VI 



PREFACE. 



the hardships of a traveller's life. New scenes, new 

 countries, and new plants were day by clay spread out 

 before me and afforded gratification of the highest and 

 purest kind. And even now, when on a different side 

 of the globe and far removed from such scenes and 

 such adventures, I often look back upon them with 

 feelings of unalloyed pleasure. 



The important objects of my mission have been 

 brought to a successful termination. Upwards of 

 twenty thousand tea-plants, eight first-rate manu- 

 facturers, and a large supply of implements were 

 procured from the finest tea-districts of China, and 

 conveyed in safety to the Himalayas. In the course 

 of my travels I discovered many useful and orna- 

 mental trees and shrubs, some of which, such as the 

 Funereal Cypress, will one day produce a striking 

 and beautiful effect in our English landscape and 

 in our cemeteries. 



In publishing this account of my journey I may 

 repeat what I said in the introduction to my former 

 'Wanderings:' — "I have no intention of writing or 

 making a book upon China." My object is to give 

 a peep into the Celestial Empire, to show its strange 

 hills and romantic valleys, its rivers and canals, its 

 natural productions, whether in the field, on the hill- 

 side, or in the garden, and its strange and interesting 

 people, as they were seen by me in their every-dav 



