276 



ABIES K^MPFERI. Chap. XIII. 



I now lost no time in visiting tlie spot of my 

 last year's discovery. The trees were there as 

 beautiful and symmetrical as ever, but after strain- 

 ing my eyes for half-an-liour I could not detect a 

 single cone. I returned to the temple and men- 

 tioned my disappointment to the priests, and 

 asked them whether it was possible to procure 

 cones from any other part of the country. They 

 told me of various places where there were trees, 

 but whether these had seed upon them or not they 

 could not say. They further consoled me with a 

 piece of information, which, although I was most 

 unwilling to believe it, I knew to be most likely 

 too true, namely, that this tree rarely bore cones 

 two years successively, that last year was its 

 bearing year, and that this one it was barren. A 

 respectable looking man, who was on a visit to the 

 temple, now came up to me and said that he knew 

 a place where a large number of trees were grow- 

 ing, and that if I would visit the temple to which 

 he belonged he would take me to this spot, and 

 that there I would probably find what I wanted. 

 I immediately took down the name of his re- 

 sidence, which he told me was Quan-ting, a place 

 about twenty le distant from the temple in which 

 I was domiciled, and at a much higher elevation 

 on the mountains. After making an appointment 

 for next day he took his leave of me with great 

 politeness, and returned to his home. 



Having procured a guide for Quan-ting, I set 

 out early next day to visit my new acquaintance. 



