THE PRINCIPAL TIMBER TREES 19 



lacquered a shiqing jet-black. But the more expensive 

 coffins are those in which each Ho-pan is hewn from a single 

 log of timber, and the most valuable of all are those made 

 from Hsiang Mu (fragrant wood), or Yin-chen Mu (long- 

 buried wood). For such a coffin 400 to 1000 ounces of silver 

 is the usual price. For the most part, Yin-chen Mu comes 

 from the Chiench'ahg Valley, where it was probably engulfed 

 as the result of an earthquake in times past. In 1904 I 

 ascended the Tung Valley from Fulin to Moshi-mien, en route 

 for Tachienlu, and near the hamlet of Wan-tung came upon 

 a place where natives were engaged in excavating buried 

 timbers. The work was being carried on in a narrow valley. 

 At the head of the valley a torrent had been dammed up 

 and the accumulated waters, released at will from time to 

 time through a sluice, carried much of the overlying debris 

 away. Many of the excavations were fully 50 feet deep. 

 All sorts of timber is found buried in this place, but only 

 the " Hsiang Mu " (fragrant wood) is considered of value. I 

 procured a specimen of this wood, and subsequent microscopic 

 examination has proved it to be that of C. lanceolata. The 

 Chinese consider that these trees have been buried for 

 two or three hundred years. The timber is wonderfully 

 preserved and is more compact in texture and more fragrant 

 than that of recently felled trees. Ho-pans made from 

 " Hsiang Mu " average about 30 inches wide and 7 feet in 

 length. In all my travels in Western China I have seen 

 only one living specimen of Cunninghamia approaching to 

 the size of these long-buried giants. 



In Chengtu and neighbouring cities, the timber known as 

 " Lien sha," derived from Ahies Delavayi and allied species, is 

 generally employed for all the larger beams, pillars, and planking 

 in house-building. This handsome Silver Fir [Abies Delavayi) 

 is common on all the higher mountains of the west, but that 

 growing in the Yachou prefecture is most accessible, and this 

 district is the main source of the timber-suppty. The timber is 

 soft and not very durable, but the large size of the logs render 

 it most serviceable. The Pine [Sung shu) is very common, the 

 most widely distributed species being Pinus Massoniana. This 

 tree ascends from sea-level to 4000 feet altitude. The timber 



