142 A NATURALIST IN WESTERN CHINA 



The west gate of the city is situated at the top of this slope, 

 and is exactly looo feet above the river. Save for a yamen 

 and a temple or two the whole of the mountain-slope within 

 the walls is given over to terraced cultivation, the city proper 

 being clustered in the valley alongside the river. The wall 

 surrounding three sides of the city is very substantially built 

 of brick, being fully 20 feet thick and more high, but that which 

 ascends the mountain-sides is in places only 2 feet thick and 

 4 feet high ; a steep ravine, however, immediately outside 

 this wall, affords additional protection. Since the Chinese first 

 established themselves here the town has undergone many 

 vicissitudes. Time and again the Sifan have swept down 

 upon it, captured it, and massacred all who fell into their hands. 

 So frequent have been these attacks, and so great is the Chinese 

 dread of treachery on the part of the Sifan, that it is only 

 within the last few years that any of these people have been 

 allowed to remain overnight within the city walls. 



In 1910 Sungpan had a resident civil population of about 

 3000 people, and a floating population equalling, if not exceed- 

 ing, this number. The houses are nearly all of wood, generally 

 well built, with rather curiously-carved porticoes ; the timber 

 employed for building is mostly Juniper, which is floated 

 down the Min River from a point some 15 miles to the north- 

 north-east. In October 1901 the city was two-thirds destroyed 

 by fire, but on the occasion of my last visit in 1910 the de- 

 vastated area had been practically rebuilt. The streets are 

 badly paved, ill-kept, and the city possesses no buildings of 

 architectural beauty. Near the south gate the military 

 section of the town is situated, and a considerable amount of 

 market-gardening is carried on there. The people are very 

 fond of flowers, nearly every house boasting some in pots, 

 on the walls, or in borders. Stately Hollyhocks, with multi- 

 coloured flowers, are a feature. With these are generally 

 planted Tiger Lilies, Chinese Asters, and small-flowered 

 Poppies, the whole making a bright and pleasing effect. The 

 Chinese Aster [Callistephus hortensis) is wild in the neigh- 

 bourhood ; the Poppy is a species closely allied to Papaver 

 alpinum. The population is mainly Mohammedan Chinese, 

 who carry on a remunerative barter-trade with the surrounding 



