ANCIENT CRANITE QUARRIES. 
65 
occasion a land-exploring party to tlie ancient granite 
quarries, from the granite of which the walls of the 
old city of Canton and the numerous huge 'river- 
forts were constructed long, long ago. At present 
the quarries form vast, gloomy caves and over- 
hanging, even-fronted, water- dripping rocks. The 
enormous moss-grown boulders and the heapcd-up 
masses of old-world lichen-stained granite encom- 
pass you on‘ every side, and you seem to be 
surrounded by the handiwork of Titans. All is 
silent, damp, and sombre. In the dark, deep pools 
the harmless water-snakes swim gracefully over the 
still surface, or dive beneath the water. The time- 
worn caverns and shady nooks, overgrown with 
foliase, are the favomcd haunt of the brown owl 
and the grey soft-plumaged goat-sucker, which 
startle us as they fly out suddenly from the deep 
silent chasms of the rock. I was much impressed 
on this occasion with the harmony of colour which 
exists between animals and the places in which 
they reside. A slender lizard, of a brownish-green 
coloin, is hardly to be distinguished from the blades 
