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The birds, animals, and human beings all have to drink and eat to live. In regard to drink, boiled water is to quench thirst, wine to drown sorrow, and tea is to avoid sleepiness.
The most remarkable thing about the history of tea, its origin, and its ultimate success, has been ascribed to an improbable strike of good fortune. There is no doubt that a certain amount of luck was required before the happy results were achieved- to mix dry leaves with water and drink the resulting liquid.
Tea as a beverage originated in China, untold centuries ago, but its early history as a drink however is surrounded by cloudy legends and mythological variations of the imaginative Chinese. Every thing known of its beginnings is so inextricably tangled with things apparently imaginary and spectacular, that we can only indecisively surmise which is fact and which are fancy. The exact date of the discovery, that when the leaves of this plant when boiled in water were not found harmful or toxic for human consumption however is difficult to fix. Probably it will never be known when tea was first used as a beverage nor how it was discovered that tea leaves could be treated and used to make a palatable drink. Just as coffee has been known and used as food and drink in Ethiopia since time out of mind, so too, the Chinese have known the tea plant and have used its leaves for food and beverage purposes from time immemorial.
The story of this beverage began in 2737 BC, during the reign of Emperor Chen Nung, referred to as the divine healer. The discoveries of the medical properties of many herbs are ascribed to him. It is said that one day as the Emperor was boiling some water in order to purify it, a few leaves from a near by tea plant dropped into the imperial saucepan, giving it a delightful scent and flavour. On tasting it, he found it to be delicious, clean and refreshing. A new beverage was discovered.
Tea enjoys the singular distinction of having been discovered by a saintly person, and to the Chinese it was a special gift from heaven, Shen Nung is reported to have said that “tea is better than wine, for it leaded not to intoxication, neither does it cause a man to say foolish things and repent thereafter in his sober moments. It is better than water, for it does not carry disease, neither does it act as poison, as water does when wells contain foul and rotten matter."
Many are the legends associated with the discovery of tea, none of which has any solid foundation in history. A ridiculous story is related in relation to the discovery of the tea plant in the dynasty of Tsin. An old woman was in the habit of proceeding every morning at daybreak to the market place, carrying a small cup of tea in the palm of her hand. People bought it enthusiastically, and yet, from the break of day to the close of evening, and the contents of the cup never depleted. The money received from its sale, she distributed to the orphans, and the tramps who frequented the highways. The people apprehended and confined her in prison. At night, she flew through the prison window with her little cup of tea in her hand.
Another rendering regarding the birthplace of the tea plant is that in or about the year of grace 510, an Indian Prince, a religious and a God fearing disciple of the supreme being, named Dharma, the third son of King Kosjusua, ordained upon himself, in his wanderings the rather difficult repentance of doing without sleep. The Chinese story goes to say that the Indian gentleman got on very pleasantly for many years until all at once he gave up the spell, and slept for a while on a mountain side. Upon awakening, Dharma was so grieved to find that that he could not move about without going to sleep, that he pulled out his eyelashes and flung those on the ground. Coming round that way later on, he found his offending eye-lashes had grown into bushes such as he had never seen before. He nibbled the leaves and found them to possess an element that would keep a person vigilant. He related the discovery to his friends and neighbours. The tea plant thereafter was taken care of.
The world however requires an explanation for this remarkable discovery as one of the most extraordinary drinks, and the ancient Chinese story of the Emperor Wan Tu is by far the best.
“The Emperor of China, Wan Tu, an evil, barbarous tyrannical man, was vanquished by his first minister and banished to a remote southern part of China. He sat in the shade of a large bush scheming his revenge. Driven by poverty to drinking only hot water, he was pleasantly surprised on day when some of the leaves of a wild tea bush fell into his saucepan of boiling water. He discovered that the resulting brew was tasty, refreshing, and relaxing. It cleared his mind so effectively that he sat under the bush for seven years drinking it, learning to regret his previous tyrannies, and swearing to make amends.
He named the drink Tai, meaning peace, in recognition of its effect on him. He returned to the capital city in disguise and became a valued adviser to his former first minister. He was so wise and much-loved by the people that when the minister died, he was chosen as his successor, and he ruled justly for many years, introducing tea to the nation. Only on his deathbed did Wan Tu reveal his true identity, and to honour the wonderful changes that tea had wrought in him."
It was after this event and in the fifth century that the poet Lu Yo wrote the tea classic, the “Cha Ching", which unfolded the mysteries of tea. This publication, part poetry, part etiquette, and part textbook, had a considerable effect at the time and many centuries later. According to Lu Yo, tea was perfectly suited to the Confucian way of life: temperance, moderation, and calm.
This Classic on tea considered the first comprehensive account of the tea industry, was based on travels the author had undertaken, throughout the tea growing and manufacturing areas of the country. He describes at length its origins, history, cultivation, harvest, manufacture, and the preparation of the drink in China. From than on the Chinese people, originating from the Emperor switched over his daily mug of water to a cup of tea. The tea drinking habit soon spread to his household, his court, and his people. Almost overnight, his entire country had turned into a nation of tea drinkers.
From 2737 to 960 BC wild tea was used as herbal medicine, and later boiled as a fresh soup and dried and stored. Process of sun drying was introduced much later. In more recent times, tea was made into a cake, dried, crushed, and then boiled before being consumed.
With the unification of China in 221 BC, cultivation of tea spread from the “Mother Nature’s Tea Gardens” in the monsoon district of South Eastern Asia towards the South. The political boundaries of the various countries where wild tea has been found were purely imaginary lines that the public had traced to mark the states of India, Burma, Siam, Yunnan, and Indo-China. Before any thought was given to dividing this land into separate states, it consisted of one original tea garden where the conditions of soil, climate, and rainfall were ideal for the propagation of tea.
According to old chronicles, tea cultivation began in the interior province of Szechwan about 350 AD, and gradually extended down the Yangtze valley, and then to the seaboard provinces.
With tea production now taken care of, hand manufacture of brick tea developed. This came about during the period 206 BC and 9 AD. Tea soon became a marketable commodity, and before long a prized commodity consumed in the main by the ruling classes. During the Tang dynasty (624 AD to 907 AD) tea was freely marketed in Northern China, and soon became popular with the masses. Tea markets, tea peddlers, tea stalls, all made their appearance in the thriving Chinese economy.
