ciiAP. vn. 
CHINESE NURSERY. 
107 
hood depended upon the propagation and sale of plants, 
would be very glad to allow me to make purchases 
at their garden. I therefore set out again on the fol- 
lowing day, accompanied by an officer from the con- 
sulate. When we approached the garden my young 
friend was at his post as usual, and ran off immediately, 
and forthwith the gate was closed and barricaded as 
before. We walked quietly up to it and knocked, but 
there was no answer, and the place seemed all at once 
to be deserted. The officer well knew that the family 
had hid themselves just inside the gate, and commenced 
talking to them, and laughing at their fears. In a few 
seconds we heard a movement amongst the bushes, and 
then the inmates, gaining courage, ventured to approach 
the gate to reconnoitre. At last, being apparently satis- 
fied, the bolts were withdrawn and we were admitted 
within the sacred precincts of the garden, when I soon 
found several very valuable plants. The ice was now 
broken, and, with the assistance of the Chinese officer, I got 
the names and localities of several other gardens, which I 
soon found out ; and although it was the winter season, 
and vegetation in a state of repose, I was able in a few 
weeks to get together a collection of plants which, when 
they flowered, proved not only quite new, but highly 
ornamental. A few months wrought a great change 
upon these diffident and timid people, and at length 
they not only received me with pleasure, but begged me 
to bring my friends and acquaintances to see their 
flowers. I frequently did so, and, as we always treated 
them with kindness and consideration, a favourable 
impression was made upon their minds, which, I have 
