Cuar. VI.] MANDARINS’ GARDENS. 93 
out of which several new plants were procured, 
which proved very valuable additions to my collec- 
tions. Here, as at other places, | made many 
inquiries after the supposed yellow camellia, and 
offered ten dollars to any Chinaman who would 
bring me one. Anything can be had in China for 
dollars! and it was not long before two plants were 
brought to me, one of which was said to be light 
yellow, and the other as deep a colour as the double 
yellow rose. Both had flower-buds upon them, but 
neither were in bloom. I felt quite certain that the 
Chinaman was deceiving me, and it seemed foolish 
to pay such a sum for plants which I should in all 
probability have to throw away afterwards; and yet 
I could not make up my mind to lose the chance, 
slight as it was, of possessing the yellow camellia. 
And the rogue did his business so well. He had a 
written label stuck in each pot, and apparently the 
writing and labels had been there for some years. 
I fancied I was as cunning as he was, and requested 
him to leave the plants and return on the following 
‘morning, when he should have an answer. In the 
meantime I asked a respectable Chinese merchant 
to read the writing upon the labels. All was cor- 
rect; the writing agreed with what the man had 
told me; namely, that one of the plants produced 
light yellow blooms, and the other deep yellow. 
“Did you ever see a camellia with yellow flowers ?” 
I inquired of my friend the merchant. ‘“ No,” said 
he, in his broken English. “ My never have seen he, 
my thinkie no have got.” On the following morning 
