Cuar. XVI.] SOIL OF THE PLAINS. 295 
been led to believe that every inch of land in the 
empire, however bleak and barren, is under cultiva- 
tion, having given way to Chinese industry and 
skill! I myself, before I visited China, was under 
the same impression; but the first glance at the 
rugged mountainous shores soon convinced me of 
myerror. Unfortunately, our opinions of a distant 
unknown country are apt to go to extremes, either 
fancying it entirely barren, or else a paradise of 
fertility. 
The soi of the valleys or plains varies quite as 
much in different provinces as it does in the hills. 
The level of these valleys or plains is generally very 
low; in many instances below that of the rivers 
and canals. In the south the soil consists of a 
strong stiff clay mixed with a small portion of sand, 
but containing scarcely any vegetable matter or 
humus. This is its eomposition about Canton 
and Macao, and in fact over all the provinces of 
the south, unless perhaps in the vicinity of large 
towns, where its natural character has been altered 
to a certain extent by the influence of manure. 
Where the hills lose their barren character, four 
or five hundred miles to the northward from Hong- 
kong, a visible change takes place also in the soil of 
the valleys and plains. In the district of the Min, 
for example, instead of being almost entirely com- 
posed of strong stiff clay it is mixed with a consi- 
derable portion of vegetable matter, and is an ex- 
cellent strong loam, not unlike that which we find 
in some of our best wheat lands in England and 
vu 4 
