116 
WANDERINGS IN CHINA. 
Chap. VIII. 
the main-land, there being little game of any kind upon 
the island itself. 
Having got all my things packed, I took a passage in 
a vessel bound for the south, and, having a fair mon- 
soon down the China Sea, we arrived at Hong-kong in 
a few days, without anything occurring worthy of notice. 
The various collections which I had made in the north 
were now put up in glazed cases and shipped for 
England. 
As the south of China had been ransacked by former 
botanists, I could not expect to find much which was 
new or worthy of being sent home, and I therefore 
arranged to proceed north again in March or April, in 
order to have a whole season before me. In the mean 
time, as I had a few weeks to spare in the south, I 
determined on a visit to Canton and Macao, which are 
both within a short distance from Hong-kong. 
The Canton river is certainly one of the most imposing 
and striking objects which the traveller meets with in 
this celebrated country. The sea, near its mouth, is 
studded all over with numerous islands, of which a good 
view is obtained in going over from Hong-kong to 
Macao ; and in sailing from either of these places to 
Canton we pass a succession of them, most of which are 
mountainous, having huge masses of rock, and yellow 
gravelly clay, protruding here and there through the 
surface, and but thinly covered vdth vegetation of any 
kind. 
Sometimes, however, in our progress, we obtained 
views of beautiful bays, with a few acres of level land 
near the shWre, in the midst of which there are some 
