452 



Miscellaneous. 



agreeable during the summer heats. However high the temperature 

 of the air may be, the water remains constantly cool. 



In the month of July, at the time of the greatest heat, it is much 

 frequented by bathers : but until then the Chinese are afraid to ven- 

 ture into the water, so great is their dread of the sensation of cold. 



The Russians who reside in Pekin astonish the natives a good deal 

 by drinking cold water at their meals in winter as well as in summer ; 

 while the Chinese warm even their wine, and never drink cold water 

 except in the hot weather of July. 



A great number of fruit-trees, proceeding from plantations, grow in 

 the ravines and valleys of the Northern Mountains, especially many 

 Indian fig-trees, as also peach, apricot, pear, plum, and walnut trees. 

 It appears even that the trees which do not bear fruit, such as the fir, 

 the willow, the juniper, and the cypress, owe their existence to arti- 

 ficial cultivation, which is the reason that not a single forest of any 

 considerable extent is to be met with in the whole chain of the North- 

 ern Mountains. 



The rocks of which these mountains consist, belong, as has been 

 already observed, to a formation of dolomite, which is there largely 

 developed. 



It commences at the temple of Loun-Tzouan-Sy, and extends to the 

 north-east as far as the base of In-Shan. The mountains of Syo-Tan- 

 Shan and Do-Tan-Shan, are of that formation; several varieties of 

 dolomite are also found in it ; near the temple of Loun-Tzouan-Sy it 

 is very compact, small-grained, and the presence of particles of quartz 

 gives it much hardness. All the monuments in the burial-places, the 

 masonry of the door-ways and of the steps in the palace, are of this 

 stone. The compact varieties are seldom white, but generally of a grey 

 colour. When the quartz is absent in this rock, its fracture has the 

 appearance of sugar, and, like that substance, is entirely white, and 

 translucent when in thin fragments. It bears much resemblance to 

 the marble of Carrara. We should not be warranted in assigning a 

 very ancient origin to this rock, although it does not contain organic 

 remains. It has little cohesion of its parts, and is easily reduced to 

 powder; it is in this form that it is used to complete the process of 

 cleaning the rice. Its texture has not the appearance of being foliated, 

 but it is always divided by a great number of fissures into irregular 

 masses, which renders the quarrying of it very difficult.* 



* Note by the Author.— About 6 francs (French money) are paid for the extraction of 150 

 pouds of this rock. The carriage of 15 pouds to the capital, distant 60 li, costs about 60 

 francs. 



