Page:The New Monthly Magazine - Volume 095.djvu/454

Rh The journey up the river 'would have been performed with tolerable comfort, only that one of the coolies imprudently let it be known among the passengers that a Hong-mous, or foreigner, was among them, a circumstance which led to much subsequent annoyance. Two days were spent at a large town called Yen-chow-foo, half way between Hang-chow and Hwuy-chow. Navigation beyond this was impeded by rapids, the hills were covered with pines, and the lowlands, when not cultivated, abounded in tallow-trees, camphor-trees, and bamboos. A palm-tree, the only species of the genus indigenous to, or cultivated in, the northern or central provinces of the empire, was seen on the hill-sides, in a high state of perfection. Some plants of this remarkable palm, which flourishes in temperate climates, were sent home by Mr. Fortune in 1848 or 1849, and were planted in the royal gardens at Kew, and at Osborne House, and braved the severe winter of 1849–50 unharmed, unprotected by any sort of covering. Mr. Fortune is in hopes from these circumstances that we shall one day see this beautiful palm-tree ornamenting the hill-sides in the south of England!

Here also Mr. Fortune discovered that most beautiful tree, the funeral or weeping cypress, seeds of which arc now growing in England, and we may expect, in a few years, to see a new and striking feature produced upon our landscape by this valuable acquisition.

Thus, with such discoveries to charm him, our traveller passed day after day pleasantly enough: the weather was delightful, the natives quiet and inoffensive, the scenery picturesque in the highest degree. Large quantities of water-fowl, such as geese, ducks, teal, and several varieties of the kingfisher, wore common about the river. Inland, on the hill-sides, pheasants, woodcocks, and partridges, were most abundant. Several large towns were passed, some with a population estimated at least 100,000. At length the tea-plant was met with in frequent cultivation on the hill-sides, and a town called Waeping, with a population of 150,000, heralded the borders of the green-tea district. It was an ancient city, watered by a clear and beautiful river (the Hwuy-chow), surrounded by hills and romantic scenery, and defended by time-honoured walls. The troops in the Hwuy-chow district, it is to be remarked, were not on good terms with those of Hang-chow. The Chinese provincialists, indeed, often speak of one another as of foreigners. As the river got shallow, the boat was obliged to be changed: and upon this occasion, Mr. Fortune found that two coffins, each containing the body of a Chinaman, had been lying directly under his bed for the last three weeks, without his having any suspicion of the fact.

The river port of Hwuy-chow-foo, where the teas are shipped, is called Tun-che, and is a bustling place, with a population of about 150,000. The river had hitherto been bounded by high hills on each side. Now, however, they seemed, as it were, to fall back, and left an extensive and beautiful valley, through the middle of which the river flowed. Nearly all this lowland was under tea-cultivation, and the soil being rich and fertile, the bushes grew most luxuriantly. The place, however, where, according to Chinese tradition, the green tea-shrub was first discovered, is a hill called Sung-lo, or Sung-lo-shan, and was only reached next day. It was found to rise about 2000 or 3000 feet above the plain, and produced but little tea now—the lowlands around furnishing the greater