Page:The New Monthly Magazine - Volume 095.djvu/457

450 large city to tho we§t of the Bohea mountains, was quickly effected; and beyond this he came to Hokow, the great emporium of the black-tea trade, and one of the most important inland towns of the empire, having a population of about 300,000 souls. Largo inns, tea-hongs, and warehouses, were met with in every part pf the town, and particularly along the banks of the river. The boats moored abreast of the town were very numerous. There were small ones for single passengers, large passage-boats for the public, and mandarins' boats gaily decorated with flags. Besides these, there were large cargo-boats for conveying tea, and other menchandise, either eastward to Yuk-shan or westward to the Puyang lake. Hokow is to the inland countries of the west what Shanghae and Soo-chow are to places nearer the sea.

From hence Mr. Fortune proceeded, in a mountain-chair, across the Bohea hills to Woo-e-shan; the natural difficulties of the way increased by the importunities of beggars. Beyond Yuen-shan was a crowded and bustling thoroughfare, like that between Yuk-shan and Chang-saii, with inns and tea-shops all along the road. Hue describes the same thing as existing in more northerly parts of China. Long trains of coolies, or porters, laden with chests of tea and other produce, and travellers in mountain-chairs, were toiling up the mountain sides, or winding along the valleys.

Soon tho Bohea mountains lay before our traveller in all their grandeur; their tops pierced through the clouds, and showed themselves far above them. They seemed to be broken into a thousand fragments, some of which had most remarkable and striking outlines. But still ever the mountain-road was good, there was the same crowded thoroughfare, and tho same perpetual succession of inns and tea-shops. Great gates and an arched way divided the provinces of Fokien and Kiang-see at tho crest of the mountains. Vegetation was various and beautiful, and beyond this the streams flowed to tho southward. There was another lower range to cross, and one or two towns, before reaching the tea-districts of Fokien. In the midst of the district is the great town of Tsong-gan-hien, where nearly all the teas are packed and prepared for exportation.

The "far-famed Woo-e-shan" is a collection of little hills, of broken rocks, and perpendicular cliffs and precipices, some of which attain a height of more than a thousand feet, and stand in the midst of the plain of Tsong-gan-hien.

Woo-e-shan (says Mr. Fortune) is considered by the Chinese to he one of the most wonderful, as well as one of the most sacred, spots in the empire. One of their manuscripts, quoted by Mr. Hall, thus describes it: "Of all the mountains of Fokien those of Woo-e arc the finest, and its water the best. They are awfully high and rugged, surrounded by water, and seem as if excavated by spirits; nothing more wonderful can be seen. From the dynasty of Cain and Han down to the present time, a succession of hermits and priests, of the sects of Tao-cze and Fo, have here risen up like the clouds of the air and the grass of the field, too numerous to enumerate. Its chief renown, however, is derived from its productions, and of these tea is the most celebrated.

I stood for some time on a point of rising ground midway between Tsong-gan-hien and Woo-e-shan, and surveyed the strange scene which lay before me. I had expected to sec a wonderful sight when I reached this place, but I must confess the scene far surpassed any ideas I had formed respecting it.