46 CHINESE GARDEN. - [Cmar. I. 
about us—what our names were ?. what our occu- 
pations ? how long we had been from home? and 
more particularly how old we were? —and after 
minutely inspecting our clothes, the coloured waist- 
coats apparently gratifying him very much, asked us 
to walk out and see the grounds around the mansion. 
The house stands near the base of the hill, and the 
garden lies behind it: the whole is really pretty; 
the large banyan-trees overhanging the walks, 
and the huge and rugged rocks forming caves 
and shades from the sun. A very fine spring 
issues from the hill-side, from beneath a rock. This 
water the proprietor praised very much, and we 
all drank heartily of it to please him: really such a 
spring, in a place like this, is invaluable. A tele- 
scope was brought to us, which he evidently consi- 
dered a great curiosity. He placed it upon a large 
stone table, carefully adjusting it to the desired 
view, and then asked us to look through it; but we 
were not accustomed to use the instrument in that 
way, and took it up in our hands in the usual 
manner. He seemed surprised that we could see 
through it this way. After showing us all the 
curiosities in the garden, he took us back into the 
house, where tea was again set before us, with the 
addition of six or seven kinds of cake, which, how- 
ever good they may be considered by the Chinese, I 
must confess I did not like. I have since tasted 
excellent buns and short cakes in Chusan and 
Shanghae. After some further conversation, we 
