Cuar. XVI] SOIL OF THE HILLS. 293 
and stunted bushes for firewood. Sometimes the 
natives set fire to this upon the mountains, for the 
purpose of affording a scanty manure, but neverthe- 
less the soil is miserably sterile. Almost all the 
hilly portions of the south of China are in a state 
of nature “ stern and wild,” where the hand of man 
never attempts agricultural operations, and where it 
is almost impossible he ever can. Here and there, 
near the base of the hills, the far-famed terrace 
cultivation may be seen, where the natives grow 
small patches of rice and other vegetables, such as 
sweet potatoes and earth-nuts, but the portion of 
land in this part of the country used for such pur- 
poses, bears but an extremely small proportion to 
the vast tracts in a wild state. 
At Amoy and over all that part of the province 
of Fokien the mountains are even more barren 
than those of Quantung. On some of the hills on 
the island of Amoy, the traveller may wander for 
miles and scarcely see even a weed. On every side 
there is nothing but masses of dark crumbling 
granite, and red burnt-looking clay. This, however, 
seems the northern boundary of the most barren 
part of China. When we reach the river Min 
near Foo-chow-foo, there is a great change visible 
in the vegetation of the hills, caused, of course, by 
the richer nature of the soil. This remark applies 
to the northern portion of Fokien and to the whole 
of the province of Chekiang. I have ascended hills 
near the mouth of the Min at least 3000 feet above 
the level of the sea, which were under cultivation 
u 3 
