The Zoologist— November, 1870, 2355 



and boulders. A slight blow on the back arrested his progress, 

 paralyzing the after part of the body. He turned fiercely round, hissing 

 and protruding his long, black, fork-like tongue, we both belaboured 

 the unfortunate reptile and soon finished him. An examination of his 

 mouth showed him to be a snake of a highly venomous character, the 

 poison-fangs being truly formidable." — P. 153. 



This little excitement over and gone, we once more survey the sur- 

 face of the country and peacefully examine its productions and its 

 characters. In Deer Island our traveller's spirit seems to have taken 

 great delight : it is green and hilly, covered with low trees and full of 

 loose moss-grown lichen-covered stones : rills at which the hog-deer 

 came to drink and the wild pigs to feed on fallen acorns : the ancient 

 weather-stained masses of rock are here often heaped upon one 

 another in the wildest confusion, and are beautifully encrusted with 

 lichens of every hue, frosty white, pale green, rusty brown and 

 bright orange. This is the dwelling-place of the " harlequin " 

 toad, a fellow that rejoices in a jacket of the most vivid scarlet 

 mingled with black : the rain, with which the bright rocks were still 

 dripping, had brought out the worms and other delicacies on which 

 these brilliant fellows feed, and caused them to exhibit themselves to 

 perfection on the lichen-stained stones, which vied with them in the 

 gaiety of their colouring. Here also is the home of the musk-deer, 

 and notwithstanding the rugged face of the country and the abundant 

 coverts, no less than nine fell to the rifles of the officers of the 

 " Actaeon." 



Having surveyed the greater portion of the Gulf of Liao-tung, the 

 ship arrived at the mouth of the river of the same name, and found 

 there a town of considerable importance, the staple produce of which 

 seemed to be pork. 



" On going ashore we found ourselves immediately in the land of 

 pigs, and encompassed by the mud and dirt congenial to these 

 animals. The poor porkers are killed and cured here for the markets 

 of China, and everywhere we were surrounded by numerous bands of 

 victims destined for slaughter. Vicious, long-headed, and obstinate, 

 incredible numbers of them were being driven through the muddy 

 streets, making the place resound with their sharp and piercing cries. 

 Men in huge leathern boots were staggering under sides of bacon ; 

 large flat carts were heaped with brown flitches ; boys were reeling 

 imder the weight of enormous hams ; and boars' heads seemed to gaze 



