



Produced by Madeleine Fournier. Images provided by the Internet Archive.




[Illustration: The City of Foo-chow-foo and Long Bridge]


                        THREE YEARS' WANDERINGS

                                  IN

                        THE NORTHERN PROVINCES

                                  OF

                                CHINA.




                                LONDON:

                        SPOTTISWOODE and SHAW,

                          New-street-Square.


                   *       *       *       *       *


                          WANDERINGS IN CHINA

            [Illustration : A CHINESE MARRIAGE PROCESSION.]



                        THREE YEARS' WANDERINGS

                                  IN

                        THE NORTHERN PROVINCES

                                  OF

                                CHINA,


                               INCLUDING

            A VISIT TO THE TEA, SILK, AND COTTON COUNTRIES:


                        WITH AN ACCOUNT OF THE

             AGRICULTURE AND HORTICULTURE OF THE CHINESE,

                           NEW PLANTS, ETC.




                                  BY

                            ROBERT FORTUNE,

      BOTANICAL COLLECTOR TO THE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY OF LONDON.


                          With Illustrations.


                                LONDON:

                    JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE STREET.

                                 1847.


                   *       *       *       *       *


                               CONTENTS.

                              CHAPTER I.

Introduction.--Erroneous Notions regarding China.--No correct Sources
of Information.--Information gleaned from the Chinese not to be
depended upon.--Imaginative Powers of Authors on China.--Peculiar
Traits in the Character of the Chinese.--Remarks on Agriculture and
Soil.--On Government and Laws.--China has been retrograding for many
Years.--My own Experience.

                              CHAPTER II.

First View of China and the Impressions produced.--Contrasted with
Java.--Land at Hong-kong.--Description of its Harbour.--Town of
Victoria.--Chinese Towns, Stanley and Aberdeen.--Description of
the Island.--Effects of Rains.--"Happy Valley" noticed.--Chinese
mode of "Stopping the Supplies."--Views from the tops of
Mountains.--Climate.--Botany of the Island.--Few Animals
indigenous.--Unhealthiness of the Settlement.--Its Causes.--Character
of the Chinese Population.--Mixed Character of Foreigners.--Remarks on
the Settlement as a Place of Trade.

                             CHAPTER III.

Leave Hong-kong for Amoy.--Opium Station at Namoa.--Liberty the English
enjoy there.--Chinese Population, and their Modes of living.--A new
Admiral makes new Laws.--Cherry Brandy alters his Views.--The Account
which, as in Duty bound, he sends to Peking.--Natural Tunnel through
Chaple Island.--Amoy.--Remarks on its Trade.--Travels in the Country
amongst the People.--The want of a Tail.--The Hills.--Island of
Koo-lung-soo.--Effects of War.--Strange Rocks.--Unhealthy Nature of the
Island.--Botany and Birds.--Visit to one of the Chief Mandarins.--His
House and Grounds.

                              CHAPTER IV.

Leave Amoy.--Gale in the Formosa Channel.--Driven back to
Chimoo.--Chimoo Bay.--Chinese Mode of paying Taxes.--Character of
the Natives.--Journey to the Hills.--Chimoo Pagoda.--Interesting
Scenery.--Attacked and robbed.--My Servant's Opinion of the State of
Matters.--Get back in safety to the Shore.--Novel Mode of crossing the
wet Sands.--New Plants found.--The Bay of Chinchew.

                              CHAPTER V.

Land at Chusan.--Description of the Island.--Town of
Tinghae.--Agriculture.--Staple Productions.--Hemp Plants.--Palm
of which Ropes are made--Trefoil cultivated for Manure.--Oil
Plant.--Flora.--Hills covered with Azaleas, etc.--The Tallow
Tree.--Green Tea Shrub.--Bamboos and other Trees.--Fruits.--Yang Mai
and Kum-quat.--Inhabitants and Shops in Tinghae.--English Names on
Shop Doors.--A new Language.--Mode of classing Foreigners.--Diseases
of the Eye common.--Salt-making.--Method of preparing the Vegetable
Tallow.--Mode of hatching Eggs by artificial Heat.

                              CHAPTER VI.

First Visit to Ning-po.--The Bridge of Boats.--City and
Pagoda.--Medical Missionary.--Temperature--Chinese Mode of
keeping themselves warm.--Charcoal Stoves.--My Lodgings.--Chinese
Gamblers.--Description of Shops.--Silks and Embroidery.--Jade
Stone.--Cotton Printing.--Rope making.--Curiosity Shops
and Contents--"Furniture Street" and Furniture.--Banking
Establishment.--No prospect of Foreign Trade.--Temples, and
Devotion of some of the People.--Dwarfed Trees.--Mode of Dwarfing