40 A NATURALIST IN WESTERN CHINA 



accommodation in an inn which is also a large medicine depot, 

 and is owned by a wealthy man from the province of Kiangsi. 

 This inn is a large, rambling two-storied structure with several 

 outhouses and a large courtyard. There is not sufficient level 

 space to accommodate the whole place, and the front part is 

 supported on posts. It serves as general store for the whole 

 country-side, and in addition is a veritable museum. Dirt in 

 every shape and form draped everything, and the stink from 

 adjacent piggeries was tempered with the odour of various 

 aromatic herbs. The business instinct of the house is strong, as 

 I found to my cost when changing some silver and buying a goat. 

 The rites of ancestor-worship were strictly carried out every 

 morning and evening, and everything done to ensure continued 

 and increasing prosperity. The burning of incense and candles 

 and the performance of mystical genuflexions may assist 

 business, but a little more attention to cleanliness and sanitation 

 would make a stronger appeal to the foreigner. At least, such 

 were my conclusions after a thirty-six hours' stay in the place. 



It rained a good part of the next day, but as we had decided 

 upon a day's rest it did not inconvenience us. In the forenoon 

 I went out for a few hours to investigate the woods around 

 Mao-fu-lien. Some very large trees of Sassafras (5. tzumu) 

 occur here — the largest specimen is nearly loo feet tall and 12 

 feet girth. The Chinese Sassafras has no medicinal value, and 

 the wood is used for box-making and fuel only. Oak and 

 Sweet Chestnut are plentiful and form small woods. The 

 Chestnut {Castanea Vilmoriniana) is a singular species, with 

 a single ovoid nut inside the spiny fruit ; the flowers have a 

 peculiarly unpleasant smell. Around the inn are cultivated 

 many trees of the Hardy Rubber and also Magnolia officinalis. 

 Walnut and Varnish trees are abundant, and behind the house 

 is a fine flat-leaved Spruce [Picea pachyclada). The mountain- 

 tops are clothed with Grass, Brambles, scrub Oak, bushes 

 of the pink-flowered Rhododendron Mariesii, and the scarlet 

 R. indicum. 



The view from the inn is one of steep ridges and high 

 mountains, separated by deep, narrow chasms as far as the 

 eye can range. It is indeed a fascinating country, but exhaust- 

 ing to travel over. 



