Note 3 — Chapter XXVII · THE SIBERIAN FRONTIER AT KIAKHTA.

When crossing the Pacific I fell in with a tea merchant homeward bound from China, and from him I gathered that three-fourths of the Russian trade is done in medium and common teas, such as are sold in London in bond from 1s. 2d. down to 8d. per English pound, exclusive of the home duty. The remaining fourth of their trade includes some of the very best teas grown in the Ning Chow districts—teas which the Russians will have at any price, and for which, in a bad year, they may have to pay as much as 3s. a pound in China, though in ordinary years they cost from 2s. upwards. The flowery Pekoe, or blossom tea, costs also about 3s. in China.