Chap. II. 
NATIVE PRODUCTIONS. 
31 
tlie river with great rapidity ; it was a beautiful autum- 
nal day, and the scene altogether was a most charming 
one. We had left behind us the great plain of the 
Yang-tse-kiang, and the country was now hilly and most 
romantic. The hills were richly wooded ; pines, cypresses, 
and junipers clothed their sides from the base nearly 
to the top, and their foliage of a sombre green contrasted 
strongly with the deep red, ripened leaves of the tallow- 
tree, which grows in great abundance on the plains. A 
few mulberry-trees were seen in the neighbourhood of 
Hang-chow, but, as we got higher up the river, their 
cultivation appeared to cease. Tobacco, Indian corn, 
millet, and a small portion of rice, seemed to be the 
staple productions of the plains ; millet and Indian corn 
were also observed on the lower sides of the hills. 
Buddhist temples and pagodas were observed, here 
and there, rising high above the trees ; one of the latter 
is called Lui-foong-ta, or the ''temple of the thundering 
winds." It stands on the borders of the Se-hoo lake, 
and appeared to be a very ancient edifice. Wild briers 
and other weeds were growing out of its walls, even up 
to its very summit, and it was evidently fast going to 
decay. It formed a striking feature in the landscape, 
and reminded me of those ancient castle ruins which are 
so common on the borders of England and Scotland. 
At night, when it became too dark to see our course, 
the boat was anchored abreast of a small village until 
the following morning, when we again got under way. 
We were now forty or fifty miles to the south-west of 
Hang- chow-f 00. 
My fellow -passengers, who were chiefly merchants and 
