TEA PLANTING,

83

imported its tea in the early days of tea planting, but in
1883 the export exceeded 1,600,000 Ib., in 1887 it was
13,813,872 1b.,in 1896 108,141,412 1b., and in 1903 (including
green tea) no less than 151,120,009 1b. For the present, at
any rate, the growth of the industry seems to have reached
its upper limit,
Tea is now the chief industry in the mountain districts,
and also covers a large area in the south-western plains.
Above the elevation of 2,500 ft. it forms almost the only
cultivation, and a journey on the rail from Kandy to
Nuwara Eliya affords perhaps one of the most striking
instances in the world of a large stretch of country covered
with one crop. Excepting only the summits of the
mountain ridges, the grass lands, and the actual precipices,
a vast sheet of tea covers hill and dale, broken chiefly by the
straight lines of the “ wind belts,” narrow belts of Australian
trees planted through the tea fields across the direction of
the prevailing winds.
By far the largest proportion of the tea cultivation is in
the hands of European planters resident on the estates.
The average size of an estate is between 250 and 300 acres,
but there is a tendency of late for estates to be united in
groups for economy of working and management, and te
enable larger and more economical factories to be used.
Whereas formerly a large proportion of the planters were
owners of their estates, they are now more often salaried
employés of large or small companies, some managed
locally, some directed from London. The export and
general business of the estate or company is worked through
a Colombo agency, which also superintends the general
conduct of the estate by means of its «visiting agent,” a
planter of long experience, who goes over the estates at
intervals, inspecting their working, estimates, accounts, &amp;e.
The labouring force of a tea estate consists generally of
Tamil coolies from Southern India, working in gangs under
overseers locally termed kanganies, by whom they are
recruited from their villages. As a rule they return after a
time with their savings, but some settle in Ceylon. The
rate of wages on a tea estate seems small, being only from
eight to fifteen dollar-cents a day (average about twelve),
but is high enough to make Ceylon seem a kind of Eldorado
to the coolies. They are housed and medically attended at
the cost of the estate, and their well-being is carefully
attended to. The heavier labour is done by the men, the
lighter, such as tea plucking, by the women and children.
Several varieties of the tea plant are known ; the China
variety is now but rarely cultivated in Cevlon, the usual