Chap. IV. 
CHARACTER OF NATIVES. 
49 
from the main land. There are, however, two fruits 
cultivated on the island which are of considerable excel- ? 
lence ; the one is called Yang-mai : it is a scarlet fruit, 
not unlike an arbutus or strawberry, but having a stone ^« 
like a plum in the centre ; the other is the Kum-quat, 
a small species of Citrus, about the size of an oval goose- 
berry, with a sweet rind and sharp acid pulp. This 
fruit is well known in a preserved state by those who 
have any intercourse with Canton, and a small quantity 
is generally sent home as presents every year. Pre- 
served in sugar, according to the Chinese method, it is 
excellent. Groves of the kum-quat are common on all 
the hill-sides of Chusan. The bush grows from three 
to six feet high ; and, when covered with its orange- 
colom-ed fruit, is a very pretty object. 
The natives of Chusan are a quiet and inoffensive 
race, and were always civil and obliging to me. Like 
the vegetation of their hills, they are very different from 
their countrymen of the south, and the change, I am 
happy to say, is for the better and not for the worse. 
Doubtless there are thieves and bad characters amongst 
them ; but these are comparatively few, and are kept in 
better check by the government, the result of which is, 
that unprotected property is in a great measure safe, 
and cases of theft are almost unknown. The people may 
be divided into three classes — the countrymen or agri- 
cultural farmers and labourers, the shopkeepers in the 
towns, and the mandarins or officers of government. The . 
trade of Tinghae and the other towns seems to consist 
chiefly in articles of food and clothing, and, owing to the 
number of British soldiers who were there from the time 
VOL. I. D 
