20 CLIMATE. — BOTANY. [Cuap. II. 
sometimes sinks as low as the freezing point, but 
this is a rare occurrence. Even in the midst 
of winter, when the sun shines, it is scarcely 
possible to walk out without the shelter of an 
umbrella, and if any one has the hardihood to 
attempt it, he invariably suffers for his folly. The 
air is so dry that one can scarcely breathe, and 
there is no shade to break the force of the almost 
vertical rays of the sun. At other times in winter, 
the wind blows cold and cutting from the north, 
and fires are necessary in the houses; indeed, at all 
seasons the climate is liable to sudden changes of 
temperature. 
The botany of the island possesses a consider- 
able degree of interest, at least would have done so 
some years ago, when the plants indigenous to it 
were less known than they now are. By far the 
most beautiful plants met with on the low ground, 
are the different species of Lagerstramia. There 
are two or three varieties, having red, white, and 
purple flowers, and in the summer months when 
they are in bloom, they are quite the hawthorns 
of China; surpassing in their gorgeous flowers 
even that beautiful family. I have generally met 
with them in a wild state, very near the sea shore. 
A little higher up we find the beautiful Jvora 
coccinea flowering in profusion in the clefts of the 
rocks, and its scarlet heads of bloom under the 
Hong-kong sun are of the most dazzling brightness. 
The ravines are crowded with ferns and creeping 
shrubs of different kinds, not however of much 
