220 NURSERY GARDENS. 
no wish to buy any thing, and again left him in the hopes of 
penetrating into the city. But the Chinese followed him a second 
time, and seizing his arm still more roughly, led him in a very deter- 
mined manner, but with an air of mock politeness, to the outside 
of the gate. It afterwards appeared, that a police officer, in the 
character of a salesman, had been posted at the gate for the purpose 
of intercepting any strangers who might attempt to enter the city. 
Satisfied with exploring the suburbs of Canton, the Embassy were 
desirous of turning their steps to the surrounding country ; but this 
was also prohibited ground, excepting the nursery gardens at Fa-tee, 
situated on the southern bank of the river about three miles from 
Canton. The reputed richness of these gardens in rare and beau- 
tiful plants raised our expectations, and did not lead entirely to 
their disappointment. Plants remarkable for their dazzling colours 
and singular forms were, however, more cultivated than those of 
great rarity. The Mou-tan or peony tree, Azalias, Camellias, the Vac- 
cinium formosa , roses, and a great variety of orange plants in full fruit, 
were the most general. The mou-tan, also called fa-wang or king 
of flowers, on account of its beauty, and pe-leang-king or hundred 
ounces of gold, on account of the enormous price given for it by 
the curious, was not in flower when I saw it. I could not therefore 
judge, from my own observation, of the fidelity of those Chinese 
drawings which represent this plant with yellow flowers, and was 
unable to meet with any person at Canton who had either seen or 
believed it to exist. The mou-tan is said never to survive more than 
three years at Canton or Macao : all the plants of it which I saw 
were very young. 
Of the double flowered Camellia Japonica *, the varieties were 
numerous ; but in no respect different to those that are seen in this 
* I have no doubt that this plant is often confounded with the full flowered Camellia 
oleifera, and that the latter is often sent to this country and cultivated for the former. 
The Camellia oleifera may be distinguished from the Camellia Japonica by its more silky 
calyx, and still more decidedly by its leaves being veinless beneath. 
