Houqua's family had long been tea planters in the Bohea Hills, and were so when they first came to Canton, soon after foreign trade was confined to that port (as he frequently observed to me), about the year 1750. Well-to-do Chinese drink black tea, but not usually _new_ tea. They keep it in closely-shut earthen jars for a couple of years before using it. This moderates the acrid or pungent quality which new tea possesses more or less, and renders it softer and more acceptable to the taste. * * * * *