A Naturalist in Western China With Vasculum, Camera and Gun Vol. II

By Ernest Henry Wilson and Charles Sprague Sargent

From his years of work in Western China in the early 1900s, Ernest Henry Wilson introduced numerous new plants to the gardens of Europe and North America. In this book the author describes expeditions on behalf of the famous nursery of Veitch & Sons to find and collect seeds, bulbs, plants and also herbarium material for Kew Gardens. He paints a vivid picture of the natural history of the region and of the culture and customs of the people.-Print ed.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Braunfell Books
• Release date: Feb 22, 2023
• ISBN: 9781805231134

Book preview

CHAPTER II—THE PRINCIPAL TIMBER TREES

THE forested regions of China are today remote from the populous parts of the country, and are only to be found in the more wildly mountainous parts, which are little suited to agriculture, and where the rivers are unnavigable rock-strewn torrents, and roads, as such, can scarcely be said to exist. Such districts are always at considerable elevation and are but sparsely peopled. In all the more accessible regions agriculture has claimed the land, and the trees are only met with around houses, temples, tombs, stream-sides, or crowning cliffs. The scarcity of timber is acutely felt throughout the length and breadth of the land. Dressed logs and poles are carried long distances to navigable waterways and floated either down or up-stream, consequently their cost is high. The ports on the sea-board and lower Yangtsze import timber in quantity for general construction purposes from Puget Sound and British Columbia. A certain amount also comes from Japan. Hardwoods for miscellaneous purposes are imported from various parts of Malaysia, and a certain amount of Jarrah wood for railway work has recently been sent from Australia. The famous blackwood furniture of China is not made of native wood, but of timber imported from Bangkok, Saigon, and other places in Indo-China. Botanically the source of Chinese blackwood is unknown. The so-called Bombay blackwood is derived from Dalbergia latifolia, and possibly the Chinese kind is from a closely allied species. Western China is rather better off for timber than other parts of China, and fortunately so, since the importation of timber as a business is utterly impossible. Nevertheless there is a great dearth of wood for building purposes, and timber prices have doubled during the last decade. The massive timbers to be seen in old Chinese temples and houses are now unobtainable from the native trees of China.

Since the scarcity of timber is so great, every kind of tree found in the thickly populated regions furnishes wood of some value, but for the purpose of this chapter it suffices to give a brief account of the more important kinds and those most generally useful.

By far the most important timber in China is, of course, the stems of the Bamboo. The Jesuit priest, Trigault, in a work on China, published in 1615, states: "They have a kind of reed called Bambu by the Portuguese. It is almost as hard as iron. The largest kind is scarcely encompassed with two hands. It is hollow inside and presents many joints outside. The Chinese use it for pillars, shafts of lances, and for 600 other domestic purposes."

Although three centuries have elapsed since the above quotation was written it applies equally to the conditions of the present day, for the uses to which the Bamboo is put in China are indeed limitless. It supplies many of the multifarious needs of the people with whose everyday life, from birth to death, it is inseparably entwined. From Bamboo stems are fashioned the various household utensils, furniture, the house itself, many agricultural implements, masts and gear for boats, rafts, ropes, bridges, irrigation-wheels, water-pipes, gas-pipes, tubes for raising brine, sedan-chairs, tobacco and opium-pipes, bird-cages, snares for entrapping insects, birds, and animals, umbrellas, raincoats, hats, soles for shoes, under-shirts, sandals, combs, musical instruments, ornamental vases, boxes, and works of art, the pen (brush) to write with, the paper to write upon, everything, in fact, useful and ornamental, from the hats of the highest officials to the pole with which the coolie carries his load. Formerly the records of the race were written on bamboo tablets which were strung together at one end like a fan. Records of this description, dug up in A.D. 281, after having been buried for 600 years, were found to contain the history of Tsin from 784 B.C., and incidentally also that of China for 1500 years before that date.

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Bamboo shavings are used in caulking boats and for stuffing pillows and mattresses. The young shoots are a valued vegetable. According to popular belief, in times of scarcity a compassionate Deity causes the Bamboo to flower and yield a harvest of grain to save the people from starvation.

The Bamboo flourishes everywhere in the Far East, and is just as beautiful when sheltering the peasant’s cottage or beggar’s hut as when ornamenting the courtyards of temples and the mansions of the wealthy. It is the one woody plant that is really abundant throughout all but the coldest parts of the Middle Kingdom. The Occident possesses no tree or shrub which for all-round general usefulness compares with the Bamboo of the Orient.

The Chinese generic name for the Bamboo family is Chu, the different kinds being distinguished by a prefix. The natives have no difficulty in recognizing the various species, but botanists generally have found Bamboos exceedingly difficult to deal with systematically. In the Index Florœ Sinensis 33 species are enumerated, but for the purpose of this chapter only 4 or 5 species are involved.