The tea plants belong to the genus Camellia that includes as many as 82 named species found mainly in the mainland of South East Asia. This genus includes various ornamental plants that are consumed after brewing. At the turn of the century tea was used as a medical herb due to its unpleasant character, as tea was then infused from green untended leaf.
All the available information regarding the history of tea, its origin, and its ultimate success as the world’s number one drink next to water has been ascribed today to good fortune, weather that date is classified as legend or not.
During the early days, the use of tea was partly social and partly medicinal, intended to promote digestion and to stimulate the appetite, with the result it came to be served after every food dish. During the period 960 to 1126 much time was spent in developing the technique of tea manufacture, and once this was achieved, the tea drinking habit became a fashionable pastime in China, and came to be recognised as a social drink. The more civilised sectors in China witnessed a complete transformation in their tea drinking habits. It was always pervaded with an air of leisure, and attended with pomp and glory. It became a part of the rich pattern of life in China.
For the Chinese, tea has always been more than the sum of its chemical mineral ingredients, and much more than just a hot beverage. It is a symbol of warm welcome and entertainment, whether this occurs in the house or in more ceremonial atmosphere. Chinese generally have a preference to extreme measures of refinement, with the result they have over the years fashioned their lives to a fine art. There are seven requirements in every Chinese house, and tea took the pride of place amongst them.
Tea originated as a beverage for some, food for still others, and had its third use as money. In remote parts of China and later in Mongolia, bank notes or coins were of little use to the Nomadic tribes from the interior. Compressed tea in brick form, on the other hand were used both as an article of consumption and for further bartering. Brick tea unlike currency, tends to enhance its value, the further it was carried from the tea gardens of China. Brick tea was used as the medium of exchange up to recent times in certain parts of China and Tibet.
Tea became such an important item of merchandise that by 641 AD Chinese federal rulers implemented a policy of controlling the boarders through tea. Tea was traded for horses, and came under the control of the government. It became a state monopoly, offering the public great many varieties of tea. The government was confident that the constant use of tea afforded an effective protection against epidemics. Production of tea expanded, and in 1162, tea was grown in 242 counties totalling over 7,950 tons in the South East regions, and a further 10,510 in the South West China.
Returning to China- the concept of tea grew beyond the act of tea making. It embraces all the skills associated with the growing and processing of tealeaves. It had to be performed so as to extract the maximum flavour and aroma and in doing so, cultivating the taste for delightful ceramics and other accessories to make and serve the brew. Poems, songs, and stories were written on tea in ancient times. Most of all, in the days of yore and even today, the finest association to tea is the art of relaxing and savouring the brew, in pleasant surroundings to shed the stresses and strains of everyday life. It in fact became a holy thing.
As seen today, the Chinese tea industry has recorded a consistent and an impressive growth rate, to attain the second berth in tea production. China however dominates the green tea market. Chinese agriculture has undergone major reforms in the fields of production and marketing since the death of Mao Zedong in 1976. After two decades of commune based co-operative agriculture and state controlled marketing, the government has now encouraged household based farming.
The state has opened up the market to link production to consumer demands. They are now permitting the producer and the seller to interact freely, with the result an accurate evaluation of the market conditions could be determined. A process of price restructuring is taking place, presumed to reward the producer of quality teas, and also to ensure the supply of adequate volumes of tea to satisfy an increasingly consumer oriented and economically more prosperous population.
The legendary story of tea originating with the emperor Shen Nung generally referred as the divine healer who lived about 2737 BC has today captured the world by surprise. Numerous stories are told of how tea was first received in the western world. One popular story is centred round a woman who cooked the tea leaves, threw away the liquid, spread the leaves on bread and butter and served it to her family as a meal.
Many are the encomiums and descriptive phrases applicable to this beverage. Above all it is referred to as the aroma of the mystic East, liquid jade of China, a beverage of sobriety that cheers but does not inebriate. It is regarded as the most popular and elegant drink in the world, and the greatest corroborator of human strength. Tea is regarded a fountain that can cure the ills of passion, a fragrant gift that does not intoxicate, and above all a symbol of hospitality. It is no doubt the latest product of resplendent Lanka. This long cherished treasure of the mother earth it is hoped will continue to stimulate the world and remain the cup of no regrets.
The rapidity at which the consumption of tea grew in Britain would have driven any person, with natural wisdom, to study the economic importance of growing tea in India or anywhere in the British colonies. The subject of tea had been freely discussed in India way back in the mid seventeen centuries though no attempts had been made to cultivate it. They were ignorant of the fact that they were in possession of the very same plant they were trying to foster, a native jat best suited to its requirements.
During the initial stages, it was Chinese tea all the way—their seeds, their plants, and their workman. Many rewards were offered to persons who would prepare the greatest quantity of the best Chinese tea in any of the British colonies. All these offers were made for the expansion of tea cultivation based on Chinese tea culture, not knowing the fact that hidden in the wild hills of Assam the indigenous tea plant was all the time flourishing. The ready availability of Chinese planting material however, did not stop the search for more suitable indigenous varieties, and this task was pursued with vigour. Before long “tea tracts” large enough to justify exploitation was discovered in Assam. This discovery changed apathy into enthusiasm, and before long, a complete transformation was taking place in the Himalayas and in the Assam and Nilgiri hills.
The discovery of the indigenous tea plant is attributed to Major Robert Bruce who in 1823 discovered it growing wild in the wild hills of Assam. Although, at the initial stages, Chinese seeds were used for its propagation with varying fortunes, it was the native Indian tea plant discovered by Bruce that finally established the tea industry outside China with complete success.
The initial work associated with the pioneering work of the plantations was carried out by the respective governments, and having set the project on track, the private sector was invited to join in. For this purpose the Assam Company was formed. The formation of the company that exists even today was the outcome of a meeting held at 6, Great Winchester Street, in the city of London. It was formed to promote private enterprise.
By 1841 about 2,638 acres had been cleared and 10,212 pounds of tea produced. The way to the top was no easy task, and after falling back on many a production target, a turn-around came about in 1846. The Company was able to declare a dividend of 10 shillings per share. The Company was incorporated a Limited Liability in 1845. Despite all these changes the degree of mismanagement that prevailed in the company continued. Land speculation became the order of the day. The “tea madness” reached its climax in 1865 and with it a panic followed. Estates that were sold for ten times its value earlier changed hands for less than one tenth the purchase values. The Government was once again forced to step in to weed out the sheer speculators from the real builders of the industry. After completion of this task, general confidence was once again restored, and the industry witnessed a steady growth from about 1870.
