58 



TEA DISTRICTS OF CHINA. 



Chap. III. 



Chinese, which is valuable on account of the quantity 

 of oil found its seeds, and the tallow-tree, which fur- 

 nishes both tallow and oil. Here and there were 

 plantations of the common Chinese pine, and the 

 lance-leaved one known to botanists as Cunninghamia 

 lanceolata. A palm-tree, and the only species of the 

 genus indigenous to, or cultivated in, the northern or 

 central provinces of the empire, was seen on the hill- 

 side here in a high state of perfection. It seems a 

 species of Chamcerojjs. It is particularly valuable 

 to the northern Chinese, who use its large, brown, hair- 

 like bracts for many purposes. Eopes and cables for 

 their junks are made out of this substance, and seem 

 to last, even under water, for a very long time. It is 

 probably better and stronger for those purposes than 

 the fibre of the cocoa-nut, which it resembles to a 

 certain extent. Bed-bottoms are wrought out of this, 

 and are largely used in the country by all classes of 

 the natives. Agricultural labourers and coolies are 

 fond of wearing hats and cloaks made out of the 

 same substance, which in wet weather keeps out a 

 great deal of rain ; and there are many other purposes 

 to which this useful tree is applied. Besides all 

 this, it is most ornamental in the country where it 

 grows. 



I am in hopes that one day we shall see this beau- 

 tiful palm-tree ornamenting the hill-sides in the south 

 of England, and in other mild European countries. 

 With this view I sent a few plants home to Sir Wil- 

 liam Hooker, of the Royal Gardens at Kew, with a 

 request that he would forward one of them to the 



