C l im a t e
AHD SeAFace
of the
Country.
■ CHAPTER IV. ...
N A Ï U R A £ F O G R A P H Y .
Climate and^ Seafgns.— Face o f the Country.— Soil and Agriculture.—R ivers.—
' Lakes. —Mountains,— Forejts.-- Botany.— ZoologyMineralogy.— M ineral
Waters. —Natural Gurvofities.
THE European Intercourfe with China being chiefly confined to the
fouthern part of the empire, the climate is generally confiderëd as
hot, whereas the northern part of this extenfive country is liable' to, all
the, rigourso f the European winter.1 .. At Pekin fuch is the effeCt. o f the
great range of Tatarian,or rathey Manflmrian, mountains-covered with
perpetual fnow, that the average degree of the thermometer is under
20° in the.night, during thé winter months ; and even in the day it is
confiderably below the freezing-point. -The inhabitants, unaccuftomed
to domeftic fires, increafe their cloathing ; hilt in large buildings there
are ftoves provided with foffil coal, which is found in abundance in the
vicinity.- In an empire fo wideyfuch a. diverfity, of climate and feafons
mull occur that no general defcription can fuffice. PérHaps'every vegetable
production, adapted to ufe or luxury, might be reared within the
Ghinefe boundaries.
The.face of the country is infinitely diverfified ; and. though in a general
view it be flat and fertile, and interfered with numerous large
•rivers and canals, yet there are chains of granitic mountains, and other
diftricts of a wild and fa vage' nature. Cultivation has however cqn-
fiderably reduced the number and extent of fuch features, whence the
natives feek to diverfify the famenefs of improvement, by introducing
them in miniature into their gardens. In general the appearance of the
* Staunton, iii, ijy .
'2 country
country is-.rendered fingularly piCturefque by the peculiar ftyle o f the
buildings, and uncommon form of the trees and plants. .
' The foil is infinitely-various, .and agriculture, by the account of all
travellers', carried to the utmoft degree of perfection. The extent of the
internal commefCehas had the fame effeCt as i f wealth had been procured
from foreign climes;; and the advantage has been laudably ufed
in the improvement1 of the||epuntry. It is well known that the emperor
himfelf fets an annual example , of the veneration due to agriculture, the
firft and mo ft < important province of human induftry,. Sir George
Staunton thus expreffes his ideas of Ghinefe agriculture ^
- “ Where the face of the hill or mountain is not nearly perpendicular
to the level furface of the earth, the Hope is converted into a number of
terraces, one above another, each of which is fuppoxted by mounds of
ftoue. By this management it is not uncommon to fee the whole face
of a mountain- cpmplqtely ^ cultivated to the fummi|.y‘ Thefe ftkgeg are
notjcpnfiped tb.-the culture of any particulaf v egetable,Piilfe, • grain,
yams, fvveet potatoes, onions, carrots, turnips, and a variety of other culinary
plants, are produced upon them. A refer voir is funk in the top
of the mountain. The rain water collected in it is conveyed-, by channels,
fucceffively to the different .terrac-es, placed upon the mountain’s
fides. • In fpots too rugged, barren, fteep, or high ror railing other
plants, the camellia fefanqua, and divers firs, particularly .the larch, are
cultivated with fuceefs. v
1 “ The collection o f manure ‘ is an objeCt of fo- much attention
with the Chinefe, that a,prodigious number o f old men and women, as
weii as of children, incapable of much other labour, are ponftantly employed'about
the ftreets, public Toads, banks of canals, and rivers, .with
bafkets tied before them, and holding in their hands final! wooden
rakes, to pick up the dung of animals, and offals, of any kind, that may
anfwer the purpole. of manure; but above all others, except the dung
of fowl's, the Chinefe farmers, like the- Romans- according to the teftir
mony o f Columella, prefer föi'1 or the matter collected by. night me a m
London, in the vicinity of which it is in faCfc applied to the fame ufes ;.
as has already been alluded to in defcribing a vifit to -the Lo.wang pear
H b 1 i l l
F ace
Cou
Soil a
Agric