224 
WANDERINGS IN CHINA. 
Chap. XIV. 
of man never attempts agricultural operations, and 
where it is almost impossible he ever can. Here and 
there, near the base of the hills, the far-famed terrace 
cultivation may be seen, where the natives grow small 
patches of rice and other vegetables, such as sweet 
potatoes and earth-nuts, but the portion of land in this 
part of the country used for such purposes bears but 
an extremely small proportion to the vast tracts in a 
wild state. 
At Amoy, and over all that part of the province of 
Fokien, the mountains are even more barren than those 
of Quan-tung. On some of the hills on the island of 
Amoy the traveller may wander for miles and scarcely 
see even a weed. On every side there is nothing but 
masses of dark crumbling granite, and red burnt-looking 
clay. This, however, seems the northern boundary of 
the most barren part of China. When we reach the 
river Min, near Foo-chow-foo, there is a great change 
visible in the vegetation of the hills, caused, of course, 
by the richer nature of the soiJ. This remark applies to 
the northern portion of Fokien and to the whole of the 
province of Chekiang. I have ascended hills near the 
mouth of the Min at least 3000 feet above the level of 
the sea, which were under cultivation to the summit. 
The soil here was composed of a gravelly loam ; and, 
though far from rich, it contained more vegetable 
matter or humus, and was also much deeper. The 
addition of vegetable matter rendered the soil suffi- 
ciently fertile to repay the Chinese farmer for the 
labour expended in bringing the crops to maturity. 
Some of the hills are of course much more productive 
