128 TREES AND SHRUBS. [Cuar. VIII. 
are performed. A man with his family is stationed 
there to protect the place, and to burn candles and — 
incense on certain high days. Others, again, are 
interred in what may be called public cemeteries, 
several of which I met with in the vicinity of 
Shanghae. These are large buildings, each con- 
taining a certain number of spacious halls or rooms, 
and having the coffins placed in rows around the 
sides. 
A flat and highly cultivated country, such as I 
have just described, cannot be expected to be rich 
in indigenous plants. There are, however, many 
beautiful clumps of the bamboo growing round all 
the villages and small farm houses, which give a 
kind of tropical character to the scenery, but it is 
the only type of the tropics met with in this dis- 
trict, at least as regards trees. I have already 
mentioned the clumps of cypress and pine trees 
planted in the cemeteries of the rich, which are seen 
studded all over the country, and form one of its 
most striking features. Among these, I met for 
the first time with the beautiful Cryptomeria japo- 
nica, a species of pine not unlike the Araucarias of 
Norfolk Island and Brazil. When growing luxu- 
riantly, it is highly ornamental, rising from the 
ground as straight as a larch, and sending out 
numerous side branches almost horizontally from 
the main stem, which again droop towards the 
ground in a graceful and “ weeping” manner. The 
wood of the tree has a kind of twisted grain, and 
possesses great strength and durability. It is 
