exceeded any thing we had hitherto had an opportunity o f feeing
in China. The mountains furrounding it were lofty and
broken into a variety o f forms that were highly pidturelque ;
and the vallies were richly cloathed with trees o f deferent kinds,
among which three fpecies were remarkably ftriking, not only
by their intrinfic beauty, but alfo by the contrail they formed
with themfelves and the reft o f the trees o f the foreft. Thefe
were the Laurus Camphora or camphor tree, the Croton febi-
ferum or tallow tree, and the Tbuia Orientalis or arbor vita:.
The bright ihining green foliage o f the firft, mingled with the
purple leaves o f the fecond, and overtopped by the tall and
ftately tree o f life, o f the deepeft green, produced a pleafing
effedt to the e y e ; and the landfcape was rendered ftill more in-
terefting to the mind, by the very Angular and diverfified appearance
o f feveral repofitories o f the dead, upon the Hoping
lides o f the inferior hills. Here, as well as elfewhere, the fom-
bre and upright cyprefs was deftined to be the melancholy
companion o f the tombs. Higher ftill among the woods,
avenues had been opened to admit o f rows o f fmall blue houfes,
fupported on white colonnades which, on examination, were
alfo found to be manfions o f the dead. Naked coffins o f extraordinary
thicknefs were every where lying upon the furface o f
the ground.
The lake that extended from the walls o f the city to the feet
o f the mountains, and threw its numerous arms into the wooded
vallies, was the feat o f pleafure, as well as o f profit, to the inhabitants
o f Hang-tchoo-foo. Thefe amufements, however, o f
floating upon barges in the lake are principally confined to one
{ex.
fex. Few women, except thofe o f loofe charafler,- join in the
parties o f men. How miferable or, at beft, how little intereft
can be raifed in that ftate o f fociety where no focial intercourfe
o f the fexes exifts ; where fentiment, nice feeling and the fport
and play of the fofter paifions are totally unknown, and where
reafon and philofophy are at fo low an ebb ! In more enlightened
countries, when age may have weakened the ardour o f
joining in the fprightly female circle, or inclination lead to
more ferious converfations, numberlefs refources are ftill left
to exercife the faculties o f the mind, and fociety may always
be had for fuch as can relifh
“ The feaft o f reafon and the. flow o f foul.”
But in China the tenor o f their converfation muft be always
nearly the fame, turning chiefly on the affairs o f the neighbourhood,
the injuftice o f the magiftratës, the tricks and ftra-
tagems o f the crafty merchant, or o f the low mechanic. In
entertainments given by thofe who can afford to drink wine, it
is feldom ferved round as in other countries, but a number o f
puerile contrivances are praitifed to determine which of« the
party is to drink, as in the cafe I have already noticed o f the
g am e o f the fingers. Thus', a nofegay is paffed round from
hand to hand, whilft a man in an adjoining room beats a drum
or the gong, and he who happens to hold the nofegay when
the inftrument ceafes muft drink a cup o f wine. Many other
methods ftill more childifh are reforted to', in order to pafs
the time and to give a zeft to their wine ; but the ufual refource
here, as well as elfewhere, againft the tedioufnefs o f time, is
gaming. An attachment to this vice accompanies the loweft
3 x 2 . Chinefe