Chap. 11. 



SCENERY. 



27 



people. As it was now " the bonnie month of 

 May," the rice crops had been some time in the 

 ground, and the valley was consequently covered 

 with dense masses of the loveliest green. Water- 

 wheels were observed in all directions, some 

 worked by men, and other and larger ones by 

 bullocks, and all pouring streams of water upon 

 the rice crops from the various canals which inter- 

 sect the valley. At the foot of the hills near 

 where I stood were numerous small tea-farms, 

 formed on the slopes, while groups of junipers and 

 other sombre-looking pines marked the last resting- 

 places of the wealthy. The ancient tombs of the 

 Ming dynasty are also common here, but they are 

 generally in a ruinous condition ; and had it not 

 been for the huge blocks of granite cut into the 

 forms of men and other animals, of which they are 

 composed, there would have been long ago no 

 marks to point out the last resting-places of these 

 ancient rulers of China. So much for human 

 greatness ! Higher up on the hill-sides the ground 

 was cultivated and ready to receive the summer 

 crops of sweet potatoes and Indian corn. Beyond 

 that again were barren mountains covered with 

 long grass and brushwood, which the industry of 

 the Chinese is never likely to bring under culti- 

 vation. Both below and above, on the roadsides, 

 in the hedges, and on every spot not under culti- 

 vation, wild flowers were blooming in the greatest 

 profusion. In the hedges the last fading blossoms 

 of the beautiful spring-flowering Forsythia viridis- 