Throughout the Yangtsze Valley, up to about 2500 feet altitude, the Pan chu (Phyllostachys pubescens) is one of the commonest species. Its young spear-like stems rear themselves 30 to 40 feet, and finally develop into beautiful arched plumes. The stems are about 3 or 4 inches in diameter, dark shining green, becoming yellow with age. The wood is moderately thick and is used for a great variety of purposes. It is largely employed on the Yangstze, above Ichang, for making tracking lines for the various river craft. A species allied to this, but smaller in every way, never exceeding 20 feet in height, is the Ch’ung chu (P. heteroclada). This Bamboo is commonly used in western Hupeh for paper-making.

A very common species in the warmer parts of Szechuan is the Tz’u chu (Bambusa arundinacea, often called B. spinosa), the Spiny Bamboo. This magnificent species produces stems 50 to 75 feet tall and 8 to 10 inches in diameter at base. It does not spread very much, but forms compact clumps, which are impenetrable on account of their density and the presence of innumerable, slender, ferociously spiny stems which develop among and around the larger culms. This Bamboo has a small core and very thick wood. It is used in household carpentry, for furniture, ornamental vases, boxes, and scaffolding, and has a hundred and one other uses.

Another species is the Nan chu (Dendrocalamus giganteus), the largest growing of all the Bamboos found in western Szechuan. This is confined to the warmer parts of the province, where it forms wide-spreading groves. The stems grow 60 to 80 feet tall and are 10 or 12 inches thick. The core is very large, the wood thin and light. It is commonly used for constructing the rafts which ply on the shallow but turbulent rivers of western Szechuan. It has also many other uses and is especially prized for making chop-sticks.

Yet another very commonly cultivated species is Bambusa vulgaris, sometimes called the Kwanyin chu, which produces pale-coloured stems 30 to 50 feet tall. The wood is thin and is used for a variety of purposes, but is less valuable than any of the foregoing. The young shoots of these large-growing Bamboos are cut just as they appear above the ground, and eaten as a vegetable, the flesh being white, firm and crisp.

Apart from Bamboo the most common timber for all round use is that derived from the Sha shu, or China Fir (Cunninghamia lanceolata). This coniferous tree is widely spread throughout warm-temperate parts of China and is especially partial to red sandstone. It is particularly abundant in the Yachou Prefecture and on the mountains bordering the north-west corner of the Chengtu Plain. It grows from 80 to 120 feet tall, and has a straight mast-like stem; after the trees are cut down this Conifer reproduces itself by sprouts from the old stumps. The bark is commonly employed for roofing purposes. The wood is light, fragrant, and easily worked. For general building purposes, house-fittings, and indoor carpentry it is the most esteemed of all Chinese timbers; also it is in great request for coffin-making, the fragrant properties of the wood being considered to act as a preservative. For ordinary coffins several logs are dressed and fastened together laterally to form a thick, wide plank called Ho-pan, four of which, with two end pieces added, make a coffin. All who can afford it have such coffins lacquered a shining jet-black. But the more expensive coffins are those in which each Ho-pan is hewn from a single log of timber, and the most valuable of all are those made from Hsiang Mu (fragrant wood), or Yin-chên Mu (long-buried wood). For such a coffin 400 to 1000 ounces of silver is the usual price. For the most part, Yin-chên Mu comes from the Chiench’ang Valley, where it was probably engulfed as the result of an earthquake in times past. In 1904 I ascended the Tung Valley from Fulin to Moshi-mien, en route for Tachienlu, and near the hamlet of Wan-tung came upon a place where natives were engaged in excavating buried timbers. The work was being carried on in a narrow valley. At the head of the valley a torrent had been dammed up and the accumulated waters, released at will from time to time through a sluice, carried much of the overlying debris away. Many of the excavations were fully 50 feet deep. All sorts of timber is found buried in this place, but only the Hsiang Mu (fragrant wood) is considered of value. I procured a specimen of this wood, and subsequent microscopic examination has proved it to be that of C. lanceolata. The Chinese consider that these trees have been buried for two or three hundred years. The timber is wonderfully preserved and is more compact in texture and more fragrant than that of recently felled trees. Ho-pans made from Hsiang Mu average about 30 inches wide and 7 feet in length. In all my travels in Western China I have seen only one living specimen of Cunninghamia approaching to the size of these long-buried giants.

