Thea. | THE HIMALAYAN MOUNTAINS. 117 
afterwards met with hilly country, as well as with the tea-plant, it is necessary to 
notice both, and more in detail than we have done above. Lord Macartney’s embassy 
found a chain of granite mountains extending southwards from Hang-cheu-foo, about 
lat. 30° 20’, on each side of the river Che-tang-chaung, along which they proceeded 
after issuing from the grand canal. Here they found the large-leafed chestnut, and 
the towering larch; the purple-leafed tallow-tree growing near, and the shining- 
leafed camphor-tree further from the water, with 7hwya orientalis in the valleys. About 
lat. 29° 40’ the banks receded from the river, and were chiefly cultivated with sugar- 
cane in the neighbourhood of groves of orange-trees. About this part of the route 
they were supplied with grapes, oranges, apples, pears, chestnuts, walnuts, pome- 
granates, melons, and a kind of date, as well as the Chinese fruits see-chee (Diospyros), 
and lee-chee (Euphoria). On the sides of the hills, pines were met with, and on the 
sides and tops of earthen embankments, dividing the gardens and groves of oranges, the 
tea-plant was first seen growing like a common shrub, and along with it the ot/-plant or 
Camellia oleifera. 
Lord Amherst’s embassy having taken the direct route to Canton, proceeded up the 
Yang-tse-kiang first to Nankin, and then along the sides of the Poyang lake, to 
Nan-chang-foo, where the two routes united. In the neighbourhood of Nankin they 
found the country become hilly, fir-trees were first seen, and the cultivation of the 
mulberry and tallow-trees with that of rice and cotton. Near that town Dr. Abel found 
Rosa Banksiana, Cotyledon spinosa, Hamamelis chinensis, and Ficus repens abundant, 
as well as Pinus chinensis (Pinus Massoniana, Abel), with Salisburia adiantifolia. Near 
Tatung, about lat. 31°, which they reached on the 2d of November, where the country 
was hilly and picturesque, the chief interest was owing to the plants. The tallow- 
tree was abundant, and the éea-plant was first seen; the barometer on the river stood 
about 30.13°; but on the hills close to it five species of oak were found, among them 
Quercus densifolia and chinensis, dwarf chestnuts, and among the many ferns Pteris 
piloselloides. Much ginger was.also grown here. A few days’ further progress brought 
them to the confines of the. province of Keang-see ; near this they found the tea-plant 
cultivated on the hills, which also. abounded with oaks and fir-trees; and near the banks 
of the river there was extensive cultivation of rice, cotton, and bamboos. 
The province of Keang-see, which in its northern parts is flat, full of rivers and 
marshes, and in winter has a mean temperature of 60° (Enc. Metrop. Art. China) the 
embassy traversed along the borders of the Poyang lake, of which the neighbourhood is 
hilly, and covered with plantations of oaks and firs, to which were now added Cunning- 
hamia sinensis (Pinus lanceolata), and Abelia chinensis. There were considerable quantities 
of the tallow, varnish, and camphor-trees. At Nan-kang-foo, situated about lat. 295°, 
at the foot of a lofty mountain, of which the top was covered with snow, which melted 
next day, pines were seen at the greatest elevation. The barometer on the river 
stood at about thirty inches, so that the neighbouring country must be about the level 
of the sea, and the banks were covered with rice, cotton, and bamboo, and with them were 
cultivated 