Ceylon enjoys a long history of plantations of one sort or another, dating from the arrival of the Portuguese in the 16th century in search of cheap supplies of spices and gems. Cinnamon then was cultivated on a wide scale, though mainly cared for as a smallholder’s crop. When the Dutch succeeded they took over the cinnamon trade and reorganised the production on plantation lines.
The British conquest in 1779 and subsequent administrative unification of the country in 1815, gave them a free hand to open up virgin forests. This gave the colonial capitalists to set up agricultural enterprises in the mountainous interior. Cinnamon was of little use to the British, as it had only a limited market. The cinnamon monopoly was revoked in 1833, only to be replaced by a new crop, coffee.
Ceylon was a nursery for plantation crops, and many varieties of produce had been tried out in different parts of the country. It was long after, that the British settled for Coffee initially, and on its failure switched over to tea.
The state offered all assistance to the investor. The reduction of export duty made consumption levels rise in the western world and in the colonies. The personal interest taken by the Governor Sir Edward Barnes to promote the growth of coffee took various forms. Land grants and loans were freely available to the investor. They were exempted from land taxes. The state provided the planters with the latest rundown on coffee culture. The Colebrooke-Cameron reforms that followed assisted the private sector to expand their activities further, by removing all impediments pertaining to the free movement of labour.
It was Sir Edward Barnes who pointed out that the hill districts were more suitable for coffee growing than the low country areas. For the European colonist, it was coffee that claimed their attention, although other crops were tried out. Jungle clearing for the cultivation of coffee continued at higher elevations in complete disregard to the suggestions made by people of more prudent disposition, who recommended the planting of mix crops. Destruction and the clearing of the most beautiful and varied tropical forests in the country went on, until about 500 square miles of the forest land was covered with one shrub, Coffee Arabica, carefully planted and scientifically pruned.
Rajakariya was abolished, and this ushered in a new era in the commercial activities of the country. This in turn opened new prospects for the enterprising Ceylonese to make a positive contribution towards nation building.
Agency Houses were established to resolve management problems on the plantations. Shortage of labour that stood in the way of establishing a plantation economy was solved, by the recruitment of cheap Indian workers from South India. The state saw to it that land, labour and finance were made available to the coffee planter.
The stage was set once again for the rehabilitation of the plantation sector. In 1856, there were 27 planting districts, 404 plantations, and 80,950 acres under coffee yielding 324,438 crates per annum.
The transfer of power from the Dutch to the British over the maritime-provinces in the island was undertaken in a very peaceful manner. All Dutch possessions were finally handed over to the British in 1802. Pitt described this event in parliament as “the most valuable colonial possession on the globe. Giving to our Indian Empire a security it had not enjoyed from its first establishment”. No body at that stage would have doubted the importance of Ceylon to Briton and the East India Company, but they did not really know what it had succeeded to, what the Dutch possessions were, or the power possessed by the sovereign of Kandy. They decided to carry on the administration of the country as the Dutch had done, but they seemed totally ignorant of the Dutch system of farming taxes. The first move in this direction was undertaken by Robert Andrews, the Superintendent of Revenue by levying a tax on all owners of coconut trees. This was considered most unfair, and the masses reacted with vehement opposition to the difference in the way they were treated by their new masters.
Lord Hobart arrived in Ceylon in 1797 to investigate the situation on the spot. It was revealed that the main cause of this uprising was due to the indiscriminate manner the Madras officials who had been entrusted with the task of administrating the country as an interim measure had reacted. They had introduced a system that was foreign and unfamiliar to the natives. Once the old system was restored and the tax on coconut trees withdrawn, everything turned out quite. Ceylon was considered too precious a possession to be governed from Madras, and the British government decided to administer the country through the colonial office in Britain.
In October 1798 the first civilian Governor the Honourable Frederic North arrived in Ceylon. He was an aristocrat with the best possible social and political connections. On his departure from Ceylon in 1805, he felt that he had done very little to clear the ground for the development of British rule in the island.
The three other governors that followed him were army officers who had been in active service, and proved capable of defending the country militarily. Lt. General the Right Hon. Sir Thomas Maitland G.C.B who followed North on 19th March 1805, measured all schemes and enterprises on their attributes to benefit the country at large. His fame to success was his ability to make every colony pay for itself, and this formula he claimed should be applied in the appointment of governors.
His administration of the maritime-provinces was rated extraordinarily successful. He made Ceylon pay its way, and this he did by tightening the financial regulations in the civil service. He prohibited public servants from engaging in trade. He in a way was responsible for the establishment of an efficient civil service in the country. Above all, he was the first to recognise the importance of agriculture to the colony, and accordingly lifted the ban on the sale of land to Europeans outside Colombo. He encouraged the cultivation of rice in the country, to supplement imports, thereby saving on exchange. Large-scale cultivation of commercial crops however had to await the conquest of the Kandyan provinces, where the most suitable land for the cultivation of coffee was found.
Brownrigg, who succeeded Maitland in 1811, was a professional soldier too, with a long record of active service in the forces. With the revenue on a sound footing, and the government well organised, he as a military person, directed all his energies towards the subjugation of the Kandyan kingdom.
Brownrigg made capital of the intrigue that existed in the Kandyan Court during this period, and swiftly moved against the Kandyan militia that he commanded in person. The Kandyan kingdom was captured on 18th February 1815, and the dominion of the Kandyan provinces vested in the sovereign of the British Empire. When Brownrigg captured Kandy, did he little realise that after four centuries, a small island composed of various racial groups in numerous stages of economical development were once again united under the “one umbrella”.
Major-General Sir Edward Barnes, K.C.B. during his two terms of governor-ship between 1820 and 1831 was able to exercise affective control over the entire country. His approach to the all-important task of maintaining the security of the country was different to the views expressed by his predecessors. He put an end to the earlier policy of building fortified posts, but concentrated on developing a wide network of roads He made use of Maitland’s order in council to make land freely available to the British. He felt that government’s encouragement was necessary to get this project off the ground, and set an example by getting himself involved in coffee planting. The Botanical Gardens, which was originally situated at Slave Island in Colombo was moved to Peradeniya to facilitate planters to draw freely from the research conducted at the station.
