252 Mr. R. Swinhoe on the Birds 



beach. The shores of the bay are very much indented, and 

 form quite a number of subordinate bays. The bay is bovmded 

 by two long peninsulas that stretch out like horns from the 

 main land and converge towards the entrance of the harbour. 

 The average breadth of each of these peninsulas may be 4 or 5 

 miles. The centre of each is occupied by a range of rocky hills 

 consisting of stratified limestone and clay, of what the geologists 

 would call a ^' metamorphic formation." In these rocks large 

 quantities of granite occur, and the scratches and broad lines 

 on the slabs of softer limestone give plain indications of the 

 grinding influence of giant glaciers during the long-past " glacial 

 period." Water is scarce and chiefly procured from wells, but 

 a few trickling streams may be discovered stealing down the 

 depths of the chasms and ravines that wash the sides of the 

 hills. The villages are mostly small and cluster in chosen spots 

 round streams or wells, but scarce any bear the stamp of later 

 date than 80 or 100 years, judging from the growth of the 

 trees planted in their neighbourhood ; for, with the exception 

 of such trees, sylvan vegetation is unknown there, though the 

 hills are covered with verdure and off'er a rich gathering to the 

 botanist. You would naturally expect to meet here Mantchu- 

 rians, considering the province generally marked down as part 

 of Mantchuria ; but not so, the natives (who are stout and 

 brawny-looking fellows, though uncouth and boorish) report 

 themselves as colonists from the Chinese provinces of Shantung 

 and Shanse. They live in strongly-built huts composed of stone 

 and mud, with thatched roofs ; but the internal economy of their 

 dwellings is fearfully neglected and slovenly, and all kinds of 

 vermin abound. It is a strange fact that these people do not 

 drink tea, using instead a decoction of millet. Opium, on the 

 contrary, has found its way among them ; and not a few have 

 fallen victims to its ravages. Their language is a vulgar patois 

 of the court dialect. Bearded corn, coarse millet, maize, beans, 

 potatoes (the true English potatoe is eaten there, boiled as a deli- 

 cacy with sugar), form the chief crops in summer. The climate 

 even at this late season was never hot, a nice fresh breeze always 

 blowing from the sea; and such delightful evenings ! Strange 

 to say, birds were scarce ; for what particular reasons I could not 



