Chap. J I. 
STRANGE ECHO. 
45 
a proceeding would have been very indecorous, to say 
the least of it, I immediately gave up the idea. We now 
walked into the inn, and, seating ourselves quietly down 
at one of the tables, ordered some dinner to be brought 
to us. When we had taken our meal we lighted our 
Chinese pipes, and sauntered out, accompanied by our 
polite host, into the garden where the real attraction 
lay. " What a fine tree this of yours is ! we have never 
seen it in the countries near the sea where we come 
from ; pray give us some of its seeds/' " It is a fine 
tree," said the man, who was evidently much pleased 
with our admiration of it, and readily complied with our 
request. These seeds were carefully treasured ; and as 
they got home safely, and are now growing in England, 
we may expect in a few years to see a new and striking 
feature produced upon our landscape by this lovely tree. 
Afterwards, as we journeyed westward, it became more 
common, and was frequently to be seen in clumps on 
the sides of the hills. This tree has been named the 
Funereal Cypress. 
Leaving the town of Shang-i-yuen, abreast of which 
we had anchored during the night, we proceeded on our 
journey on the morning of the 31st of October. After 
going a short distance we came to a wild-looking part of 
the hills, where there was a most curious and distinct 
echo, called by the Chinese Fung-shu. The boatmen and 
passengers amused themselves by yelling and uttering 
strange sounds at the highest pitch of their voices ; these 
were taken up and distinctly repeated again and again, 
first by the nearest hills, and then by others more dis- 
tant, until they gradually died away. The Chinese have 