His vision was to set up a large-scale agricultural enterprise under the aegis of the government, and to provide all assistance to the planters to achieve this end. The roads built by Barnes soon became springboards for the planters to plunge into the hills and woods of the newly acquired lands in the central hills. All this only meant that Ceylon was fast transforming itself from a subsistence economy to a nineteenth-century colony of the British Empire, producing for world markets a commercial crop on which the entire nation depended.
Before colonial rule, land revenue rather than the export of cinnamon had been the principal source of revenue in the kingdom of Kotte. It was with the arrival of the Portuguese, and then the Dutch, that cinnamon became the prop of state revenue. According to authentic records Ceylon cinnamon was regarded the finest in the world, and one indigenous to the island. Arab caravans on the look out for markets had sold to the Romans this fragrant spice at the rare of pound sterling 8 per pound, and with it the country earned the name “Mother of Cinnamon”. Cinnamon cultivation and trading in it was a closely protected monopoly of the Dutch.
The Dutch attempted strongly to cultivate this plant originally seen growing wild in the country. In 1770, De Koke made a strong bid to meet the entire European demand for cinnamon. This was achieved before long, and about 400,000 pounds were annually shipped to these countries. They completely ruled the trade, and there had been instances where excess cinnamon had been destroyed, lest its abundance should reduce the price. Excess plants even at home were burnt, and only the required quantities were raised. It is on record that in 1760 an enormous quantity of cinnamon valued at eight million of livres was destroyed near the admiralty at Amsterdam. The air had been perfumed with the incense, but no one was permitted to retrieve any of the wasting elements.
The best quality cinnamon was found on the southwest coast of Ceylon, on a strip of land some twelve to fifteen miles broad, extending from Negombo to Matara. In comparison to coffee, these plots were small, and according to Sir Emerson Tennant, the extent of the five most prestigious gardens found in this area could not have exceeded twenty miles in circumference.
The British that succeeded the Dutch in 1796 inherited this legacy, and maintained it as a state monopoly, under the English East India Company. This move was not without condemnation both from the colonial officers and the local traders.
Colebrooke condemned the cinnamon monopoly and recommended its abolition. He went further to urge the government to sell the cinnamon lands held by them to the private sector, and abolish the monopoly in the belief that the sale of the product would increase. They believed that cinnamon would remain the staple of the country’s economy, and yield substantial revenue to the state, not knowing that the cinnamon trade was on the verge of a steep collapse. The sudden abolition of the governments monopoly, resulted in a drastic reduction in state revenue, and the treasury was compelled to impose an export duty of 3 shillings per pound on cinnamon exported. This made the local product virtually un-saleable in world markets, and this set the seal on the decline of the industry.
The sale of cinnamon lands as recommended by Colebrooke proceeded expeditiously, but the prices realised were well below expectations. During the period 1834 and 1839 over 2,000 acres of abandoned cinnamon lands were sold which were soon converted to coconut and coffee. The sale of productive cinnamon lands in Moratuwa, Kadirana and Ekala commenced in 1840 and were mostly purchased by low-country Sinhalese.
With the entry of the private trade into the cinnamon trade, a strong agitation for the removal of the export duty commenced backed by the Ceylon government, the colonial office and the Board of Trade, but the Treasury did not give way. The relentless decline in prices that followed, forced the Treasury to finally abolish the duty in 1853, but failed to liberate the industry that had gone beyond hope of recovery.
It was at this stage that most local capitalists diverted their attention to the cultivation of other crops such as coconut and coffee. A few plantations however survived as the domain of a few Ceylonese plantation owners and the small holders, but the main trust was for the expansion of coconut cultivation in the coastal areas.
Ceylon is known to have had over twenty fire different types of palms of which the most important are the coconut, palmyrah, areca, kitul or jaggery palm and the talipoy palm. These varieties over the years, have provided sufficient food for the millions and have remained a general purpose commodity for the people of Ceylon and other tropical lands. Percival, an authority on the country’s history, relates that a small ship from the Maldives islands arrived at Galle, which was entirely built, rigged, provisioned, and laden with the product of the coconut palm.
Coconut plantations were seen along the coastal belt when the Dutch arrive in the country, but they in reality encouraged its further expansion along the maritime districts. To the wealthy native mercantile, trading and the industrious class, coconut cultivation was their favourite form of investment. Within the Dutch period, and to a lesser extent during the British term the entire coastal areas were planted with this palm. The coconut palm, together with a piece of cloth and a little rice, supplied most of the wants of the indigenous people. Food, drink, domestic utensils, building material and thatching, wine, sugar and oil are the many gifts this magnanimous tree offers man. No other staple can offer in such proportions the various other products as the coconut tree.
The calamity that struck the coffee industry in the late 1880’s did not in any way affect coconut cultivation instead it gave a further boost for the indigenous estate owners to expand their coconut holdings. Land sales to locals increased two fold and three fold in the north western province during this period in complete contrast to trends elsewhere. It also set in motion a new trend in internal demographic migration, without which this expansion in coconut cultivation could not have taken place. Coconut cultivation in a way demanded less capital than for coffee or tea
It was a common scene to observe coconut trees inter-planted with other trees, From the early 1840’s coconut plantations were opened in the Jaffna Peninsula, and along the eastern coast, mostly by the British capitalists, but the principal agents in this expansion were the Ceylonese from the low country who had acquired wealth mostly through the profits of the coconut trade itself, the arrack trade, the service industries, the timber trade, artisan occupations and from the granite industry. During the 1880’s about 70% of the coconut plantation land in non-European hands were owned by Sinhalese, and about 28% by Ceylon Tamils.
Production of coconut supported a number of rural small industries, besides providing material for a number of domestic needs. Preparation of copra, and the extraction of oil were the most important in terms of employment and capital generated. Arrack, an intoxicating sprit had been in great demand in South India, but what is exported cannot be compared with the large local consumption, which expanded with the increasing wealth of the people, and this habit had been securely established in the island long before the British arrived. This proved a sure source of revenue to the government, and the British had been blamed for having regulated and protected the liquor traffic. The findings are that seven million rupees have been spent by the people of Ceylon on intoxicants, as against a tenth of this amount devoted to education.
