With the exception perhaps of Chusan, I have as yet seen no place in China which, in point of beauty of scenery, rivals Foochow.  The Min river passes to the sea between two mountain ranges, which, wherever the torrents have not washed away every particle of earth from the surface, are cultivated by the industrious Chinese in terraces to their very summits.  These mountain ranges close in upon its banks during the last part of its course:  at one time confining it to a comparatively narrow channel, and at another suffering it to expand into a lake; but in the vicinity of the Pagoda Island they separate, leaving between them the plain on which Foochow stands.  This plain is diversified by hill and dale, and comprises the Island of Nantai, which is the site of the foreign settlement.  At the season of my visit, both hills and plain were chiefly covered with wheat; but I was informed that the soil is induced, by irrigation and manure applied liberally, to yield in many cases, besides the wheat crop, two rice crops during the year.  We walked with perfect freedom, both about the town and into the surrounding country.  Nothing could be more courteous than the people of the villages, or more quaint than the landscape, consisting mainly of hillocks dotted with horseshoe graves, and monuments to the honour of virtuous maidens and faithful widows, surrounded by patches of wheat and vegetables.  Kensal Green or Pere la Chaise, cultivated as kitchen gardens, would not inaptly represent the general character of the rural districts of China which I have visited.

In some respects, however, the impression was not so satisfactory.  In his journal he says:—­

The people whom we met in our peregrinations were perfectly civil.  The Consul, too, and Europeans were civil likewise.  They were willing to give me information.  I do not know that I carried much away with me, except the general impression, that our trade is carried on on principles which are dishonest as regards the Chinese, and demoralising to our own people.

[Sidenote:  American missionaries.]

At Foochow, I saw one of the American missionaries, a very worthy man I should think, but not of the stamp of Mr. Burns.  He had been about eight years at Foochow, and he computed the converts made by himself and his brother missionaries at fifteen.  He said that they were particular as to the conduct of their converts; but I cannot affirm that he satisfied me that they accepted in any very earnest way the peculiar doctrines of Christianity.  However, I daresay that these missionaries do good, for the Chinese are not fanatics, and it must do them a benefit to see among them some foreigners who are not engaged exclusively in money-making.

[Sidenote:  Chinhae.]