78 
WANDERINGS IN CHINA. 
Chap. V. 
enabling the natives to convey the produce of their 
country and its merchandise to Ning-po, and from 
thence to Hang-chow-foo, and any other part of the 
world. Rice is the staple production of the low land in 
this part of the country during the summer months, and 
the oil-plant is cultivated extensively on the same land 
in winter and spring, being in seed and ready to harvest 
by the time for sowing the first crop of rice. Large 
quantities of the trefoil which I have noticed before are 
also grown here, and for the same purposes ; indeed, the 
agricultural productions, both of the low lands and on 
the sides of the hills, are really the same as those for- 
merly described on the island of Chusan. 
The native flora of the hills to the north of Ning-po 
is nearly the same as that found on Chusan and the 
neighbouring islands, but more extensive. It is a curious 
fact, that I always found the main land of China more 
productive in species of animals and plants than the 
neighbouring islands, although these islands were large, 
and only separated from the main land by a narrow 
extent of sea. I met here, for the first time in a wild 
state, the beautiful yellow Azalea sinensis. These hills 
are somewhat more barren than most of the others in 
this part of the country, and there are few trees on 
them of any size. They are very different from those 
which I have yet to describe, a few miles to the south 
of Ning-po. 
The graves of the dead are scattered all over the 
plain, and give the stranger a good idea of the immense 
population of the country. In travelling from Ning-po 
to the hills I could not account for the vast number of 
