ClIAP. VIII. 
FA-TEE GARDENS. 
123 
and irregular streets. Thousands of the inhabitants live 
and enjoy health and happiness in such places, which 
would soon be graves for Europeans— such is the differ- 
ence of constitution. 
But what surprised me most was the old women and 
young children bathing in the river, which seemed as if 
it were their natural element, and they appeared quite 
as much at home there as the fishes themselves. The 
Chinese boat population are famous for their dexterity 
in and under the water. Since the island of Hong-kong 
became an English settlement, officers of the govern- 
ment, sent to apprehend thieves in the bay, have fre- 
quently failed to do so owing to this circumstance. The 
Chinamen, whenever they found that there was any 
danger of being taken, jumped all together overboard, 
diving out of sight, and swimming under water until 
they were out of the reach of their pursuers, or until 
they found shelter in some of the numerous boats be- 
longing to their own clan which lay moored in the bay. 
I lost no time in visiting the celebrated Fa-tee gar- 
dens, near Canton, ^'the flowery land," as the name 
implies, from whence a great number of those fine 
plants were first procured which now decorate our gar- 
dens .in England. They are situated two or three miles 
above the city, on the opposite side of the river, and are, 
in fact, Chinese nursery gardens, where plants are culti- 
vated for sale. 
Here, then, I beheld a specimen of the far-famed system 
of Chinese gardening, about which we have read so much 
in European authors : I will therefore describe them 
somewhat fully. The plants are principally kept in large 
g2 
