176 



TEA DISTRICTS OF CHINA. 



Chap. IX. 



my boat, when we got under way and proceeded on 

 our journey. 



The vale of Nan-che is even more beautiful than 

 that in which the city of Yen-chow stands. It is 

 surrounded by hills, dotted over with clumps of pine, 

 cypress, and camphor-trees, traversed by a branching 

 and winding river, and extremely fertile. The tal- 

 low-tree is cultivated in great abundance ; in many 

 places, indeed, the lowland is nearly covered with it. 

 At the time of my visit its fresh green leaves con- 

 trasted finely with the dark and sombre cypress and 

 pine. The whole valley seems, as it were, one vast 

 and beautiful garden surrounded and apparently 

 hemmed in by hills ; but as we sailed up the river to 

 the westward the hills gradually opened and the 

 valley became much broader. I found afterwards 

 that it extended from Ta-yang, a little above Yen- 

 chow-foo, to Chang-shan on the borders of the pro- 

 vince of Kiang-see. The distant hills seemed rugged 

 and barren, and, even with Chinese industry, quite 

 unfitted for agricultural purposes. 



Ninety le from Nan-che I arrived at a small place 

 named Long-yeou, also on the banks of the river. 

 Three pretty pagodas were seen here, all placed on 

 the most picturesque spots that could be found. The 

 camphor-tree is very numerous and attains a large 

 size. It was the time of the summer harvest when I 

 was there, and the people were busily employed in 

 cutting and threshing out their crops of wheat and 

 barley. Hemp was largely cultivated for making 

 ropes and other articles much in demand amongst 



