292 THE PAK-Y-HAK SNAKE. cons, sacres, lanner and peregrines were fully employed in sporting, every bird having a silver label fastened to his leg, on which was inscribed the name of its owner. China is famous for the beauty and abundance of its pheasants, of which the Kin-ki, golden pheasant, and a stranger and bolder bird, the silver pheasant, are, perhaps, the most prized, though the ring and argus pheasant are fine birds, while the barred-tail pheasant is truly magnificent. The tail-feathers of the latter are sometimes seven feet long. The pencilled and the diamond pheasants are, also, beautiful. The bird of paradise, of its different kinds, is a splendid creature. The mandarin duck is very beautiful in its plumage; it is said that this bird will never mate a second time. Peacocks, cocks and hens, quails, partridges, pigeons, herons, curlews, plovers, woodcocks, snipes, fishing-cormorants, parrots, parroquets, and ducks, are among the other birds of the empire. Tortoises and serpents in many parts abound; the former, which sometimes run to a very large size, are kept in pleasure grounds as objects of curiosity by the nobility, while some of the latter are very venomous. The monstrous snakes in the Isle of Hainan are usually shy and not dangerous; but woe betide him who is bitten by the Pak-yhak. This reptile, which is about three feet long when fully grown, comes up from the creeks, and HUGE CHINESE SERPENTS. 293 creeps up drains into houses. It loves marshy places, and readily takes to the water, wherein it appears at home. It is found, also, among the weeds and rushes, brought up by the freshes of the river. There are several kinds of snakes that abound in the rice-fields. If I believed the strange accounts which have been given of huge Chinese serpents of ten paces long, with claws like those of a tiger, with glaring eyes as big as fourpenny loaves, with large, and sharp teeth, and jaws wide enough to swallow human beings, I should dwell a little upon them; but, as it is, I will pass them by, merely making the remark, that the natives are said to lay pieces of wood, armed with iron spikes and covered over with sand, in their paths to destroy them—their great weight occasioning the sharp spikes to wound and rip them up. Some say that these huge monsters are nothing more than crocodiles; but, whatever they are, we must now leave them. The fish of China are very abundant, from the Hoang-yu, or yellow-fish of the Yang-tse-kiang, which sometimes weighs eight hundred pounds, to the smallest kind that swims. The Tcho-kie-yu, or armour-fish; the meal-fish, so called on account of its whiteness; and the gold-fish, the most brilliant of fresh-water fishes, are in great repute; but I must tell you of a singular way of fishing practised by the Chinese. It is as follows: "In the morning, when the sun rises, one may see on 294 THE FISHING CORMORANT. the rivers a considerable number of boats, and several of these diving-birds sitting on the sides: the fishermen turn their boats about upon the river, and, at the signal which they give, by striking one of their oars on the water, the cormorants fly into the river, and, diving to the very bottom, seize the fish by the middle; then, coming up again, they carry it to the bark, where the fisherman receiving it, takes the bird, and, holding her legs uppermost, makes her disgorge the small fish which she had swallowed, by passing his hand along her neck, on which there is a ring at the lower part, which hinders them from going directly into the crop. When the fishing is quite over, they take away the ring, and let them feed; when a particular fish is too large for one, they assist each other; one takes the tail, and the other the head, and bring it to their master." The insects of China, as might be supposed in so large a country, are in their kinds almost endless; beetles of surprising beauty, and butterflies, eight or nine inches between the tips of their outspread wings, figure among them. We, now and then, see a fine moth or butterfly in England, but think of one rich and gorgeous in colours, eight or nine inches across his wings, winnowing his way amid buds and blossoms and China roses! Fluttering with rapture through his sunny hour WHAT HAS BEEN SAID WILL BE REMEMBERED. 295 You have now had all the "points and pickings" about Chinese animals, birds and fish, reptiles and insects, that I have time to give. In future, when you think of China, some part of what I have said on these subjects will, I doubt not, rise to your remembrance. CHAPTER XXXI. A FEW OBSERVATIONS ON BOTANY AND OTHER THINGS. China possesses a great variety of Trees and Plants and Flowers.-The Chinese know but little of Botany.-Treatises on Botany and Herbals.-Peter Osbeck, Dr. Clarke Abel, Beale, Reeves, and Livingstone. - Camphor Tree, Mo-wang, Nanmo, Croton, Mulberry, Bamboo.-Tea Plant. -Gathering and preparing Tea.-Rice.-Cotton.-Silk. You will readily conclude that an empire so widely extended as that of China, and comprehending almost every degree of heat and cold, must necessarily abound in trees, and plants, and flowers of almost every variety. From the giants of the forest to the smallest herbs, this is no doubt the case, though it by no means follows that we should be well acquainted with them. It has pleased God to beautify the earth with vegetation, And his Almighty hand we see In flower, and shrub, and plant, and tree. An extended knowledge of the vegetation of China is very desirable. Where little is known, |