Three Years' Wanderings in the Northern Provinces of China. Robert Fortune

the level of the sea. In the northern parts of China, such as Chusan and the mountainous country near Ning-po, the same description of plants are indigenous to less elevated situations, and there, on the tops of the hills, we find little else than specks of grass, wild roses and violets, thus showing how plants accommodate themselves to the climate, by choosing a higher or lower altitude as the climate in which they are placed may be hot or cold. All the beautiful plants indigenous to Hong-kong, with the exceptions already pointed out, grow and flourish high up amongst the hills. Several species of Azalea, a plant now so well known in England, are found covering the sides of the hills at least fifteen hundred feet above the level of the sea, and they are not met with at all at a low elevation on the same hills. The Polyspora axillaris grows in the same situations, and another plant, perhaps the most beautiful of all; I mean the Enkianthus reticulatus. This plant is very highly prized by the Chinese. It flowers in February and March, about the time of their new year, and they then bring the branches down from the hills in great quantities for the decoration of their houses. The flowers are unexpanded when they are gathered, but by being placed in water, they very soon bloom in the houses, and remain for more than a fortnight as fresh and beautiful as if they had been taken up with their roots in the most careful manner. Even the more beautiful amongst the native Orchids are only found at a considerable elevation. The tops of the highest hills are covered in the summer and autumn months with the purple Arundina sinensis, and the yellow Spathoglottis Fortuni.

      The trees on the island are few, and generally in a stunted condition. The fir (Pinus sinensis) is common here as it is all along the coast of China; Cunninghamia sinensis is rare on Hong-kong, although frequently met with on the main land; the tallow-tree is also indigenous, but no use is made of its fruit. Many kinds of the fig tribe are common, and one, the Ficus nitida, a kind of banyan, sometimes forms a very ornamental tree. Several species of bamboo seem to grow very well, and in the situations where they are found are strikingly ornamental.

      The only trees to the cultivation of which the Chinese pay any attention, are the fruit bearing kinds; and in some places there are very fair orchards containing the Mango, Leechee, Longan, Wangpee, Orange, Citrons, and Pumelows.

      Although there are many more species of shrubs and trees indigenous to Hong-kong, yet after all the island has a barren and desolate appearance. The nature of the soil will always be a great barrier in the way of any improvement in this state of things; but even this, to a certain extent at least, may be overcome by the liberality of the Government, or even by the energy and taste of private individuals, and Hong-kong or Victoria may become in a few years very different from what it now is. We have only to look at what has been done as an earnest of what may follow. Trees lately planted are already growing beautifully in the grounds of Messrs. Dents, the Honourable Major Caine, Messrs. Jardine, and Messrs. Matheson, and at Mr. Stewart's, a considerable way up the hill.

      The island is not rich in indigenous animals. I have frequently seen wild goats feeding in the most inaccessible parts of the rocky crags; there are also deer and foxes, but these are extremely rare. The only animals of the feathered tribe one meets with are, two or three species of king-fishers, some small singing birds and a few wood-pigeons where there are any trees or bushes to shelter them. The main land is much better stocked with birds. From thence the natives bring to the market large quantities of pheasants, partridges, quail, ducks, teal, and sometimes woodcocks and snipes. These birds are seldom seen wild amongst the mountains of Hong-kong, and when they are, they have only accidentally strayed from the main land. Luckily for the poor Chinese, their waters are much more productive than the land, and an inconceivable variety of fish is daily brought to the markets, and forms, with rice, the staple article of their food.

      There are numerous fine quarries of granite along the coast, from which the stone has been obtained for the new town of Victoria. Much of the granite in different parts of the island is in a state of decay, and some ingenious persons have fancied that to this may be ascribed the prevalence of that malignant disease called the "Hong-kong fever," which has baffled medical skill, and carried hundreds to the tomb.

The autumnal months, August, September, and October, are most unhealthy. In 1843, when I first visited the island, it was in a lamentable condition. A place called the "West Point," where some barracks stood, and which was to all appearance as healthy as any other, proved fatal to the greater part of a detachment of our troops quartered there. The mortality was such, that Lord Saltoun, then commander-in-chief, was obliged to remove the wretched remnant, and ordered the barracks to be pulled down.[1] The "Wang-nai-chung," that "happy Valley" already noticed, was another most unhealthy spot. One of my fellow-passengers, Mr. Dyer, and his partner, who came out with high hopes of succeeding in business under the new regulations, went to live in this place, where, in a few days, they were seized with fever, and in a few more they had both gone to "that undiscovered country from whose bourn no traveller returns." In other parts of the island, which were at that time considered more healthy, fever prevailed to a great extent. Among those who were carried off, and whose death caused the greatest regret, were Major Pottinger and the Honourable J. R. Morrison, Chinese interpreter, son of the celebrated Dr. Morrison. The former had been only out for a few days, and was on the point of returning home with despatches for the Government. Many other instances might be mentioned; but these are sufficient to show the deplorable condition of our new settlement at this time; and so malignant and fatal was this disease, that few who were seized ever recovered. The only advice the doctors gave, was at once to leave the island and fly to Macao.

      The south side of Hong-kong was at this time considered much more healthy than the north, where the new town of Victoria was being built. The prevailing opinion amongst the inhabitants then was that the town ought to have been placed on the south side, which had the advantage of being exposed to the refreshing breeze of the south-west monsoon, from which the north was in a great measure shut out by the range of mountains. This theory, however, was soon disproved, for latterly the troops stationed at Aberdeen, on the south side, have suffered more than those in Victoria.

      My own observation has led me to the following conclusions:—Much of the sickness and mortality, doubtless, proceeded from the imperfect construction and dampness of the houses in which our people were obliged to live when the colony was first formed; and a great deal may be also attributed to exposure to the fierce and burning rays of the Hong-kong sun. All the travellers in the East, with whom I had any conversation on the subject, agreed, that there was a fierceness and oppressiveness in the sun's rays here, which they never experienced in any other part of the tropics, even under the line. I have no doubt that this is caused by the want of luxuriant vegetation, and the consequent reflection of the sun's rays. The bare and barren rocks and soil reflect every ray that strikes them; there are no trees or bushes to afford shade, or to decompose the carbonic acid, and render it fit for the respiration of man, and thus the air wants that peculiar softness which makes it so agreeable even in hot tropical climates.

      If these are the principal causes of the mortality in our new colony, the remedy will of course be apparent to every one. Already a great improvement has taken place in the houses of the merchants, and in the barracks of the soldiers, and the results have been most satisfactory. But the colonists must not stop at this stage in their improvements. Let the Government and the inhabitants use every means in their power to clothe the hill-sides in and around the town with a healthy vegetation; let them plant trees and shrubs by the road sides, in gardens, and in every place available for such purposes; and then I have no doubt that Victoria will be quite as healthy as Macao. No one can approve of the selection of Hong-kong as a British settlement; but that part of the business being irremediable, we must make the most of our bargain.

      The native population in Victoria, consist of shopkeepers, tradesmen, servants, boat-people, and Coolies, and altogether form a most motley group. Unfortunately there is no inducement for the respectable Chinese merchant to take up his quarters there, and until that takes place, we shall always have the worst set of people in the country. The town swarms with thieves and robbers, who are only kept under by the strong armed police lately established. Previous to this, scarcely a dark night passed without some one having his house broken into by an armed band, and all that was valuable being carried off or destroyed. These audacious