Cnar. X.] SCENERY ROUND THE TEMPLE. 169 
in. We were evidently subjects of great curiosity 
to most of them who had never seen an English- 
man before. Our clothes, features, mode of eat- 
ing, and manners were all subjects of wonder to 
these simple people, who passed off many a good 
humoured joke at our expence. 
Glad to get off our clothes, which were still damp, 
we retired early to rest. When we arose in the 
morning, the view which met our eyes far surpassed 
in beauty any scenery which I had ever witnessed 
before in China. The temple stands at the head of 
a fertile valley in the bosom of the hills. This 
valley is well watered by clear streams, which 
flow from the mountains, and produces most ex- 
cellent crops of rice. The tea shrubs, with their 
dark green leaves, are seen dotted on the lower sides 
of all the more fertile hills. The temple itself is 
approached by a long avenue of Chinese pine trees. 
This avenue is at first straight, but near the temple 
it winds in a most picturesque manner round the’ 
edges of two artificial lakes, and then ends in a 
flight of stone steps, which lead up to the principal 
entrance. Behind, and on each side, the mountains 
rise, in irregular ridges, from one to two thousand 
feet above the level of the sea. These are not like © 
the barren southern mountains, but are clothed 
nearly to their summits with a dense tropical looking 
mass of brushwood, shrubs, and trees, Some of 
the finest bamboos of China are grown in the ra- 
vines, and the sombre coloured pine attains to a 
large size on the sides of the hills. Here, too, I . 
