248 



TE.A DISTRICTS OF CHINA, Chap. XIV. 



hien led through the city of Tsong-gan ; but there 

 was another road which kept more to the southward, 

 and joined the Tsong-gan road about a day's journey 

 from Pouching-hien ; this road I determined to take. 

 Our course was in an easterly direction. A small 

 stream, another of the tributaries of the Min, had its 

 source amongst the mountains in this direction, and 

 for a great part of the way our road led us along its 

 banks. 



This river had many rapids, its bed was full of 

 large rocks and stones, and it was not navigable even 

 for small boats. On the morning of the third day 

 after leaving the Woo-e hills we arrived at the foot 

 of a very high range of mountains, and at the source 

 of the river along whose banks we had been travelling. 

 This was a little beyond a small town named She- 

 mun, where we had passed the night. 



The scenery which presented itself as we ascended 

 the gigantic mountain surpassed anything I had seen 

 in China. It had quite a different character from 

 that of Woo-e-shan. The sides of the mountains 

 here were clothed with dense woods of the lance- 

 leaved pine (Cunninghamia lanceolata) . This was 

 the first time I had seen this fir-tree of sufficient 

 size to render it of value for its timber. Many of the 

 specimens were at least eighty feet in height, and 

 perfectly straight. There was a richness too in the 

 appearance of its foliage which I had never seen 

 before; sometimes it was of a deep green colour, while 

 at others it was of a bluish tint. There are, doubt- 

 less, many varieties of this tree amongst these hills. 



