2 DR. H. F. HANCE ON THE SOURCE OF THE 
when it is borne in mind that many vegetable products shipped 
from Canton come from distant parts of the empire, and pass 
through a number of hands before they reach those of the native 
merchants, and that these latter are quite incapable of compre- 
hending the interest attaching to the solution of a doubtful scien- 
tific point, or of troubling themselves about what seem to them 
matters of aimless and puerile curiosity. Those who have tried 
know well how difficult it is to get reliable information from the 
natives, who will frequently invent answers, rather than seem 
ignorant, and are especially prone to reply in the affirmative to 
direct or leading questions, as if they supposed the object of an 
inquirer was rather to obtain the confirmation of his own views 
than to elicit the truth. 
In November 1867 I had the opportunity of making a visit— 
at the invitation of, and in company with, the Commissioner of 
Maritime Customs at Canton—to the Island of Haenan. During 
this excursion, and while at anchor off Pak-sha, a fishing-village 
on the south coast of Kwangtung, about seventeen miles from, 
and rather to the east of Hoi-haú, on the north coast of Haenan, 
we landed, and some of the party went about six miles inland to 
a ruinous walled city named Hoi-on; but, being slightly indis- 
posed, I preferred botanizing over the low hills near the coast. 
On their return, Mr. Sampson, who was one of the party, in- 
formed me that they had seen a large quantity of what he took 
for ginger (but which he described as bearing the inflorescence 
on the leafy stems) under cultivation; and another gentleman 
produced—asking if I knew what it was—some pieces of rhizome, 
of which quantities had been passed, exposed to the sun in shal- 
low bamboo baskets to dry. This I immediately identified as 
Galangal; and as some inquiries made of a linguist who had 
accompanied them left no doubt that the rhizome belonged to 
the plant seen growing, I had the mortification of knowing that 
the true Galangal plant had been met with, and no specimens 
obtained, whilst our arrangements did not admit of further 
delay. 
Fortunately, however, at the close of the year, another expe- 
From this table it would appear that the demand for Galangal is increasing ; 
but I cannot explain why the export of a product of the extreme south of 
China should be transferred from Canton (the nearest port) to Shanghae, si- 
tuated 8° further north. 
