HORTICULTURAL MISSION TO CHINA. 



215 



great value in China, owing to the very bad varie- 

 ties of both apples and pears which the Chinese at 

 present possess. 



" The voyage out was too much like others of 

 the same kind to aflFord much worthy of notice, 

 until we reached the beautiful islands in the Java 

 sea. The vessel anchored abreast of the village 

 of Anger, in Java, for the purpose of procuring a 

 supply of water and other fresh provisions; and 

 during the time required for this purpose I gladly 

 availed myself of the opportunity of going on 

 shore. Here I found the fine new variety of Den- 

 drobium secundum, which I afterwards sent home, 

 and which has been given away to several of the 

 Fellows of the Societj^. 



" Having a fair monsoon up the China sea, we 

 arrived at Macao in a fortnight after leaving Java. 

 The first view we had of the shores of this cele- 

 brated country was far from promising. The is- 

 lands which lie scattered over this part of the sea, 

 as well as the shores of the main land, have a most 

 bleak and barren appearance. Granite rocks are 

 seen every where protruding through the soil, and 

 rearing their heails above the scanty vegetation. 

 The soil of the hills is a reddish clay, containing 

 Very little vegetable matter, and is mixed with 

 portions of the granite in a decaying state, and 

 generally has a cracked and burnt appearance. It 

 is of course a little richer in the ravines and val- 

 leys, where the best portions are annually washed 

 down by the rains; but even here it is far from 

 being good soil, at least what would be consider- 

 ed as such in England. 



" When I landed at Hong Kong, my letters of 

 introduction, both from the government and from 

 private individuals, procured me many friends, 

 who were most anxious to forward the views of 

 the Society. Messrs. Dent & Co., in particular, 

 not only gave me a room in their house, but placed 

 their gardens at Macao and Hong Kong entirely at 

 my service, giving me leave to take from them 

 any plant I might wish to send to England, and to 

 use them for depositing any of my collections in, 

 until an opportunity occurred of sending them 

 home. 



" As soon as I was fairly clear of the ship, I be- 

 gan my researches upon our island of Hong Kong, 

 then in its infancy as a British settlement. This 

 island is a chain of mountains, 1800 or 2000 feet 

 high, sloping in a rugged and unequal manner on 

 each side, down to the sea. It is about ten miles 

 in length, from east to west; in some places three, 

 in othp.rs five in breadth, and contains very little 

 level ground capable of cultivation. In its gene- 

 ral features and sterility, it is exactly the same as 

 I have already noticed with regard to the other por- 

 tions of this part of the Chinese empire. 



There are few trees of any size to be met with 

 on the island, except those kinds, such as Mangos, 

 Lee-chucs, Longans, Wampees, Guavas, and other 

 well known things, which are planted and reared 

 in some of the most fertile spots for the sake of 

 their fruit. Pinus sinensis is met with every 

 where on the hill sides, but it never attains any 

 size, pnrtly owing to the sterility of the soil, and 

 partly to the practice which the Chinese have of j 

 lopping off its under branches yearly for firewood. ' 



Several species of Lagerstroemia are met with, 

 both wild and in gardens, and are so ornamental 

 when in bloom, that they always reminded me of 

 our own beautiful Hawthorn. The Screw Pine 

 (Pandamts odoratissimus) and two or three well 

 known species of Palm, are met with on the low 

 land near the sea. As we ascend, the hill sides and 

 ravines become rich in Melastomas, Lycopodiums, 

 Ferns, Phaius grandifolius, and several other fa- 

 miliar orchideous plants. It is a curious fact, how- 

 ever, that all the fine flowering plants which we 

 admire so much in England, are found high up on 

 the hills. The Azaleas, Enkianthus, and Clema- 

 tises, for example, generally choose situations 

 from 1500 to 1800 feet above the level of the sea. 



" After three weeks of hard labor and exposure 

 under a July sun, both on the islands and main land 

 in this part of China, I was forced to come to the 

 conclusion at last, that the south had been too 

 much ransacked by former botanists to j'ield now 

 much that was really new, and at the same time 

 ornamental. Two or three good plants, however, 

 to a certain extent, repaid me for my labor, and 

 these reached England alive a few months after 

 this time. Their names are Chirita sinensis, Arun- 

 dina sinensis, Spathoglottis fortuni, and a curious 

 dwarf Lycopodium, which is like a tree fern in 

 miniature. 



" The heat at this time was very great, the ther- 

 mometer frequently standing at 92o F. in the shade, 

 and 140o when exposetl to the sun; but even this 

 was nothing when compared with those sensations 

 which every foreigner in Hong Kong feels from 

 the dry and heated air, probably caused by the ab- 

 sence or scarcity of trees antl shrubs. 



"Having completed my researches for the sea- 

 son at Hong Kong, I left the island on the 30th of 

 August, and proceeded to Canton and Macao. At 

 Canton, the principal objects of attraction in a bo- 

 tanical way are the gardens of the Hong merchants, 

 and the celebrated collections at a place called 

 Fa-tee. The latter are simply nursery gardens, 

 where plants are grown and exposed for sale. 

 Many beautiful species, almost all natives of the 

 south of China, are met with in these gardens, 

 which, however, possess little that is really new 

 or unknown in England. I believe the only plants 

 of any value which I was able to introduce to this 

 country, from the gardens of Canton and Macao, 

 were the Fingered Citron, the true Mandarin 

 Orange, and the striking and beautiful Camellia 

 hexangularis. 



" I now determined to proceed immediately to 

 the northern provinces, as soon as I could fiml a 

 vessel in which I could engage a passage. I sailed 

 on the 23d of August, and after visiting the island 

 of Namoa, and some others of less note on the 

 way up, I reached Araoy on the 3it of September. 

 To my disappointment, this jiart of China was even 

 more sterile and barren than that in the province 

 of Canton. The island of Koolnngsoo, then in the 

 hands of the Ilritish, is diviiled from Amoy by a 

 narrow arm of the sea. From the number of pretty 

 houses and gardens, which were found upon it 

 when taken hy our tro'ops, there can he no doubt 

 that it was here where the rich and gay among the 

 Amoy merchants had their country and family re- 



