208 POPULAR GEOGEAPHY OF PLANTS. 



and ascend high up the mountains /' yet, even so, China 

 cannot produce rice enough for its dense population, but 

 imports it from all the fertile islands of the Indian Archi- 

 pelago. 



The country about Canton must be quite a paradise during 

 summer, where the very hedges round the gardens and fields 

 by the river-side are composed of the Orange, the Pome- 

 granate, the Myrtle, and Banana, whilst the Palms add their 

 own peculiar beauty to the scene, and the glowing Lotus 

 (Nelumbium speciosum) clothes the water with its lovely blos- 

 soms. But the state of things in winter, in all the countries 

 on the southern coast of China, is a good example of the 

 effect of the monsoons. "When the north-east monsoon 

 prevails, when the temperature (which in June, July, and 

 August is always above 81 Eahr.) falls in November to 

 65, in December to 61, and in February even as low as 

 54, when all the clouds have disappeared, and for months 

 not a drop of rain falls, this paradise vanishes as by en- 

 chantment. The fields are bare, the sides of the mountains 

 are scorched, the dried-up vegetation becomes dust, and 

 only the soil remains, without a trace of its former luxu- 

 riance." 



Tropical vegetation wears nowhere perhaps so beautiful 



