108 MOUNT 0M:^I 



bamboo cups, are used for irrigating. During the day 

 I saw a large clump of Dendrohium nohile in bloom, 

 growing about ten feet from the ground on a species of 

 ash tree. I reached Omei-hsien in the evening, and here 

 my passport was copied. The guard was changed also, 

 two fresh soldiers being sent from the Yamen. Mount 

 Omei, 11,100 feet high, is twenty ii from here and is a 

 magnificent solitary peak. I could not ascend it on 

 this journey, but intend to do so when I return. 



May 21. — The country is still lovely; weather 

 cloudy. Chinese coolies were passed carrj'ing the 

 eggs of the wax insect to the eastward. 



These curious insects, which are a species of cocctis, 

 are bred on one kind of tree, but are transported 

 about 200 miles to produce the wax, which they do 

 upon a totally different species of tree to that upon 

 which they are bred. 



They are produced principally in the vaUey of the 

 Anning river, a tributary of the Ya-lung, and I 

 gathered from inquiries that the eggs appear in large 

 numbers in the month of March upon the branches of 

 the large-leaved privet (Ligustrum lucidum), being en- 

 closed in small pear-shaped excrescences or scales. 



The scales are gathered at the end of April, and 

 made up in paper packets weighing about 16 oz. each. 

 About sixty of these form a coolie's load, and during 



