324 Mr. R. Swinhoe’s Notes on Ornithology 
begin to increase in number, though without many trees. Culti¬ 
vation increases as you advance to the walls of Tientsin, where 
a large open grassy plain to the east arrests your attention. I 
was the only interpreter with Sir Robert Napier, General of the 
2nd Division, on the march to Tientsin ; and as the divisional 
duties were so heavy, I had not much time to shoot, or to bestow 
on natural history. But fortunately, on the march to Peking, 
I was attached to the topographic department under Colonel 
Wolsely, and my duties being principally confined to making 
inquiries of, and getting information from, the natives, I had 
plenty of opportunities, in our numerous halts, of paying some 
little attention to my favourite study. The Grand Canal, the 
Ta-se and Seaou-se Rivers, with the main branch of the Peiho 
winding N.W., together with their numerous creeks and tribu¬ 
taries, all offer excellent feeding-ground to numberless water- 
birds. The country consists of one vast alluvial plain of mixed 
sand and mud, gradually and almost imperceptibly ascending 
towards Peking. In the neighbourhood of Ho-se-woo, on the 
banks of the Peiho, a few sandy undulations break somewhat the 
flatness of the country. After leavingTientsin the numbers of trees 
about the villages begin to increase, and as you approach Peking, 
topes of lofty timber overshadowing the tumuli of departed great¬ 
ness give in many places quite a sylvan aspect to the scene. As 
we marched up in September the chief crops of sorghum, maize, 
cotton, three descriptions of small millet, pumpkins, beans, &c. 
were all ready for the harvest, and in some spots the reapers 
had already been busy. On our return in November the country 
presented a very barren face. All that was left of the waving 
maize and millet was merely the dry and hardened pegs, some 
foot and a half high, which covered acres of ground, and made 
digression from the road very unpleasant for the horses’ legs. 
We were delayed some time on the banks of the Yunleang 
Canal, some seven miles from Peking, waiting for reinforce¬ 
ments. This canal is the chief water-communication between 
Tungchow, on the banks of a branch of the Peiho, and Peking. It 
runs close to the Peiho, but not into it; thence westerly under 
the Pa-le (8 le) or stone bridge to the first weir, where the further 
portion of the canal is dammed and lies some 10 feet above. There 
