air acting on the tea through any holes which might exist in the lead.  The box is then nailed, removed to the godown, papered, stamped, and numbered.  It is then ready for sale.

From what I have just stated, it will be perceived that box makers and sheet lead makers are essential to form a complete tea establishment.  With reference to the box making it is unnecessary for me to make any remark, further than that care is to be taken in selecting wood for making boxes, as it ought to be free of all smell.  All coniferous (pine) woods are therefore unfit for the purpose.  In the hills the best woods are toon and walnut, and at Deyrah the saul (Shorea Robusta).

Manufacture of sheet lead.—­Sheet lead making is a much more complicated process, and therefore requires more consideration.  To make sheet lead, the manufacturer mixes 11/2 to 3 seers of block tin with a pucka maund of lead, and melts them together in a cast metal pan.  On being melted, the flat stone slabs, under which it is his intention to run the lead, are first covered with ten or twelve sheets of smooth paper (the hill paper being well adapted to the purpose), which are pasted to the sides, and chalked over.  He then places the under stone in a skeleton frame of wood, to keep it firm, and above it the other stone.  On the upper stone the manufacturer sits, and gently raises it with his left hand, assisted by throwing the weight of his body backwards.  With his right hand he fills an iron ladle with the molten matter, throws it under the raised slab, which he immediately compresses and brings forward (it having been placed back, and thus overlapping the under slab by about half an inch) with his own weight.  On doing so, the superabundant lead issues in front and at both sides; what remains attached to the slabs is removed by the iron ladle.  The upper slab is now lifted, and the sheet of lead examined.  If it is devoid of holes it is retained; if, on the other hand, there are several, which is generally the case with the first two or three sheets run, or until the slabs get warm, it is again thrown back to the melting pan.  After having run off a series of sheets the slabs are to be examined, and, if the paper is in the least burnt, the first sheet is to be removed, and the one underneath taking its place, and thus securing an uniform smooth surface, is then to be chalked.  According to the size of the stone slabs used, so is the size of the sheet lead.  Those now in use are 16 inches square by 2 inches in thickness, and are a composition, being principally formed of lime.

To make sheet lead boxes, a model one of wood (a little smaller than the box for which the lead is intended) is formed, which has a hole in the bottom, and a transverse bar of wood to assist in lifting it up, instead of a lid.  The lead is then shaped on this model and soldered.  This being done, the model is removed by the transverse