VALUE OF WOOD OF CUNNINGHAMIAS 235 
fact that a great many seeds were brought back by 
Wilson a few years ago from Western China, and if 
So be it, they have been collected from hitherto 
unvisited areas of severer climes, and from places 
whereon falls a more plentiful sprinkling of snow 
and cold than heat or rain. We who have risen 
‘plants from these sources may perhaps be permitted 
to indulge in hopes that these young trees, now three 
or four years old, that promise so far so well, will 
continue to flourish until they become a green-clad 
blessing, rather than a brown-coloured curse—as 
they have often previously proved—upon our par- 
ticular plot of earth, for the delectation of another 
generation of island dwellers. 
We have brought these trees into our review more 
with the idea of drawing attention to this recent 
importation of seed, and also for calling attention to 
the interesting account Mr. Wilson has given of them 
and their wood value, from recent experiences. 
Trees, no less than men, although not wittingly 
aspirants to fame, are equally liable to find themselves 
unexpectedly the recipients of peculiar honours. 
The peculiar greatness that has been thrust upon 
this tree by its own people in its own country is that 
its fragrant wood has provided the costliest of coffins 
for mandarins, and for other of the Celestials who 
are either mighty, great, or wealthy in the lands of 
the Flowery Kingdom. 
Whether measured at a maximum (as does E. 
Wilson) of 1,500 ounces of silver per plank, or as 
Elwes and Henry have estimated and reduced it, to an 
English standard of sixty golden sovereigns, there 
is no gainsaying the fact that such a price demanded 
for coffin boards is a staggering consideration for 
any economic householder, however earnestly he may 
be desirous of paying lavish respect to a defunct 
relation, 
