Dr. Cantor on the Flora and Fauna of Chusan. 26? 



ance ; a crowded population manifested itself in the cultivation 

 of every spot which by art of man could be forced to admi- 

 nister to the first necessities of life. To meet the demand of 

 an over-population, every inch of ground is laid under contri^ 

 bution for the greatest possible amount of produce ; in fact, 

 industry has increased the original arable land in the rich al- 

 luvial valleys by transforming the naked sides of the hills, co- 

 vered in many places by a barely one^foot-deep crust of dis- 

 integrated rock, into cultivated terraces. The highest hill at 

 Chusan is not above 1800 feet above the level of the sea; the 

 rest are of a much less elevation, and admit in most places of 

 terrace-cultivation to their summit. 



Position and climate warrant us, as before observed, to draw 

 the inference, that Chusan in its fauna and flora cannot ori- 

 ginally have differed materially from the opposite main-land, 

 though the absence of rivers, lakes, and lastly forests, cannot 

 but greatly influence either ; in other words, the same animal 

 and vegetable productions may be presumed to exist in the 

 neighbouring regions of the continent, but with greater va- 

 riety in forms and in numbers, inasmuch as both are affected 

 by the presence or absence of rivers, lakes, and forests. To 

 which should be added another consideration, the changes 

 which the original physical aspect of a country must undergo 

 by cultivation. Thus it may be assumed, that Chusan may 

 afford a criterion of the fauna and flora of the neighbouring 

 regions of China, but only to a limited extent. 



In the cultivation at Chusan rice holds the first rank, and of 

 that there seem to be two varieties; one cultivated in the valleys 

 by the aid of irrigation, another on the heights, where the pro- 

 tracted periodical falls of i%in afford a substitute for the art dis- 

 played by the Chinese agriculturist. During our first occu^ 

 pation of Chusan the rice-harvest commenced in the end of 

 August, but soon after a new crop was observed to spring up 

 between the drills or ridges of the old, which, irrigated partly 

 by the celebrated water-wheels, and partly by the subsequent 

 heavy showers of rain, seemed to promise another harvest be- 

 fore the setting-in of the winter season. The amount of the 

 produce is such as to enable the inhabitants to dispose of a 

 vast surplus, and this is the chief staple commodity, which is 

 exported either as paddy or converted into " sam-shoo,^^ a 

 spirituous liquor distilled from rice. To judge by the number 

 of distilleries and the quantity of samshoo in store at Ting-hae, 

 it would seem that the city exports the greater quantity of rice 

 converted into that commodity. All other kinds of grain oc- 

 cupy a secondary rank, such as Holcus Sorghum (Barbadoes 



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