pfant IjDorc, Isegc^/, anil Isijrio/'. 



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as one of the flowers thought to grow in Paradise. Thus, in a ballad 

 called ' Dead Men's Songs,' occurs the following verse : — 



" The fields about the city faire 

 Were all with Roses set, 

 Gillyflowers and Carnations faire 

 Which canker could not fret." 

 (See also Carnation). 



GINSENG. — The Chinese consider the far-famed Ginseng 

 {Panax quinquefolia) the most valuable producftion of nature. It is 

 their specific for all disorders of the lungs or of the stomach, curing 

 asthma, strengthening the eyesight, renewing a worn-out consti- 

 tution, delaying the approach of old age, and acfting as a counter- 

 poison. The Dutch naturalists thus described the Ginseng : — " Its 

 name is taken from its shape, because its represents a man (in 

 Chinese Gin) striding with his legs. It is a larger and stronger 

 species of our Mandrake. The dried root is of a yellow colour, 

 streaked round with blackish veins, as if drawn with ink. It yields 

 when chewed an unpleasant sweetness, mixed with bitterness. The 

 Chinese will give three pounds of gold for one pound of it." To 

 the Chinese this shrub is in some measure a foreign produ(ftion, as 

 it is found only in Manchoo Tartary; but it does not owe all its 

 reputation to its distant origin; the Tartars also prize it, and give 

 it a name [Orhota) expressive of its quality as the chief of plants. 

 They endeavour to procure it at the risk of losing their lives or 

 liberty, equally endangered by the nature of the country where it 

 is found, and by the policy of the Chinese Government, which 

 endeavours to monopolise this much -esteemed producTtion. A 

 large extent of country to the north-east of Pekin, covered with 

 inaccessible mountains, and almost impassable forests infested with 

 wild beasts, and affording no means of subsistence, is separated 

 from the province of Leao Tong by a strong barrier of stakes, 

 always carefully prote(5led by guards of Chinese soldiers who seize 

 and punish unlicensed intruders: this is the native country of 

 Ginseng, and these precautions are considered necessary to pre- 

 serve the valued plant from depredation. The Pere Jartoux, who 

 was employed in the survey of Tartary by order of the Emperor 

 Kam-he, describes the mode of gathering the Ginseng, as it was 

 pracflised at that time. He had frequently met with the party of 

 Tartars employed on the service, but on this occasion ten thousand 

 Tartars were commanded to gather all the Ginseng that could be 

 found; and after deducting two ounces from the quantity gathered 

 by each man, they were allowed for the remamder its weight in pure 

 silver. This army of botanists divided themselves into companies 

 of a hundred men, with a chief to each company. The whole terri- 

 tory was then apportioned to the several divisions; each division 

 formed a line, and, slowly advancing, traversed that portion of 

 country allotted to it ; nearly six months were spent in the occu- 



