262 
WANDERINGS IN CHINA. 
Chap. XVI. 
• CHAPTER XVI. 
Spring in the North of China — New Flowers — Journej^ through 
the Country — Motley Group of Fellow- Passengers — A Morning 
Scene in a Chinese Junk — Tartar City of Chapoo — Shops and 
Trade — Crowds of People — A Visit to the Mandarins — A Free 
Passage onward offered — Their Object in this — Means taken to 
thwart them — Leave Chapoo for Shanghae — Country and ToM^n 
of Ping-hoo — Silk-Districts visited — Cultivation of the Mul- 
berry — Management of the Silkworm — Arrival at Shanghae — 
Consul's Letter enclosing one from the Taoutae, or Head Man- 
darin — A most satisfactory Eeply. 
It was the commencement of spring when I returned to 
the north of China, from Hong-kong and Manila, where 
I had been during the winter. In this season of the 
year no country can be more agreeable or healthy than 
this. The air is bracing, the sky generally clear, and 
the mornings are delightfully cool. Before long, vege- 
tation progressed with wonderful rapidity, far surpassing 
anything of the kind I had ever witnessed in England. 
By the middle of April deciduous trees and shrubs were 
covered with leaves, barley was in full ear, and the oil- 
plant (Brassica sinensis) was seen forming masses 
of golden yellow, on the hill-sides and on the plains, 
where the air was perfumed with the fragrance of its 
blossoms. 
