BY THE REV. J. E. TENISON-WOODS. 645 



specimens may easily be obtained. The highest peak is 1,825 feet 

 high, and there are other peaks ranging between that height and 

 1,000 feet. Hong Kong as far back as the Ming dynasty belonged 

 to the Tang family, whom I suppose everybody knows. It is an 

 island at the mouth of the Canton river, and was a noted resoi't 

 for pirates, who used to lie in wait for sailing craft in the Ly-ee- 

 mun pass, a very narrow strait between the mainland and the 

 island. In January, 1841, it was ceded to Great Britain. The 

 capital is called Victoria. 



Vegetation. — It is an exceedingly picturesque island with a 

 coast indented by several deep inlets, with bold headlands, broad 

 sandy beaches and precipitous cliffs, giving rise to beautiful 

 varieties of scenery. The surface soil is poor and stony, and for 

 the most part with a poor heath-like flora, barren and bleak in the 

 extreme. The more sheltered valleys and ravines sustain trees of 

 stunted growth, consisting of few species such as Pinus sinensis, 

 Ternstrcemia japonica, eight small species of oaks and some others. 



The greatest interest was attached to the knowledge of the 

 Hong Kong flora ; it was, so to speak, our first insight into the 

 botany of China. Small contributions to its knowledge were made 

 by Messrs. Hines, Champion, Hooker, Hance, Harland, Wright, 

 Eyre, Wilford, &c., but the complete enumei'ation of the flora was 

 not made until G. Bentham published his list in 1861. This 

 included 1,056 species, distributed into 591 genera and 125 orders. 

 More than ten years afterwards, a supplement was published by 

 Dr. H. F. Hance, who added 73 new species and distinguished a 

 few more which had been included by Bentham in other genera or 

 species. This very large total amount found upon so small an 

 island is wonderfully interesting. Another noticeable feature in 

 this large census is the tropical character of the great majority of 

 species, though tlie general aspect presents features of much more 

 northerly latitudes. Though the more sheltered valleys and 

 ravines on the northern and western sides are saturated with 

 moisture during the long-continued rains of spring and .summer, 

 yet the temperature and degree of humidity are very variable. 



