220 MR. FORTUNE'S VISIT TO CHINA, 



flower in order that I might have an opportunity of seeing their 

 colours. One morning, however, as I was going out into the 

 country, a short distance from Shanghae, I was surprised by meet- 

 ing a countryman with a load of Moutans in full bloom. The 

 flowers were very large and fine, and the colours were dark 

 purples, lilacs, and deep reds, kinds of which the very existence 

 was always doubted in England, and which are never seen at 

 Canton. Dr. Lockhart, an excellent Chinese scholar, being 

 with me at the time, we soon found out the name of the Moutan 

 district ; and from the state of the roots in the man's basket, I 

 was quite certain that the plants had not been more than an hour 

 or two out of the ground, and that therefore the distance from 

 Shanghae could not exceed six or eight miles, a surmise which 

 we afterwards found to be perfectly correct. This was doubtless 

 the place where my nursery friend had procured his plants in 

 the autumn before, and where he would have gone again had I 

 not been lucky enough to find that I could easily go there myself. 

 Indeed I afterwards discovered that there was no Moutan country 

 in the vicinity of Soo-chou, having met a man from that place 

 in the Shanghae district, where he had come for the express 

 purpose of buying Tree Paeonies to take home. I was now out 

 in the Moutan district daily during the time the different plants 

 were coming into bloom, and secured some most striking and 

 beautiful kinds for the Horticultural Society. 



Several very distinct and beautiful Azaleas were added to my 

 collections during this summer at Shanghae, as well as many 

 other plants of an ornamental character which have not yet 

 been described. Many of these things are expected to prove 

 hardy enough to thrive in the open air in this country, and 

 others will make excellent plants for the greenhouse. My re- 

 searches this year were extended for some distance into the 

 interior, which is intersected in all directions by canals — in fact 

 the canals in the North of China are the highways of the country, 

 and the boats are the carriages. The heat during the months 

 of July and August was very oppressive, the thermometer fre- 

 quently standing at 100° Fahr. in the shade. 



In the autumn, after the seeds which I had marked were ripe, 

 I got my collections 'together and sailed for Hong Kong, in 

 order to make my shipments for England. These consisted of 

 21 glazed cases of living plants, and 1 bag of seeds, which were 

 sent home in four different vessels. Many of the plants were of 

 course duplicates of the best species which were shipped in the 

 spring of the same year, but a number of them were now sent 

 for the first time. Amongst the latter the following may be 

 noticed as arriving in England alive for the first time: — 