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In Chengtu and neighbouring cities, the timber known as Lien sha, derived from Abies Delavayi and allied species, is generally employed for all the larger beams, pillars, and planking in house-building. This handsome Silver Fir (Abies Delavayi) is common on all the higher mountains of the west, but that glowing in the Yachou prefecture is most accessible, and this district is the main source of the timber-supply. The timber is soft and not very durable, but the large size of the logs render it most serviceable. The Pine (Sung shu) is very common, the most widely distributed species being Pinus Massoniana. This tree ascends from sea-level to 4000 feet altitude. The timber obtained from the higher altitudes is close-grained, resinous, and durable, but that from low-levels is soft, very open, and of little value. Other Hard Pines, such as P. Henryi, P. densata, P. Wilsonii, P. prominens, are found at higher altitudes (up to 10,000 feet) and yield valuable timber, but unfortunately they occur only in inaccessible places. The Chinese White Pine (P. Armandi) is widely spread in the more mountainous parts. This tree never attains any great size, but the timber is very durable and resinous. It is esteemed for building purposes and for making torches.

All the Conifers yield useful timber, but unfortunately few are found today in accessible regions. Around Tachienlu the Hung sha (Red Fir), Larix Potaninii, is esteemed the most valuable of all timbers. The Tieh sha (Tsuga yunnanensis, T. chinensis) is made into shingles for roofing purposes and is also valued for planking. In the Lungan prefecture the Mê-tiao sha (Picea ascendens) is a most valuable timber for general building purposes. Many other kinds of Spruce (Picea) occur on the mountains, and with Silver Fir (Abies) and Larch (Larix) form the only remaining Conifer forests in Western China. Juniper (Hsiang-peh sha), Juniperus saltuaria, is common north of Sungpan, where it is valued for building purposes. Cupressus torulosa (K’an-peh sha) occurs in the arid valleys of the west; Taxus cuspidata, var. chinensis (Tuen-ch’u sha), and Keteleeria Davidiana (Yu sha or Oil Fir) are found scattered all over Western China between 2000 and 5000 feet altitude, but are nowhere really abundant.

From Ichang westward, up to 3500 feet altitude, the commonest Conifer next to Pine is the Peh sha or White Fir (Cupressus funebris), and in the more rocky limestone regions it is the more common tree of the two. This handsome Cypress, with its pendant branches, is generally planted over tombs and shrines and in temple grounds. The wood is white, hard, heavy, and exceedingly tough. It enters largely into the structure of all boats plying on the Upper Yangtsze, forming the sides, bulkheads, and often the cross-beams and decks. It is also made into chairs, tables, and other furniture. The superstructure of the boat is usually of Sha Mu (Cunninghamia), the bottom and main timbers of Oak and Nanmu.

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Oak is widely dispersed from river-level to 8000 feet altitude, but large trees are scarce except in the vicinity of tombs, shrines, and other sacred places. A general name for the family is Li, and the Chinese distinguish many kinds, such as Peh-fan, Hwa, Hung, Tueh, and Chu li; botanically about a score of species occur in this region, of which the commonest are Quercus serrata, Q. variabilis, and Q. aliena. All yield close-grained timber, highly valued for a variety of purposes apart from boat-building.

Nanmu (Southernwood) includes a number of species of Machilus and Lindera. All are evergreen and singularly handsome trees. They are largely planted around homesteads and temples in Szechuan, and are a prominent feature of the scenery of parts of the Chengtu Plain and around the base of Mount Omei. They grow to a great size and have clean, straight trunks and wide-spreading, umbrageous heads. The timber is close-grained, fragrant, greenish and brown in colour, easily worked, and very durable. It is highly esteemed for furniture-making, and for pillars in the temples and the houses of the wealthy. As planking it is used for boat bottoms. Nanmu is one of the most valuable of all Chinese timbers, and the tree itself among the handsomest of evergreens. Camphor (Ch’ang shu), Cinnamomum Camphora, is found scattered over western Hupeh and Szechuan up to 3500 feet altitude, and its fragrant timber, like that of Nanmu, is made into high-class furniture. The wood furnished by the thick main roots of this tree is known as Ying Mu and is valued for cabinet work.

For high-grade cabinet work, picture frames, and the very best furniture the timber most highly esteemed in Szechuan is the Hung-tou Mu, derived from Ormosia Hosiei, a tree allied to the Sophora. In the spring O. Hosiei produces large panicles of white and pink pea-shaped flowers, and at all seasons of the year is a striking tree. The wood is heavier than water, of a rich red colour, and beautifully marked. It is the most high-priced of all local timbers, and is now very scarce. In north-central Szechuan it is still fairly common, but on the Chengtu Plain it is only found in temple grounds or over shrines. The native name signifies Red Bean tree, the seeds being red and contained in bean-like pods. Allied to the foregoing is Dalbergia hupeana, which yields the valuable T’an Mu, a wood whitish in colour, very heavy, and exceedingly hard and tough. It is almost exclusively employed in building the wheelbarrows used on the Chengtu Plain; for the handles of carpenters’ tools, rammers for oil-presses, blocks and pulleys used on boats, and for every purpose where stress and strain obtain. This tree grows tall (80 feet) but is never of any great thickness; it is widely spread in the west up to 3000 feet