Chap. II. 



GATHERING LING. 



27 



no barren waste, like those churchyards which we see 

 in large towns at home. Here the dead were interred 

 amidst groves of the weeping willow, mulberry-trees, 

 and several species of juniper and pine. Wild roses 

 and creepers of various kinds were scrambling over 

 the tombs, and the whole place presented a hallowed 

 and pleasing aspect. 



Leaving the old town behind us, and sailing west- 

 ward, we entered a broad sheet of water of consider- 

 able size, which is probably part of, or at least joins, 

 the celebrated Tai-ho lake. The water is very shal- 

 low, and a great part of it is covered with the Trapa 

 bicornis — a plant called ling by the Chinese. It 

 produces a fruit of a very peculiar shape, resembling 

 the head and horns of a bullock, and is highly 

 esteemed in all parts of the empire. I have seen 

 three distinct species or varieties, one of which has 

 fruit of a beautiful red colour. 



Women and boys were sailing about on all parts of 

 the lake, in tubs of the same size and form as our 

 common washing-tubs, gathering the fruit of the ling. 

 I don't know of any contrivance which would have 

 answered their purpose better than these rude tubs, 

 for they held the fruit as it was gathered as well as 

 the gatherer, and at the same time were easily pro- 

 pelled through the masses of ling without doing the 

 plants any injury. The sight of a number of people 

 swimming about on the lake, each in his tub, had 

 something very ludicrous about it. 



After we had passed the lake, the banks of the 

 canal, and indeed the greater part of the country, 



