318 GARDENS OF THE MANDARINS. [Cwar. XVII. 
establish themselves at their port ; and I soon per- 
ceived that, as we were able to keep up a conversa- 
tion together in Chinese, my visits were very agree- 
able to them. The nurserymen, too, having found 
out that my money was as valuable to them as that 
which they received from their own countrymen, 
threw aside their shyness, and were all anxiety to 
sell me any plants I wanted. 
The gardens of the mandarins were extremely 
gay, particularly during the early months of the 
year ; and, what was of more importance to me, con- 
tained a number of new plants of great beauty and 
interest. On entering one of the gardens on a fine 
morning in May, I was struck with a mass of yel- 
low flowers which completely covered a distant part 
of the wall. The colour was not a common yellow, 
but had something of buff in it, which gave the 
flowers a striking and uncommon appearance. I 
immediately ran up to the place, and, to my surprise 
and delight, found that it was a most, beautiful new 
double yellow climbing rose. I have no doubt, from 
what I afterwards learned, that this rose is from 
the more northern districts of the empire, and will 
‘prove perfectly hardy in Europe. Another rose, 
which the Chinese call the “ five coloured,” was also 
found in one of these gardens at this time. It be- 
longs to the section commonly called China roses in 
this country, but grows in a very strange and beau- 
tiful manner. Sometimes it produces self-coloured 
blooms—being either red or French white, and 
frequently having flowers of both on one plant at 
