his gun and dogs, taken to the life by the pencil of Mr. Scarth, a gentleman to whom I am indebted for several of the sketches in this work.

All the others seemed to look up to Mo-ze, for that was his name, and were guided entirely by him. Their guns were all of the same description: they were long matchlocks, very slender in their make, and apparently not very safe when English powder was used instead of Chinese. All who had guns now came and begged from me a supply of powder and shot, which they seemed to think much superior to their own. They then lighted the cord-matches which each carried on his arm, called the beaters and dogs together, and started in pursuit of deer.

It was a lovely spring morning, and spring is really lovely amongst these northern hills. The dew was on the grass, the little birds were chanting their morning song of praise, and the Chinese labourer was already at work in the fields. Many grass-cutters were working in the woods or on the borders of the dense uncultivated jungle, and to these our companions applied for information regarding the haunts of the wild deer. They succeeded at last in obtaining some specific information, and determined on beating an adjoining hill covered with coppice and jungle.

Those who had guns were now stationed at different places on the edge of the wood, and the beaters and dogs were sent into the jungle. I had never seen Chinese dogs hunting before, and was highly amused with their performance. They seem to have little or no scent, but they have a quick eye and a swift foot,

and a wounded animal rarely gets away from them. They are clever beaters, when taught as these dogs were, and at all events make noise enough. They are not, however, to be compared for a moment with our English dogs.

In a few minutes after the beating began, a deer was seen bounding over the brushwood across the side of the hill. One of the dogs pursued it, and all eyes were turned to the place, watching the point where it was likely to emerge from the coppice. At last it came within the range of our sportsmen's guns. Mr. Wills and a Chinaman both fired at the same instant. One of the shots broke the animal's hind leg, and the dogs soon hunted him down. Coppice after coppice was afterwards beat in the same manner with varied success, and when evening came we had no reason to be dissatisfied with our day's sport.

Returning to our boat, weary and ravenously hungry, we enjoyed our dinner, fought our battles o'er again, and enjoyed a sound and refreshing sleep. Next morning I rose early, and walked across the hills to the ancient temple of Tein-tung, a distance of five or six miles. When I reached the top of the first pass, where there is a small temple and a ruined pagoda, the view was grand indeed. Behind me lay the wide valley of Ning-po, watered by a network of rivers and canals, and exceedingly fertile. Before me lay a quiet and lovely valley, bounded apparently on all sides by hills. Rice was growing in the valley, and patches of tea were seen dotted on the lower sides of the hills; but all above this was in a state of nature, untouched by the hand of man.

All around wild flowers grew in great profusion. The yellow Azalea chinensis seemed to paint the hill-sides, so large were its flowers and vivid the colours. There was another shrub which is new to botanists, and scarcely yet known in Europe, called Amelanchier racemosa, not less beautiful than the azalea, and rivalling it in its masses of flowers of the purest snowy white.

As I descended the hill I passed a small and unassuming temple, erected, as the tablet states, to the "honoured gods of the soil." The accompanying sketch by Captain Cräcroft gives a good idea of it.

Small temples, or "tablets," of this description are often met with on the roadsides, particularly in the vicinity of monastic buildings. Idolatrous as they are, they show a spirit of thankfulness to the Supreme Being for the "showers that usher in the spring, and cheer the thirsty ground."

Having visited many places on my route to the temple, it was past midday ere I reached its sacred precincts. The large bronze bell in the belfry was tolling, and the priests were hurrying to the great hall, where their devotions were about to commence, for "it was the hour of prayer."

The hills in the vicinity of the temple are richly wooded. Indeed the priests of this sect seem to preserve, in a most scrupulous manner, the trees which grow in the neighbourhood of their temples, and thus contribute greatly to the beauty of the scenery. Some fine trees of Cryptomeria japonica adorn the approaches to the temple; and the largest specimens of the Chinese pine (Pinus sinensis) which I have met with in the country stand near it. There are also some fine bamboo woods here, which deserve more than a passing glance. The stems of this variety are sometimes a foot in circumference, clean, straight, and from thirty to fifty feet in height. Those rough branching kinds which I have seen in India, and in other parts of the world, are not to be compared to the northern Chinese variety. It ought by all means to be introduced into our Indian possessions in the Himalayas, where it would be as useful to the natives as it is to the Chinese.

The bamboo is one of the most valuable trees in China, and is used for almost every conceivable purpose. It is employed in making soldiers' hats and shields, umbrellas, soles of shoes, scaffolding poles, measures, baskets, ropes, paper, pencil-holders, brooms, sedan-chairs, pipes, flower-stakes and trellis-work in

gardens; pillows are made of the shavings; a kind. of rush cloak for wet weather is made from the leaves, and is called a So-e, or "garment of leaves." On the water it is used in making sails and covers for boats, for fishing-rods and fish-baskets, fishing-stakes and buoys; catamarans are rude boats, or rather floats, formed of a few logs of bamboo lashed firmly together. In agriculture the bamboo is used in making aqueducts for conveying water to the land; it forms part of the celebrated water-wheel, as well as of the plough, the harrow, and other implements of husbandry. Excellent water-pipes are made of it for conveying springs from the hills, to supply houses and temples in the valleys with pure water. Its roots are often cut into the most grotesque figures, and its stems finely carved into ornaments for the curious, or into incense-burners for the temples. The Ning-po furniture, the most beautiful in China, is often inlaid with figures of people, houses, temples, and pagodas in bamboo, which form most correct and striking pictures of China and the Chinese. The young shoots are boiled and eaten, and sweetmeats are also made of them. A substance found in the joints, called tabasheer, is used in medicine. In the manufacture of tea it helps to form the rolling-tables, dryingbaskets, and sieves; and last, though not least, the celebrated chop-sticks-the most important articles in domestic use-are made of it.

However incredulous the reader may be, I must him a step further, and tell him that I have not enumerated one-half of the uses to which the

still carry