252 
Mr. R. Swinhoe on the Birds 
beach. The shores of the bay are very much indented, and 
form quite a number of subordinate bays. The bay is bounded 
by two long peninsulas that stretch out like horns from the 
main land and converge towards the entrance of the harbour. 
The average breadth of each of these peninsulas may be 4 or 5 
miles. The centre of each is occupied by a range of rocky hills 
consisting of stratified limestone and clay, of what the geologists 
would call a “ metamorphic formation.” In these rocks large 
quantities of granite occur, and the scratches and broad lines 
on the slabs of softer limestone give plain indications of the 
grinding influence of giant glaciers during the long-past ee glacial 
period.” Water is scarce and chiefly procured from wells, but 
a few trickling streams may be discovered stealing down the 
depths of the chasms and ravines that wash the sides of the 
hills. The villages are mostly small and cluster in chosen spots 
round streams or wells, but scarce any bear the stamp of later 
date than 80 or 100 years, judging from the growth of the 
trees planted in their neighbourhood; for, with the exception 
of such trees, sylvan vegetation is unknown there, though the 
hills are covered with verdure and offer a rich gathering to the 
botanist. You would naturally expect to meet here Mantchu- 
rians, considering the province generally marked down as part 
of Mantchuria; but not so, the natives (who are stout and 
brawny-looking fellows, though uncouth and boorish) report 
themselves as colonists from the Chinese provinces of Shantung 
and Shanse. They live in strongly-built huts composed of stone 
and mud, with thatched roofs; but the internal economy of their 
dwellings is fearfully neglected and slovenly, and all kinds of 
vermin abound. It is a strange fact that these people do not 
drink tea, using instead a decoction of millet . Opium, on the 
contrary, has found its way among them; and not a few have 
fallen victims to its ravages. Their language is a vulgar patois 
of the court dialect. Bearded corn, coarse millet, maize, beans, 
potatoes (the true English potatoe is eaten there, boiled as a deli¬ 
cacy with sugar), form the chief crops in summer. The climate 
even at this late season was never hot, a nice fresh breeze always 
blowing from the sea; and such delightful evenings ! Strange 
to say, birds were scarce; for what particular reasons I could not 
