-M. Kovanko’s General View of the Environs of Pekin. 247 
the temperature of the air may be, the water remains con- 
stantly cool. 
In the month of July, at the time of the greatest heat, it is 
much frequented by bathers: but until then the Chinese are 
afraid to venture into the water, so great is their dread of the 
sensation of cold. 
The Russians who reside in Pekin astonish the natives a 
good deal by drinking cold water at their meals in winter as 
well as in summer ; while the Chinese warm even their wine, 
and never drink cold water except in the hot weather of July. 
A great number of fruit-trees, proceeding from plantations, 
grow in the ravines and valleys of the Northern Mountains, es- 
pecially many Indian fig-trees, as also peach, apricot, pear, 
plum, and walnut trees. It appears even that the trees which 
do not bear fruit, such as the fir, the willow, the juniper, and 
the cypress, owe their existence to artificial cultivation, which 
is the reason that not a single forest of any considerable ex- 
tent is to be met with in the whole chain of the Northern 
Mountains. 
The rocks of which these mountains consist, belong, as has 
been already observed, to a formation of dolomite, which is 
there largely developed. 
It commences at the temple of Lown-Tzouan-Sy, and ex- 
tends to the north-east as far as the base of In-Shan. The 
mountains of Syo-Tan-Shan and Do-Tan-Shan, are of that 
formation ; several varieties of dolomite are also found in it; 
near the temple of Loun-Tzowan-Sy it is very compact, 
small-grained, and the presence of particles of quartz gives it 
much hardness. All the monuments in the burial-places, the 
masonry of the door-ways and of the steps in the palace, are 
of this stone. The compact varieties are seldom white, but 
generally of a grey colour. When the quartz is absent in this 
rock, its fracture has the appearance of sugar, and, like that 
substance, is entirely white, and translucent when in thin frag- 
ments. It bears much resemblance to the marble of Carrara. 
We should not be warranted in assigning a very ancient ori- 
gin to this rock, although it does not contain organic remains. 
It has little cohesion of its parts, and is easily reduced to 
