The children being curious to hear more about this
ginseng, I continued:
`In China it is considered so strengthening and wholesome, that it is
used as a sort of universal medicine, being supposed to prolong human
life.
`The emperor alone has the right to permit it to be gathered, and
guards are placed round land where it grows.
`Ginseng is to be found in Tartary, and has lately been discovered in
Canada; it is cultivated in Pennsylvania, because the Americans
introduce it secretly into China as smuggled merchandise.'
Fritz then continued:
`After this we went on to Woodlands; but mercy on us! What a confusion
the place was in! Everything smashed or torn, and covered with mud and
dirt; the fowls terrified, the sheep and goats scattered, the contents
of the rooms dashed about as if a whirlwind had swept through the
house.'
`What!' I exclaimed, while my wife looked horrified at the news,
conjuring up in her imagination hordes of savages who would soon come
and lay waste Falconhurst and Tentholm as well as Woodlands.
`How can that have happened? Did you discover the authors of all this
mischief?'
`Oh,' said Jack, `it was easy to see that those dreadful monkeys had
done it all. First they must have got into the yards and sheds, and
hunted the fowls and creatures about; and then I daresay the cunning
rascals put a little monkey in at some small opening, and bid him
unfasten the shutters--you know what nimble fingers they have.
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