136 



Chinese Scenery, Plants, and Gardens. 



plants which every where meet his eye : every house, window, 

 and court-yard are filled with them ! 



Stepping on shore, he is conducted to the Hong, (domicile,) 

 of his nation. Thence he visits every place to which he can 

 have access, in search of plants. By special favour he is 

 allowed to visit the gardens of Monqua, an opulent security 

 merchant, in the southern suburb, or, which is more gratify- 

 ing, the more extensive garden and palace of Shykinqua, on 

 the opposite side of the river. He enters a vast assemblage 

 of buildings for every purpose of life, of various size and cha- 

 racter. Among these the seraglios for the old as well as for 

 the young wives of the proprietor ; and the chapel, where are 

 deposited the ashes of his ancestors, are the most conspicuous 

 and splendid. Proceeding onwards, he is conducted to the 

 garden. Here no coup-d'ceil calls for admiration, no extent 

 of undulating lawn, no lengthened vista, no depth of shadowy 

 grove, no sky-reflecting expanse of water, — nothing presents 

 itself but a little world of insignificant intricacy. The ground 

 appropriated as a flower and pleasure garden is a space of two 

 or three acres, laid out in numberless little square plots, sur- 

 rounded, parted, and re-parted by low walls of brick-work, 

 surmounted by broad copings, on which are set in order 

 porcelain pots of all shapes and sizes, containing flowers and 

 flowering shrubs. The exterior, as well as the interior walls 

 of the garden, are covered with most ridiculously fantastic 

 trellis work (Jig. 36.), on which are trained various climbing 



and creeping plants. The walks, or rather paths, are neither 

 wide nor level enough for comfortable or even safe walking, — 

 intentionally uneven and broken into holes and foot-traps ! 



