326 



CITY OF PING-HOO. 



Chap. XV. 



of mulberry trees in cultivation in the fields. A 

 few lionrs broiiglit us to a large city, named Yuen- 

 hwa, containing a population estimated at 100,000 

 persons. As this city is also on the borders of 

 the great silk country, it is probably here where 

 that description of silk called Yuen-fa is produced. 

 This, however, is only conjecture, although pro- 

 bably a correct one. A few isolated hills were 

 observed near this city which formed a boundary 

 on the south to the immense alluvial plain which 

 now stretched away far to the north and eastward 

 from Yuen-hwa. The Rev. Dr. Medhurst, when 

 on a missionary tour, examined these hills, and 

 states they are composed of a " red kind of 

 igneous rock, mixed with large portions of quartz. 

 It seemed to be a schistose formation of disinte- 

 grated granite combined with porphyry." 



In the afternoon of the following day after we 

 had left Yuen-hwa, we arrived off the city of 

 Ping-hoo, having called in by Chapoo, a town 

 which my two friends were anxious to see. Al- 

 though Ping-hoo is not a very great distance from 

 Shanghae, it does not seem to have been often 

 visited by foreigners, and the people are very wild 

 and unruly. This is, no doubt, partly owing to 

 the large boat-population which the place contains, 

 being situated on the bank of a central canal, 

 which communicates with all parts of the country. 

 Having determined to visit the place in passing, 

 in order to endeavour to make some purchases of 

 articles of virf,u^ and to visit some nursery gardens 