Another lucrative business that developed as a result of the coconut palm was trade in coil fibre and oil. The coir fibre turned out from the husk found a ready market in South India. The oil obtained from the kernel of the nut, was freely used as a lubricant, for soap making, and dressing cloths in the European countries. The coconut oil was further used for candle making, and lighting purposes.
During the mid 1850’s there had been over thirty million coconut palms cultivated in the island, covering about 30,000 acres yielding around hundred million nuts per year. The annual export value of coconut products was reckoned at a total figure of about pound sterling 600,000 while the value of the products locally consumed could have been well over half a million sterling per year.
An off shoot of the coconut palm—the palmyrah tree, usually referred to as the jaggery tree, is considered one of the richest plants in the east, and can boast of a life span over 300 years. This palm is especially adoptable to the drier regions of the island, and thrives well in the north and the eastern regions. Edible sections are well sought after and provided food to the many inhabitants in these regions. Its timber is priced for house building purposes
During the 1820’s indigo cultivation was unsuccessfully attempted near Veyangoda in the wet zone lowlands. A more concerted effort was made to cultivate sugar, in keeping with the economic pattern of the West Indies. The emphasis was going to be placed on sugar and coffee as major industries, and cotton and tobacco as subsidiaries. High hopes were entertained for sugar, but it was proved later that the soil was not suitable for the cultivation of sugar. The plantations that were opened up in Negombo, Kalutara, and in the central hills were the first to fold up. The plantations in the Baddegama areas struggled for a little longer, but its fate had been sealed.
Many attempts were made by the British capitalists to strike profitable roots so as to pay for “European Enterprise”, and an attempt was made to promote cotton culture in the more drought-ridden sections of the country. They were tried out in the Eastern Province and in the Jaffna Peninsula, but the results did not prove worthy of confidence, and had to be abandoned.
There after, with most of the attempts at cultivating other crops having failed, the British capital was largely attracted to coffee plantation culture and business concerns, and much lesser extant to coconut cultivation. The indigenous capitalist class on the other hand preferred to try a stake at cultivating coffee and coconut as major investments, but continued to invest in cash crops.
The coffee cultivation initiated by Sir Edward Barnes in the early 1820’s was all concentrated in the central hills, and near the village of Matale. They were the pioneers in every sense of the word learning by trial and error was the only form of guidance accessible to them, as no research had been conducted earlier to determine the correct methods to grow coffee commercially. More often than not, they were faced with economic failures. Very little attention was paid to proper sighting of their properties. They localised their efforts on unsuitable lands at lower elevations, and it took a long time to realise that the best way to guard against failure was to plant coffee at much higher elevations.
From about the mid 1850’s coffee plantations were opened in the forest-clad high elevations in Dimbula, Haputale, and the region around the Adams Peak. The rush for land continued, and by 1860, vast tracts were opened in areas that tea is said to display promise and guarantee success. In the tea world of today, the following planting district names such as Dimbula, Dickoya, Madulsima, Hewa Eliya, Matale East, Sabaragamuwa, Haputale, and Udapussellawa are household words, and it would have been the same in the 1850’s.
The ownership of coffee plantations was largely European but not wholly so. Even as early as 1840’s a handful of Ceylonese capitalists such as Jeronis De Soysa, Alexander Dunuwille, Cornelius Perera, Galagoda Basnayake Nilame, and J P De Silva Karunaratne Muhandiram purchased plantation properties. This catalogue of names should have increased during the later years, as the extent of land holdings of the Ceylonese had risen from 6.4 % during the period 1871-1872 to 7.9 % during the period 1880-1881.
The non-European stake in the coffee industry was considerably exaggerated by the production of coffee in smallholdings. To arrive at an accurate figure with regards to their apportion in the total production of coffee may be difficult, as the official figures pertaining to the locals are not very accurate. It is however indicated that approximately 50,000 acres had been the share of the native coffee growers, and through rough assemble, about 49 per cent of the acreage and 31 per cent of the properties in the Central Province were in the hands of the so called “Natives”.
In 1869, when the future of the coffee industry was well entrenched in the country, and the prospects well assured, there appeared for the first time, an enemy most insignificant on arrival, but in less than a dozen years, was responsible for bringing down the export of this great staple to one-fifth of its extent. Though it appeared as a minute fungus, and new to science, it destroyed an entire industry.
The bright orange spots that were later established as the “Coffee Leaf Disease” that appeared on an estate in a remote corner of Badulla, was treated as a matter of little concern. The sudden increase in the international price of coffee completely eclipsed the gradual decrease in crop intakes.
The insidious leaf disease had been working deadly mischief. When it was found difficult to arrest, the planters had no option but to turn to science. It was found too communicable for arresting, and before long it had spread to coffee districts of India and Java.
Nature in a sense had revenged her-self as she had done in Island, when potatoes threatened to become the universal crop, as well as on extensive wheat fields elsewhere, and on the French vineyards. The chief provocation for this visitation had been the limitation of one crop over vast areas, which had previously been covered with varied vegetation.
King Coffee is dead, we grieve for him
And mourn his short-lived reign
For never shall we hope on earth
To see him again.
Cinchona too once raised our hops
We thought that we really had
A fortune, but to tell the tale
Is very, very sad.
Of how our hopes were dashed to earth
For people will not drink
Quinine all day to make us rich
Unreasonably we think.
And cardamoms need friendly shade
We tried, but oh, the price
Has fallen sadly, and we wish
We’d never grow that spice.
And now queen tea, our eyes are turned
With hopeful gaze of thee,
We look to thee, to bring once more
Our lost prosperity.
Grow sturdy plant, though carest not
For cold or cruel heat,
Soon Kaltura and Pedro’s height
Will bow beneath thy feet.
Grow sturdy plant, our coffers fill
Which long have empty been,
Grow on, we will gladly own
Thee, gentle, gracious queen.
Grow sturdy plant, if thou should fail
to bring us timely aid,
Then must we leave fair Lanka’s isle
Or drop the pine and fade.
The rise of Ceylon as a tea producer is said to be the brightest chapter in the story of private enterprise in the country.
Tea replaced coffee as the staple But in the meantime, two other crops, tea and cinchona were introduced in a small way, with cinchona as the main subsidiary crop. Tea did not turn up among indigenous vegetation, but was imported into the country from India in December 1839. This was about fifteen years after George Bird the island’s planter had opened the first coffee plantation at Sinnapitiya in Gampola.
