108 
WANDERINGS IN CHINA. 
Chap. VII. 
no doubt, will long continue. When I was leaving 
Slianghae, in 1845, on my return to England, I went to 
remove a collection of plants which I had in one of these 
gardens : as I was doing so, the proprietor said to me, 
" The next time you come to Shanghae I shall have left 
this garden, and gone to one which I have taken in the 
next district, where I shall be glad to see you, and 
supply you with the plants you want." 
" Thanks, my good friend," said I ; " but as my labours 
in the ' central flowery land ' are ended, I shall now 
return again to my own country, ' Ta-Eng-co,' * a land 
in the far distant west, and you shall never see me again ; 
fare you well." 
He then kindly wished me fair winds, smooth seas, 
and a happy meeting with my friends at home. 
I merely mention this circumstance to show what a 
change took place in the feelings of these poor people in 
the course of two years, and which I regard as an earnest 
of what may be done with the northern Chinese, who 
differ widely from their haughty and insolent countrymen 
in the south. 
Another example may be given to show the cunning 
and deceit of many of the Chinese here as elsewhere. A 
flower-painter in Chusan had informed me that several 
very valuable varieties of the Moutan, or Tree Poeony, 
were to be found in gardens near Shanghae. Those 
varieties of this flower which are yearly brought from 
the northern provinces to Canton, and which are now 
common in Europe, have blossoms, which are either 
* Great England, or Great Britain, the name whicli our country 
is known by in the north of China. 
