48 



TEA DISTRICTS OF CHINA. 



Chap. III. 



to the mouth, and its contents partly sucked and 

 partly shovelled in. 



The tide and wind were both fair, so that we 

 glided up the river with great rapidity; it was a 

 beautiful autumnal day, and the scene altogether 

 was a most charming one. We had left behind 

 us the great plain of the Yang-tse-kiang, and the 

 country was now hilly and most romantic. The hills 

 were richly wooded; pines, cypresses, and junipers 

 clothed their sides from the base nearly to the top, 

 and their foliage of a sombre green contrasted strongly 

 with the deep-red, ripened leaves of the tallow-tree, 

 which grows in great abundance on the plains. A 

 few mulberry-trees were seen in the neighbourhood of 

 Hang-chow, but, as we got higher up the river, their 

 cultivation appeared to cease. Tobacco, Indian corn, 

 millet, and a small portion of rice seemed to be the 

 staple productions of the plains ; millet and Indian 

 corn were also observed on the lower sides of the 

 hills. 



Buddhist temples and pagodas were observed, 

 here and there, rising high above the trees ; one of 

 the latter is called Lui-foong-ta, or the " temple of 

 the thundering winds." It stands on the borders of 

 the Se-hoo lake, and appeared to be a very ancient 

 edifice. Wild briers and other weeds were growing 

 out of its walls, even up to its very summit, and it 

 was evidently fast going to decay. It formed a 

 striking feature in the landscape, and reminded me of 

 those ancient castle ruins which are so common on 

 the borders of England and Scotland. 



