TREES IN CHINA. 301 



the altar stone to devour the frog or rat thrown to him. 

 In the East, adoration, from a sentiment of fear, is 

 almost universally reserved for the evil spirit, the god 

 of destruction, or his emblem. 



Here my perambulations came to an end, and beyond 

 a short stoppage from time to time to let the train of 

 a mandarin pass in his commodious chair, carried on the 

 shoulders of four liveried bearers, and surrounded by a 

 cortege of several scores of officials and officers, I at last 

 reached Sha-Min completely tired out. 



On the following day an excursion along the river 

 was proposed, say within a safe distance of Canton, to 

 see something of the country and obtain a little fresh 

 air, which seemed a rare article in the town. Low hills 

 succeeded each other wherever the eye could reach ; 

 and the proximity in which villages appeared is proof 

 of a thick population. Here women seemed to do all 

 the agricultural labour. Tea and rice plantations there 

 were on every side, and amongst the trees and plants 

 I noticed many kinds peculiar to China, as 

 The Tallow tree (Stillingia sebifera), 

 The Varnish tree [Dryandra cordata), 

 The Camphor tree (Laurus camphora), 

 The Chinese Pine [Pinus sinensis), 

 The Chinese Banyan [Ficus nitida) ; 



