IN SEARCH OF NEW PLANTS. 
397 
of us except as their conquerors, were 
frightened and jealous, and would give no. in- 
formation on the subject. They always sus- 
pected that I had some other object in view 
than simply collecting the plants of their 
country. At that time I could not speak a 
word of the language ; and my servant, who 
was brought up from the province of Canton, 
was equally at fault, so that every thing was 
up-hill work with us. However, by examin- 
ing every hole and corner of the city and 
suburbs, and sometimes getting the boys, who 
were less jealous than the rest, to assist us, 
we discovered several nurseries which con- 
tained large collections of plants, many of 
which were quite new and very ornamental. 
I was also much assisted by H. M. Consul, 
Captain Balfour, who was always ready and 
willing to aid me in my pursuits. Amongst 
other things, a very valuable collection of 
Tree Pasonies was obtained at this time. ' 
" It was now the depth of winter, and as 
vegetation was leafless, it was impossible to 
make anything like a complete collection until 
the following year, when the plants would be 
covered with leaves and flowers. I therefore 
packed up the things which I had already 
secured, and sailed for Ningpo on my way to 
the south. 
" Here I had the same difficulties to en- 
counter as I had at Shanghae, owing to the 
jealousy of the Chinese. Ultimately, however, 
I discovered several mandarins' gardens and 
nurseries, from which I made additions to my 
collections. All these things were of course 
out of flower, and some of them leafless at this 
season of the year ; but it will be seen after- 
wards that many of them proved most remark- 
able plants. Here, as at most other places, 
I made many inquiries after the supposed 
Yellow Camcllia ; and offered ten dollars to any 
Chinaman who would bring me one. Any 
tiling can be had in China for dollars ! and it 
was not long before two plants were brought 
to me, one of which was said to be light- 
yellow, and the other as deep as the double 
yellow rose. Both bad buds upon them, but 
neither were in flower. I felt quite certain 
that the Chinaman was deceiving me, and it 
seemed so foolish to pay sucii a sum for a 
plant which I would in all probability throw 
away afterwards, and yet I could not lose the 
chance, slight as it was, of possessing the 
yellow Camellia. Moreover, there was a 
written label stuck in each pot, both of which 
were old, and apparently the labels and writing 
bad been there for some years. At last we 
compromised the matter; I agreeing to pay 
half of the money down, and the other half 
after the plants had flowered. On these con- 
ditions I got the Camellias, and took them 
with me to Hong Kong. It is almost need- 
less to say that when they flowered nothing 
was yellow about them but the stamens, for 
they were both semi-double worthless kinds. 
" I now hired a Chinese boat, and crossed 
over to Chusan, where I arranged my col- 
lections and sailed for the south, arriving at 
Hong Kong on the 19th of January, 1844. 
My chief object now was to get cases made, 
and my collections packed and shipped for 
England. About eighteen cases were sent 
home in three different ships about this time, 
and several small packets of seeds were sent 
by the overland mail. 
" As it was autumn when I was travelling 
in the north of China, many of the plants on 
the hills were in seed, and it was impossible 
for me to say whether their flowers were 
ornamental or not. I made a selection how- 
ever upon chance, considering that there 
would be, at least, some good things amongst 
them, and that by this means a season would 
be gained. I did not intend them to be given 
out to the country until they were proved at 
the garden, or until I could have an oppor- 
tunity of seeing them in bloom on the Chinese 
hills, and of sending a description home. The 
seeds being in good condition were soon raised, 
and unfortunately many of them were givBn 
away, which did not prove at all ornamental. 
Others, however, were really valuable things, 
amongst which I may mention the Buddlea 
Lindleyana. the Azalea ovata, and the Cryp- 
tomeria japonica. 
" The plant cases to which I have already 
alluded contained amongst other things the 
following, many of which have been already 
given away to the Fellows of the Society : — 
ChirTta sinensis 
Arundina sinensis 
Spathoglottis Fortuni 
Fingered citron (true) 
Campanula grandiflora 
Azalea obtusa 
„ ovata 
„ squamata 
Abelia rupestris 
Buddlea Lindleyana 
Anemone japonica 
Lycoris radiata? 
Daphne Fortuni 
Forsythia viridissima 
Jasminum nudiflorum 
"Weigela rosea 
Indigofera decora 
Cryptomcria japonica 
and twe've or thirteen very fine new varieties 
of the Tree Poeony, having several shades of 
purple, lilac, deep red, and white flowers. 
Besides these, the cases contained a number 
of valuable plants which have not flowered, 
and about which little is at present known. 
" While I was waiting in the south of China 
for the dispatch of the collections just noticed, 
I took the opportunity of visiting Canton and 
Macao at two different times, and saw the 
Camellias, Azaleas, Moutans, and other plants 
in bloom. The gardens of the Hong mer- 
chants and the nurseries at Fa-tee are parti- 
cularly gay during the spring months with 
these flowers. The Moutans are yearly 
brought down from the north to Canton, 
