316 
SALT-PLAIN. 
p. XIX. 
served another purpose. A cemetery stands in 
its centre, which already contains a goodly number 
of our brave soldiers, who found the climate a 
much more formidable enemy than the Chinese. 
Beyond these barren lines the country gradually 
becomes more fertile, and yields fair crops of the 
gigantic millet — the Kow-leang of the Chinese — 
which I had already seen at Chefoo. It is curious 
to notice barren spots in the midst of the more 
fertile ones, and to observe the white salt covering 
the soil, telling too surely that the land is “ sowed 
with salt.” 
In this plain trees are few and far between. 
Willows occur here and there, with Sophora japo- 
nica, Diospyros Kaki, stunted examples of Bham- 
nus zizyphus, and a few others, generally about 
gardens, which I may notice afterwards. In 
winter, when these few trees have lost their leaves, 
and when the tall millet has been gathered, this 
plain must have a very dreary appearance indeed. 
The wild plants met with in the barren parts of 
the plain were such as Salsola, Statiee, Tamarix, 
Asclepias, Chenopodium, Malva, &e., plants which 
flourish in a salt soil. 
As soon as our troops had compelled the Chinese 
Government to act up to the letter and spirit of its 
treaty with Lord Elgin, almost all the great foreign 
mercantile houses in China sent representatives, 
and opened branch establishments at Tien-tsin. I 
found an old friend, Mr. Hanssen, representing 
Messrs. Dent and Co., who kindly offered me 
