IN QUEST OF FLOWERS 29 



much of the scenery being rugged and grand. The cHffs of hard 

 hmestone are usually 500 feet or more sheer, and are the home 

 of Goral and other animals, and also of many cliff-loving plants. 

 In the crevices and niches the Chinese Primrose {Primula 

 sinensis) finds its home, but the flowers were past and the 

 flower-stems all bent towards the cliffs to ensure the seeds being 

 deposited in the rock crevices. This plant is the parent of 

 our greenhouse Primulas, and in February and early March 

 the cliffs present a wonderful picture, being covered with 

 colonies of plants, one mass of warm mauve-pink flowers. 

 Wherever the cliffs are not absolutely sheer, vegetation is 

 rampant. Pine trees {Pinus Massoniana) fringe the summits 

 and Rosa microcarpa was in full flower, otherwise there was 

 very little blossom to be seen. Most of the shrubs being spring- 

 flowering were in young fruit. 



There was considerable delay in starting the next morning. 

 One or two of the coolies gave up, and others had to be found. 

 The road was vile all day, and it took us io| hours to cover 

 45 li. For the first 10 li the road continues to ascend the 

 glen, which narrows and presents even finer scenery than that 

 of yesterday. We passed a lovely natural grotto full of 

 stalagmites inside, and with the dripping external rocks one 

 mass of Maiden-hair Fern. These rocks are known throughout 

 the Lower Yangtsze Valley as " Ichang Fern-stones," and 

 command a ready sale. 



In the glen Parfhenocissus Henryana is abundant ; in the 

 juvenile stage the leaves of this plant have prominent white 

 veins, and are very attractive, but in the adult stage this 

 variegation is lost, and they become very ordinary by com- 

 parison. 



The glen soon became impassable, and we climbed the 

 cliffs and ultimately overlooked the country generally. 

 Terraced fields are much in evidence, and every available 

 inch of country is under cultivation. Wheat, barley, and peas, 

 all ripe, were the principal crops, and their yellow culms en- 

 livened the landscape. We saw a small patch or two of the 

 Opium Poppy hidden away under trees and of very poor 

 quality. Pear and Plum trees are commonly cultivated 

 hereabouts. Bamboo groves and Cypress trees abound. Here 