The government continued to obtain regular consignments of planting material from India. A delivery of 200 plants received in 1841 was tried out in Nuwara Eliya. These “originals” now deeply rooted in our soil, are still reported to be very much alive on Neasby, now a division of Mahagastote plantations. Further delivery of Chinese varieties was planted on Rothschild estate in Pussellawa at about the same time. Another shipment of plants from Assam followed in 1842, and they were planted on Penylan estate in Dolosbage.
Cultivation of tea was carried out on an experimental basis for a further three decades. It remained so until James Taylor on Loolecondera was able to prove that tea could be grown as an alternative plantation crop to coffee, which was by then on its way out. It was to people such as Taylor, who with foresight and grit, were able to start over again, to re-build their fortunes, risking all they had in their efforts to do so. Hidden in statistics is a story of pluck and courage, which could have had few equals elsewhere.
The rugged life of the Ceylon planter had often drawn admiring comments. The legend is that they were not only hardy individuals, also mighty carouses in their leisure. It is said that, in some cases when time and weather had totally destroyed the crude huts in which the planter lived, the only indication of their original site were the mounds of empty bottles left behind.
The rapid expansion of the tea industry was to a great extent assisted by the county’s topography. The island was blessed with two monsoons, the North East and the South West, and the life giving rainfall from these weather systems fall practically without fail on the range of hills in Central and Southern Ceylon.
It is recorded that the bulk of tea planting in the late 1890’s had been centred in Dimbula, Dickoya, Maskeliya, Kelani Valley, Dolosbage, Pussellawa, and Matale districts. In 1892, there were eleven estates of over 1,000 acres in extent. They were Diyagama East, Meddecombra, Spring Valley, Dambatenne, Glen Alpine, North Matale, Pallekelle, Westhall, Great Western, Rothschild, and Lebanon. Of these, Diyagama belonged to the New Dimbula Company, and it was most exclusive with 2,343 acres under revenue. It is probable that Diyagama was the first company owned estate in Ceylon, a fact enshrined in the Tamil name “Company Thotam.”
It is no doubt that the efforts of the British planting community of a century ago were made basically in their interests, but it cannot also be denied that they showed grit, in turning away from a crop that had given them their livelihood for near half century, to focus their confidence and their resources on a plant that had yet to prove itself. Had they not taken these steps, King Coffee would have carried on, despite the blight that eventually ended its reign, and the world would never have known the story of “Ceylon Tea.”
Western world, on the other hand, took a much longer time to brew and test the tea for its medicinal properties. It was not until the !6th Century that teas come to be spoken about, although books had been written on the beneficial effects of tea earlier, based on the favourable comments received from European visitors to the East.
The earliest mention of tea in the literature of Europe dates back to 1559. During the period 1485 to 1557, Venice, due to its geographical position, became the centre of great commercial activity. It became the market place for the conduct of trade between the East and the West. Traders and travellers arriving in Venice were encouraged to tell stories about the habits and the products of the orient that was still concealed.
The first European to taste tea had been the Jesuit priests who went to China and Japan in the sixteenth century to preach Christianity. It was only through the favourable accounts received from the Catholic Missionaries that Europe took notice of this new drink. The first account about tea to reach Europe was from Father Gasper de Cruz in 1560.Italy had the good news from Father Louis Almeida in 1565 and Russia had similar reports in 1567.
They all described the tea plant as a wonder in China and it was reputed as being wholesome. It helped the Chinese and the Japanese to live long years without languor. It protected the drinker from pituitary troubles,
The trade route to the East by way of the Cape of Good Hope was discovered in 1497. The Portuguese who enjoyed a monopoly in trading in the Indies gave way to the Dutch at the end of the sixteenth century. Java became the trading centre for the Dutch East India Company to collect and load homeward cargoes of Oriental cargoes. A shipment of tea undertaken in 1607 from Macao to Java is considered to have been the first lot of this commodity to have been traded by Westerners stationed in the East. The first consignment of this precious cargo to reach the Western World landed in Holland in the year 1610 and this is where the modest start was made to popularise tea in that part of the world.
The entry of tea into England took a longer time. It is recorded that the East India Company in 1664 had purchased 2 pounds 2 ounces of tea and similar quantity in 1666 to be presented to King Charles 11. It had been the tea via Holland that had caught the fancy of the British originally, and with the arrival of Catherine of Braganza in 1661 considered the tea drinking Queen of Charles 11 it became a vogue within the inner circles of the English Courts. In 1669 the British East India Company purchased its first lot of tea to be shipped direct to England -- a precious cargo of 143 pounds purchased in Bantam, Java.
Tea had to compete strongly with Coffee and Alcohol. The temperance movement, Coupled with reduced transport costs caused by the new and fast light tea clippers enabled the tea drinking habit to spread to the large urban proletariat of Briton.
It was in 1657 that Thomas Garraway (popularly known as Garway), taken the bold step to sell tea in Exchange Alley, in central London, by advocating its medical properties. He declared it the “Sovereign remedy for Gravel, Scurvy, loss of memory, loosened or gripping of the guts, and colic proceeding from wind." He even claimed that it guaranteed a good appetite to the corpulent, and if you have had a surfeit of it, is just the thing to give you a gentle vomit. It was the coffee houses that that sold tea, and strangely, it was Garway who pioneered the sale of tea for the first time in London.
The difficult start made in this manner, has made the United Kingdom the greatest and most lasting market for tea in the world. The climb to the top of the beverage popularity list was not a smooth one. So begun the importation of tea to England, and soon tea ships were seen travelling from East to West. With the building up of the oriental trade tea was poised to become as important an item of merchandise as spices and silks. In 1660 the British Government like all others that acknowledged good things placed a tax on tea.
Certainly, the rising consumption of tea, runs parallel to the rising prosperity of a society in any country. Unlike previously, when the liquid intake of the human being was supplied by intoxicants of varying strengths resulting in the general efficiency being impaired. In this regard Briton was no exception to the rule. The Seventh Duke of Bedford deserves all the credit for having promoted the tea drinking habit in England. It is well established today. The burden of refreshing the inhabitants of the Western world in particular, is chiefly borne by tea. It was no doubt the aristocracy that made tea drinking a noble pastime, but its mass popularity stemmed from it being classified as a health giving drink
From about 1840 onwards, The English commercial class had to deal with an increasing Sino-centric China. They were unwilling to expand the supply of tea except in return for bullion. Influenced by mercantilist theory, British merchants sought to conserve their gold, they first fed the Indian grown opium into the Chinese market, and when this failed, they had no option but to cultivate the tea plant elsewhere in Britain’s Asian colonies.
