The Mystic Flowery Land

PREFACE.

N launching a second edition of this work upon a lengthy voyage, I have much pleasure in expressing my thanks to the press and public for the encouragement and support they have accorded to it; and though fully conscious of the many imperfections therein, I trust it may be the means of enlisting the sympathy of my countrymen with the downtrodden "Children of Han" and their cause, and of making them more familiar with the beautiful and interesting types of scenery and architecture peculiar to the "Middle Kingdom". In that far empire-whose peace-loving thrifty people have, like the Israelites of old, long been held in bondage-a mighty struggle, similar to the great Taiping rebellion, will in all probability soon take place for the purpose of expelling the avaricious and tyrannical usurpers of the throne and re-establishing upon it the lawful heirs and descendents of the venerated Ming emperors. I sincerely trust that all those who are interested in the welfare of China will unite with the Reform Party in striving to deliver the Chinese from the hands of their oppressors by endeavouring to prevent any intervention which might prove disastrous to their justifiable cause.

One of my reviewers sagely observes that "it would in no way have detracted from the value of the book if I could have resisted a Wegg-like inclination to 'drop into poetry' on the smallest provocation." With all due deference I beg to submit that when considering the impression I wished to give of the country

I was writing about, and the circumstances which influenced and inspired much of the composition-the poetry is decidedly in suo proprio loco: for, to use the words of a gifted writer, "the East is the land of poetry. Here nature is found in her happiest moods: she lavishes all the tints of her wonderful palette on her gorgeous sunrises and sunsets; she instals her electric lights--the bright stars. in the blue depths of the unfathomable sky-and, so pure is the atmosphere, that one can see beyond their clear shining into the illimitable space; and her full-orbed moon floods the whole landscape with a silvery light but seldom seen in the West. The sun glows with such an intense heat that, aided by the tropical showers, the earth is clad with a hot-house growth of plants and shrubs; nor are her grander moods unrevealed to man, for towering crag and rugged mountain hem in the meandering river; and the soft lights of sunset play amidst their gloomy rocks and sheltered ravines, while the noon-day clouds cast passing shadows on the lovely scene."

Without further introduction I must now ask the reader to accompany me in imagination to those far-off shores of the "Mystic Flowery Land," hoping that the tour may prove an interesting and perhaps instructive one.

Herne Bay, Kent.

August 1898.

C. J. H. H.