IN SEARCH OF NEW PLANTS. 
ward the views of the Society. Messrs. Dent 
and Co. in particular not only gave me a room 
in their house, but placed their gardens at 
Macao and Hong Kong entirely at my service, 
giving me leave to take from them any plant 
I might wish to send to England, and to use 
them for depositing any of my collections in, 
until an opportunity occurred of sending them 
home. 
" As soon as I was fairly clear of the ship 
I began my researches upon our island of 
Hong Kong, then in its infancy as a British 
settlement. This island is a chain of moun- 
tains, 1800 or 2000 feet high, sloping in a 
rugged and unequal manner on each side, 
down to the sea. It is about ten miles in 
length, from east to west; in some places 
three, in others five in breadth, and contains 
very little level ground capable of cultivation. 
In its general features and sterility it is 
exactly the same as I have already noticed 
with regard to the other portions of this part 
of the Chinese empire. 
There are few trees of any size to be met 
with on the island except those kinds, such as 
Mangos, Lee-chees, Longans, "Wampees, Gua- 
vas, and other well known things, which are 
planted and reared in some of the most fer- 
tile spots for the sake of their fruit. Finns 
sinensis is met with everywhere on the hill 
sides, but it never attains any size, partly 
owing to the sterility of the soil, and partly to 
the practice which the Chinese have of lop- 
ping off its under branches yearly for fire- 
wood. Several species of Lagerstroemia are 
met with, both wild and in gardens, and are 
so ornamental when in bloom, that they always 
reminded me of our own beautiful hawthorn. 
The Screw pine fPandanus odoratissimus), 
and two or three well-known species of Palm, 
fcre met with on the low land near the sea. 
As we ascend, the hill sides and ravines be- 
come rich in Melastomas, Lycopodiums, Ferns, 
Phaius grandifolius, and several other familiar 
Orchideous plants. It is a curious fact, how- 
ever, that all the fine flowering plants which 
wc admire so much in England are found high 
up on the hills. The Azaleas, Enkianthus, 
and Clematises, for example, generally choose 
situations from 1500 to 1800 feet above the 
level of the sea. 
" After three weeks of hard labour and ex- 
posure under a July sun, both on the islands 
and mainland in this part of China, I was 
forced to come to the conclusion at last, that 
the south had been too much ransacked by 
former botanists to yield now much that was 
really new, and at the same time ornamental. 
Two or three good plants, however, to a cer- 
tain extent, repaid me for nry labour, and 
these readied England alive a few months 
ttfter this time. Their names are Chirita 
sinensis, Arundina sinensis, Spathoglottis 
Fortuni, and a curious dwarf Lycopodium, 
which is like a tree fern in minature. 
" The heat at this time was very great, the 
thermometer frequently standing at 92° F. 
in the shade, and 140" when exposed to the 
sun, but even this was nothing when compared 
with those sensations which every foreigner 
in Hong Kong feels from the dry and heated 
air, probably caused by the absence or scarcity 
of trees and shrubs. 
" Having completed my researches for the 
season at Hong Kong, I left the island on the 
30th of August, and proceeded to Canton and 
Macao. At Canton the principal objects of 
attraction in a botanical way are the gardens 
of the Hong merchants, and the celebrated 
collections at a place called Fa-tee. The 
latter are simply nursery gardens, where 
plants are grown and exposed for sale. Many 
beautiful species, almost all natives of the 
south of China, are met with in these gardens, 
which, however, possess little that is really 
new or unknown in England. I believe the 
only plants of any value which I was able to 
introduce to this country from the gardens of 
Canton and Macao were the Fingered Citron, 
the true Mandarin Orange, and the striking 
and beautiful Camellia hexangularis. 
" I now determined to proceed immediately 
to the northern provinces as soon as I could 
find a vessel in which I could engage a pas- 
sage. I sailed on the 23d of August, and 
after visiting the island Namoa, and some 
others of less note on the way up, I reached 
Amoy on the 3d of September. To my dis- 
appointment, this part of China was even 
more sterile and barren than that in the pro- 
vince of Canton. The island of Koolungsoo, 
then in the hands of the British, is divided 
from Amoy by a narrow arm of the sea. 
From the number of pretty houses and gar- 
dens which were found upon it when taken by 
our troops, there can be no doubt that it was 
here where the rich and gay amongst the 
Amoy merchants had their country and family 
residences. The gardens, however, pretty as 
they were, contained lew plants of value, or 
different from what I had already met with at 
Hong Kong and Canton. Some roses which 
I sent to the Horticultural Society from that 
place are said to be very distinct and fine, but 
I have never had an opportunity of seeing 
them in bloom. 
" Having travelled all over the country ad- 
jacent to Amoy and completed my researches, 
I sailed again towards the Formosa Channel, 
on my way to our most northern stations of 
Chusan, Ningpo, and Shanghae. The mon- 
soon, however, had now changed from south- 
west to north-east, and we experienced very 
stormy weather, and strong northerly currents, 