The British could boast of having enjoyed centuries of familiarity with the tealeaf, but they were for long, in considerable ignorance over the plant from which the tea was made. They were used to Chinese greens and Chinese blacks, but they did not realise that there was only one species of the tea plant -- Camellia Sinensis. It took still a longer time for them to perceive that a very distinctive variety of the species was growing wild in the Indian territories.
It was the adverse balance of trade with China, which revolved round tea that prompted them to start on their own tea industry. Although a star was made as early as 1764 to obtain planting material from China, their ambition to grow their own tea was obstructed by lethargy. It was the termination of the East India Company’s monopoly of the Chinese trade that the Indian Government with all assistance from Britain took up the challenge and initiated competition in the planting of tea.
With the termination of the monopoly held by the East India Company in 1833, the task of providing tea to the British public devolved on the local merchants. The only tea available to them was the more expensive Chinese. With restricted imports coupled with high taxes, it became prohibitive to a large proportion of the population to indulge in the tea drinking habit.
The government at that stage, was compelled to encourage free competition in order to bring tea prices within reach of the masses. The outcome was overwhelming, and, within ten years of the termination of the contract, consumption rose to a total of 53,000,000 pounds, and by 1929, this figure had reached 560,000,000 pounds, which is a more than a 1000% increase.
The earliest entrepreneurs to penetrate the hill country were the low country traders, the renters, and the artisans. The more enterprising types established their trading empires in the Kandyan district, and other parts of the hill country. There were the others who dominated the commercial activities in the Moraweka Korale and other southern planting districts, where new business opportunities were flourishing.
During the frontier days, there were a few others who established trading connections in Trincomalee and Batticaloa. There was also a small group of enterprising traders, mostly from the Southern Province who went further. They set sail across the seas, in search of new opportunities, in the fast developing commercial ports such as Dar-Es-Salaam, Motubara, Aden, Bombay, Penang, Singapore, and Hong Kong. They took their risks, in these distant trading posts, as hawkers, bum boatmen, lace and curio traders, jewellers and traders. Some of them offered stiff competition to well-established Moor in jewellery and gem trade. The two most famous families from the Southern district to achieve a great measure of success in foreign lands were B.P.de Silva and Company and H.H.M.de Silva and Company. The former is still a household name in Malaysia.
It is said that it was the low country Sinhalese who virtually captured all the opportunities that the fast developing economy of the country had to offer .It was very likely that one could locate a low country at the helm of any flourishing commercial venture. This was mainly due to the influence of foreign powers that ruled the Maritime Provinces prior to British rule.
Before the advent of European powers, Ceylon occupied a strategic position in the Inter-Asian trade in commodity exchange. The island had in abundance such commodities as arecanuts, cinnamon, elephants, gems, timber, coconut oil, coir tobacco, and many other items of commercial importance. At that stage the sea was considered the best medium for bulk transport. The availability of a network of harbours at strategic points all along the sea cost, facilitated the free movement of goods. In the North there were well-fortified harbours in Mannar Kalpitiya, and Jaffna. On the Eastern side, Kottiyar, and Batticaloa provided a safe anchorage. The west cost had always been a hive of activity, and was well garrisoned against the monsoons. There were sufficient safe harbours, on the western side of the island. Puttalam, Chilaw, Kammala, Negombo, Mutwal, Colombo, Panadura, Kalutara, Maggona, Beruwala, Aluthgama, Gintota, Galle, Weligama, and Matara, to provided all the facilities for local produce to be exchanged for imported items found necessary for the local inhabitants.
The imported goods thus obtained at these various ports had to be distributed within the island, and the export commodities collected from the interior had to be transported to the ports. These functions remained the monopoly of the low country Sinhalese. The Kandyan areas served as a ready market for cloth, fish, salt, opium, arrack, coconuts, and coconut oil. These articles were in turn exchanged for paddy, and other varieties of grain, arecanuts, cardamoms, and tobacco. During the latter stages, spices became an item of exchange. Arrack became an important item of merchandise. Large quantities were exported to India, and still larger quantities were required as a trading commodity in the hills. The growth in demand for arrack meant, that the low country coconut property holders were able to generate larger profits from the distillation of arrack. This opportunity however did not come the way of the up-country Sinhalese, as they did not own coconut properties. It was for this reason, that the coastal belt from Puttalam to Galle, and beyond, continuous to remain a coconut grove, where much of the arrack and toddy distilling takes place.
Another lucrative business that remained exclusively in the hands of the low country Sinhalese was the catching, drying and sale of fish to the interior. Dried fish, pickled fish, or salted fish, remained the standard diet of the plantation workers from South India, labour gangs on construction sites, and for solders on security operations in strategic areas in the country. Dried fish was a commodity frequently sought after by the people in the central hills, and their needs were served by the Sinhalese and Moor traders.
The low country Sinhalese by virtue of their regular union with the outside world, being the occupants of the Maritime Provinces, were the first recipients to obtain a stake in the fast developing economy of the country. Building of fortresses at strategic points received high priority during this period and there was a boom in the construction trade. This provided the low country Sinhalese a further opportunity to enhance their wealth. They became contractors, and suppliers of building material, and these newly acquired occupations assisted them to make inroads to unknown areas.
The 19th century, played a very vital role in rising and at the same time shattering many favoured hopes among many imperial capitalists, and Ceylon was no exception. During the early part of the century, coffee proved a money spinner, and with the expectations running high, the government did not hesitate to allocate extensive areas for clearing and planting. Between 1830 and 1900 over 1-5 million acres of crown land had been sold for agricultural development, primary to British interests.
In the first rush to grow coffee, the lands belonging to the Kandyan villages were untouched. Later in the century, when the coffee industry reached boon conditions most of the forest and chena land held communally by the villages were swallowed up in plantations. .This practice continued up to the first decade of the 20th century,
Colonial laws affecting land have been highly criticised for virtually confiscating land from illiterate and helpless people. The Crown Lands Encroachment Ordinance of 1840 and the Waste Lands Ordinance of 1897 has been censured as legalising rampant exploitation. In this climate of might being right, the pace of oppression continued. The plantations however proved an instrument of modernisation.
