Comparatively little attention has yet been paid to coal-mining in China, though there are known to be immense coal-beds practically untouched. Meanwhile they are content to denude the country of every vestige of timber for the sake of fuel, thus helping to cause an irregular rainfall and periodical flooding disasters.
We are liable in South China to very sudden changes of temperature. One April morning my thermometer registered 79? in the shade, and the air was filled with the voices of summer. The hum of the mosquito, the chirping of crickets, the croaking of frogs and the shrill cry of the cicada -all seemed to say "Summer has come." In two hours however the weather became bitterly cold, the thermometer suddenly dropping to 59? A change into cooler clothes meantime brought on a violent attack of fever, which lasted three or four days.
The Canton Province is not overrun with wild animals, but tigers, leopards, and wild cats are found on the hills, and their skins may be bought in Canton. Reports are also not infrequent of woodcutters being carried off by tigers.
… partridges and pheasants, pigeons and doves, sparrows, martins, tailor-birds, woodpeckers, wading-birds and beautiful king-fishers abound. Magpies, crows, snipe, and cranes are also seen in great numbers about Canton, while hawks, vultures, eagles, owls, and peacocks are found in various parts.
From "Kwang Tung, or Five Years in South China", by J.A. Turner, 1894.
P.7
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