Chap. XIV. 
SOIL OF THE HILLS. 
223 
least, to compare them for a moment with our intelligent 
farmers in England or Scotland. As well might we 
compare their coasting junks with the navy of England, 
or their merchants with ours, whose ships are met with 
on every sea, and whose commercial operations extend to 
every quarter of the world. In order, however, that the 
reader may form an opinion for himself, I will describe 
in detail what passed under my own eye connected with 
this subject during my travels of nearly three years in 
the country. In that space of time I had an opportunity 
of seeing repeatedly the various methods of cultivation 
and their results, both in the north and in the south ; 
all of which were carefully noted in my journal at the 
time. 
I will begin with the southern provinces. These are, 
of course, tropical, and differ from those in the north in 
many respects, both with regard to soil and the nature 
of the plants cultivated. 
The soil of the mountains in the south of China is 
of the poorest description. Rocks of granite are seen 
everyw^here protruding themselves above the scanty 
vegetation, whilst the soil itself is composed of dry 
burnt clay mixed with particles of granite in a decaying 
or disintegrated state. This soil, naturally so poor, is 
kept so by the practice of periodically cutting and 
carrying off the long grass and stunted bushes for 
firewood. Sometimes the natives set fire to this upon 
the mountains, for the purpose of affording a scanty 
manure, but nevertheless the soil is miserably sterile. 
Almost all the hilly portions of the south of China are 
in a state of nature, " stern and wild,'^ where the hand 
