Mr. Maries tells us, in the Garden: "I have told you elsewhere, about how the Chinese dispose of their dead at Shanghai. They are little better here at Kuikiang. Go where you will there are graveyards in the fields, on the hills, in the valleys. You can always see the end of a coffin sticking out of the bank, and perhaps a skull or a few bones near. Here people are not placed outside to dry up, but they are buried as soon as dead, not always in the strongest made coffins, and often (if the man be poor) not deep in the ground. Most of the rich Chinese choose a place near the hills, and are buried in a brick tomb with a tablet with name, etc, on it in front. A mound of earth is thrown up round the tomb and trees planted - Willows, Cupressus, and Junipers generally, also Yews, with a small road cut through the mound in front of the tablet. The relations of the deceased come every year to pray, or, as they say, 'Chin chin.' They then fire off a lot of crackers, offer food to the departed spirit, have a ramble and enjoy themselves generally, and go home for another year.

The only few decent trees one sees are either round a temple or near a grave."