100 
«T intend to go on collecting vigorously, and DP to rival Delavay 
‘in Yunnan. His 3000 species will be hard to beat. 
* The country immediately around Mengtse is not so very rich, as it 
‘bare of wood and water: but in all directions £t two to four days’ distance 
—— is splendid country. Ihave just had a native collecting in the 
mountains south of the Red River near the French frontier, and he has 
‘brought back from the virgin forests of a high mountain about 100 
‘interesting species, e.g., go has se Sgu ——HÜ (a genus of 
Trochodendrie) perhaps a new species, rate a variety, of the 
Hupeh plant. He has also pede me ‘undoubted wild tea. Hitherto 
‘the tea plant has been found wild only in Assam, the cases of its 
‘spontaneity recorded from China bar very doubtful. In all my trips 
in Szechwan and Hupeh I never met it. ^The present specimens are 
-above suspicion, coming from virgin forest, and at an immense distance 
from any tea cultivation, the nearest being P u-érh 200 miles west. Bret- 
‘schneider in Botanicon Sinicum part IL, p. 130, has. some remarks on 
mountains from Mengtse to Szemao. It is not matt d at all that E. 
m so far away as Assam. 
* My native also brought back some interesting ferns, pretty 
_ Cyrtandrec, &c., and some specimens in fruit of the curious Lysimachia, 
the leaves of which have a delicate but strong fragrance. They are 
used for scenting hair-oil by the Chinese. Perhaps some of the seed i is 
ripe enough for me to send to you for cultivation. ~ 
* [ have had enquiries from a London. firm about. soap trees. They 
wish to buy the fruits of these in quantity, as they have brought out 
‘some patent or other, which demands a large consumption of these fruits. 
P presume the saponin therein is the base of the patent (for washing 
fine fa Mes hair-wash, &e., perhaps). They didn't say what their 
itat d 
"A MA e number of soap-trees occur in China, and I would wriie a 
note for the Bulletin on the subject, as it is of perhaps considerable 
commercial importance, but one thing is wanting. e species of 
Gleditschia require revision. . Four are dti: inthe Zudex Fl. Sin., 
p. 208 et seg., but since then there is a new one from Hupeh and 
S. Formosa which are not yet matched with any described species 
“The chief soap-trees are Sapindus Mukorossi, Gymnocladus 
-sinensis, and all the species of ein gius except officinalis, 
Hemsley, which has a small pod only used as a drug. The fruits of 
these are very generally used in China in B of soap, and for washing 
the hair the Chinese ladies say they are superior to alkaline soaps. 
** T have tried, in vain, to get a Lolo teacher to instruct me in the 
language and teach me their method of writing, now almost gone out of 
use, if — The MSS. of the Lolos are as yet undeciphered. 
to 
or about the 8th August, a few cases having appeared in the surrounding 