Whatever the ethics involved, The British land developers invested their capital in the country, only with the intention of making a profit. It now appears that land had been acquired at and unfair prices. Plantations had been developed without consideration of the ecological disturbance that followed the denuding of primeval forests. The loss of mountainous top-soil, and the silting-up of rivers and low laying paddy lands have been attributed today to the indiscriminate felling of jungle that followed the coffee era. It must however be remembered that the plantations proved the means through which the feudal economy of the country was transformed into a modernising economy, and brought into the global orbit of exchange
From about 1830 it was coffee that remained the corner stone and life blood of the country. For the next 50 years coffee remained the “king “of the countries economy, and during this period over 300,000 acres had been cleared and planted. Coffee exports from about 250 plantations reached the peak figure of one hundred million hundred weight in 1870.
During the early years of the coffee industry, transport and communication was, in the main, one of subsistence nature. Generous allocation of land, which opened the plantation sector had to be provided with transport and communication facilities for its successful growth. The records of those times, show that while plantations expanded and production increased, it took a bullock cart thirty to forty days to make a return journey to Colombo. Letters were often obsolete before they reached their addresses. One posted in Galle, for instance took almost a year to reach London. The emergence of our integrated national economy may, therefore, be attributed to the impact of road development, under colonial rule. The construction of a network of roads and railways was motivated basically by a desire to reach potential agricultural resources.
The coffee industry reached the peak of its prosperity in 1870. Plantation began to work more economically thereafter, and prices improved from 27 shillings per cwt to 41 shillings in 1850. The quantity exported also increased from 378,473cwts in 1850 to 506,540 cwts in 1855 and during the peak performance exports reached the million marks. Correspondingly, revenue from the sale of coffee also increased from Pounds Sterling 609,263 to Pounds Sterling 1,025,282 in 1855. It virtually doubled to Pounds Sterling 2,753,282 in 1870.
Between 1832, when the Colombo-Kandy road was completed, and 1886when the Colombo harbour breakwater was finalised, the government had undertaken a massive programme of road, rail and urban development in the plantations' areas. Further opening of the humid interior under coffee, spurred the construction of many feeder roads. The need for speedy transport of produce and inputs led initially to the carving out of cart roads through thick vegetation. These were followed by metalled roads, and ultimately by the construction of the railway.
It was a change in the military strategy initiated by Sir Edward Barnes, who was the Governor of Ceylon from 1820 to 1830 that set the stage for an early start in the construction of roads in the country. The construction of fortresses as a means of maintaining the British hold on Ceylon, did not meet with his approval. Instead, he constructed a link road to Kandy along which troops could move faster. Further, most military posts were situated in malaria infested areas. This was considered a deadly disease and many soldiers died as a result.
The first railway of strategic importance, that from Colombo to Kandy, was opened shortly before the coffee era gave way to tea. Many interesting stories are woven around the event.
According to Sydney Bailey, construction work began in 1858, the estimated cost being just over Pounds Sterling 800,000. It was soon clear that this figure was a little more than an extremely bad guess. The Chief Engineer in charge of construction thought that it would cost over Pounds Sterling 2,200,000. This caused a stir and the project was abandoned. It was re-started in 1863, with strict control on outlay and expenditure. The final cost was Pounds Sterling 1,750,000.
The construction of the Colombo/Kandy road is also steeped in legend. .There was an ancient prophecy amongst the Kandyans that whoever pierced the rock on the final ascent to the pass and made a road from the planes, would receive the Kandyan Kingdom as the reward. The Portuguese failed, and so were the Dutch. The prophecy was finally fulfilled by the British who pierced the rock and build the road to Kandy. The road through the Kadugannawa pass remains a monument to the untiring efforts of the British.
Another landmark on the road to Kandy that deserves special mention is the bridge built at Peradeniya in 1831, spanning the Kelani Ganga, the fourth longest river in the country. .It was constructed entirely of satinwood without the use of a single nail or bolt. The entire massive woodwork had been dovetailed together. The great strength of the stone buttresses and their foundations on each side was undoubtedly the key to its long life. Following the prosperity of the coffee industry the following principal cart roads were opened to the public:--
Colombo being the administrative and commercial capital of Ceylon, it naturally became the focal point from where all roads radiated.
With the transformation from coffee to tea, which came about sooner than expected, the need to further strengthen the network of roads became an urgent necessity. All cart roads that took the bulk of traffic was macadamised. The experience gained from pioneer road builders in England such as Metcalfe, Telford, and macadam was put to great use.
The following information only goes to prove that the railway had obviously followed the planter. For those who came in later, there was always the facility of the railway within close range. Railway stations became centres for transport of tea. The most important of them was Hatton, which served a wide planting area.
Acres | Year | Railway to |
---|---|---|
1,083 | 1873 | Gampola |
1,750 | 1874 | Nawalapitiya |
70,000 | 1884 | Hatton |
273,000 | 1893 | Haputale |
305,000 | 1894 | Bandarawela |
380,000 | 1894 | Nuwara Eliya and Ragalla |
400,000 | 1924 | Badulla |
Villiers vividly describes the expansion of the railway and the costs involved and how the project was finally financed.
“It is not surprising to find that in that year (1856) a public meeting was held in Kandy praying for the construction of a railway between Colombo and Kandy, which was estimated to cost Pounds Sterling 2,315,000 more than double Captain Moorsom’s outside limit for the work. In 1859 the Legislative Council resolved by a majority of 10 to 5, that if the company could not complete the railway for Pounds Sterling 1,500,000 the contract should be annulled. In 1862, the Legislative Council sanctioned the acceptance of a contract with Mr Faviell to construct the railway at a cost of Pounds Sterling 873,039. The railway from Colombo to Ambepussa was opened in October 1856, and the first train from Colombo arrived in Kandy on April 26th 1867. The line was opened to the general traffic in August that year.
Approaches to individual property's ware developed largely by means of a system of grant-in-aid roads, whereby estates contributed half the cost of constructing the roads, as well as half the annual cost of maintaining them. It is to the owners of coffee estates therefore, that we are indebted for our present means of transport particularly in the hill country.
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