The gardens around the dwelling-house display the taste of Mr. Beale, (in spite of the frequent destructive effects of the typhoons,) in arrangement, as well as choice of rare and valuable productions of the vegetable kingdom. Among others may be mentioned the Laurus Cassia, or China cinnamon, the leaves of which, and every part of the tree, yield, on being broken or rubbed, a most powerful and agreeable fragrance. Here also is a beautiful species of Nauclea, of the elevation of sixty or seventy feet, and a circumference of two feet; it was of straight growth, covered by a profusion of beautiful flowers in corymbs, and was branchy only at or near the summit. There were also some young trees of Cookea punctata, which bears the fruit called Whampee by the Chinese, and another species of the same genus from Manilla, which differed, however, materially from the preceding, from the foliage having a very strong taste and smell of aniseed: from this peculiarity it has been named Cookea anisetta.
Besides a multitude of the Chrysanthemum indica of different brilliant hues, in which China is so prolific, both for the number, size, and beauty of the varieties, Mr. Beale has a low shrubby species from Japan, which bears a profusion of small dark-red flowers. I saw a beautiful drawing of one of the plants in full bloom, but the plant itself, at the time of my departure from Macao, had not entirely expanded its flowers.[26] There is a flourishing plant of the single Japanese Caucus,[27] numerous varieties of the beautiful Chinese Camellias, several species of Bauhinias from India, and the Black Chilly plant also from India. The fruit of this latter plant, before attaining maturity, is perfectly black, or rather, as a true black does not exist in the vegetable kingdom, a purplish black, but when ripe it becomes red; the stem, &c. of the plant has also a dark tinge. Two species of Annona, indigenous to China, and removed from its wild state in the vicinity of Macao to this garden, particularly attracted my notice; one is probably an undescribed species; it is found growing upon the hills near Macao. The tree was now both in fruit and flower, the latter being very fragrant; the Chinese name it the Hill Annona, or, in their language, Shan, Ying, Chāo; the other species is the A. uncata, called by the Chinese, Ying, Chāo.
In a pond in the garden are some beautiful specimens of the Golden Carp, (Cyprinus auratus, Linn.) which inhabits the lakes of southern China; the tail has a trifid form, the anal fins become double, and they appear subject to several variations, which, when depicted in drawings, has caused many to regard them as merely specimens, proceeding from the imagination of the artist. At night the ponds are covered with a gauze frame, to preserve the finned creatures from nocturnal enemies; but with all the precautions used, the kingfishers sometimes capture them, and many had received injury, although they escaped from those depredators.
A number of the Chinese varieties of oranges are in the garden, including the Citrus nobilis, or Mandarin orange, and numerous others.[28]
There were also several plants of a species of Lycopodium, planted in pots, and kept well watered; it is an elegant species, rising from a stalk of about five inches in height, having on the summit its peculiar foliage, sometimes expanded and sometimes closed. This is a very ornamental plant; it resembles the species given me at Manilla, which I was told had been procured from Mexico, where it is found growing upon the rocks; and although kept for years in a dried state, revives and expands its foliage when placed in the water.[29]
There is a plantain-tree frequently seen growing in the gardens, which is called Fāā, tsieu, or red flowering plantain, by the Chinese. The anthers appear fertile, but it is said not to produce fruit; the flower proceeds from the centre of the upper part of the stem, growing erect, the scapes being of a crimson colour, frequently tipped with yellow: this plant has a very ornamental appearance in the gardens. I remarked also, in several of the plants, that many of the scapes become partially changed to floral leaflets, and the others remain in their original state.
The roots, or rather the creeping stem of the Lien, wha, of the Chinese, (Nelumbium speciosum,) are seen carried about for sale in the streets of Macao and Canton, as well as in large quantities in the bazaars. Although highly esteemed by the Chinese, I do not admire it as an esculent vegetable, being of a soft, pappy, and tasteless flavour; the only gratification derived from it is found in the growth of the plant and elegance of its blossom. According to Dr. Abel, the Chinese cultivate and prize it above all other plants. “This splendid flower,” he says, “celebrated for its beauty by the Chinese poets, and ranked for its virtues among the plants which, according to Chinese theology, enter into the beverage of immortality, flourished in the greatest vigour in the gardens of Tung, chow. Its tulip-like blossoms of many petals, tinted with the most delicate pink, hung over its fan-like leaves, floated on the surface of the water, or rising on long footstalks, of unequal height, bent them into elegant curves, and shaded with graceful festoons the plants beneath. Near Yuen-Ming-Yuen, and under the walls of Pekin,” continues Dr. Abel, “I saw it covering, with pink and yellow blossoms, large tracts of land, and could sympathise with the enthusiasm of the Chinese bards, who have sung of the delight of moonlight excursions on rivers, covered with the flowering Lien, wha. Its seeds, in size and form, like a small acorn without its cup, are eaten green, or dried as nuts, and are often preserved as sweetmeats; they have a nut-like flower. Its roots, sometimes as thick as the arm, of a pale green without, and whitish within, in a raw state, are eaten as fruit, being juicy, and of a sweetish and refreshing flavour, and when boiled are served as vegetables. The leaves are said to possess a strengthening quality; the seed vessel to cure the colic, to facilitate parturition, and to counteract the effects of poison.”[30]
The Arachis hypogæa, or ground nuts, are sold in great abundance in the bazaars, and about the streets of Macao and Canton, and are much eaten by the Chinese, who also extract an oil from the seeds for a variety of purposes.
Mr. Beale presented me with drawings by a Chinese artist, of the plants from which the pith, used in the manufacture of that kind of paper known to Europeans under the denomination of rice-paper, and that from which the fibre used in the manufacture of the grass-cloth is procured. I suspect that the fibre used for the Manilla senimaya, or grass-cloth, is not produced from the Musa textilis, as is commonly supposed, which point has not, although often asserted by writers, been actually decided; it is more probably produced from a plant similar to that used by the Chinese, which is Corchorus, probably capsularis.