more particularly described hereafter, exercising their profession for their masters in numerous boats. The surface in the north of this province and in Pechele is so flat and low, that the tide, which rises only nine or ten feet in the adjoining gulf, flows upwards of one hundred miles above the mouth of the Peiho. The country, therefore, consisting entirely of an argillaceous sand abounding in mica, is frequently laid under water, the general level not being more than two feet above the surface of the river at high tide. In this circumstance, joined to the vicinity of that constant source of inundations, the Yellow river, we may perceive, perhaps, an explanation of the great inundation or deluge, which the celebrated Yu is said to have carried off in the course of eight years by constructing "nine channels."

On entering Keangnân, which is divided into the subordinate provinces of Keangsoo and Ganhoey, the country soon improves, and the inequality of the surface renders the locks, or floodgates, very frequent on the canal. This is certainly the richest province of China. It is famous for its silks and japanned goods, made principally at Soo-chow. Nanking, the ancient capital, became permanently abandoned for Peking by Yoonglo, in the fifteenth century. The area of the ancient walls, only a corner of which is occupied by the present city, measures seventeen miles in circumference, being rather more than the circuit of Peking. The reigning Tartar dynasty find it their interest to retain the modern capital, from its vicinity to Mougden, their birth-place, but the ancient one is greatly more centrical, with a finer climate, and altogether better calculated to promote the prosperity of the empire. Shanghae, a seaport near the mouth of the Keang, was visited by Mr. Gutzlaff in 1831, and described by him as the most considerable trading place of any on the coast: it is, in fact, close to Soo

chow and Hangchow. On the Keang, not far from the mouth, is that remarkably beautiful little island, called the "Golden isle," surmounted by numerous temples, inhabited by the votaries of Budh, or Fo, and very correctly described so many centuries since by Marco Polo. At no great distance from this are the gardens of Kien-loong, erected for him when he visited his southern provinces, and viewed by us in the embassy of 1816: they were laid out in the usual style of Chinese gardening, with artificial rocks, and ruins, and wooden bridges over a piece of water. The embassy saw the room in which the Emperor dined, and a stone tablet, having engraved some sentences composed by himself. The whole, however, was in a sad state of dilapidation and ruin, like almost every thing else of the kind that we see in the country.

In the district of Hoey-chow-foo, the most southern city of the province, is grown the best green tea. The soil in which it is reared is a decomposition of granite, abounding in felspar, as is proved by its being used for porcelain. Thus the same soil produces the tea, and the cups in which it is drunk. In this province, too, is Foong-yang-foo, the birth-place of the founder of the Ming dynasty, who served, at first, as a menial in a monastery of bonzes. He then joined a body of insurgents against the Mongol dynasty, and became their chief. From beating the Tartars in every battle, and at length chasing them from the country, he was styled Hoong-woo, "the great warrior."

The adjoining province of Keang-sy is, perhaps, in point of natural scenery and climate, the most delightful part of China. The Poyang lake, in size approaching the character of an inland sea, is bordered on its west side by strikingly beautiful mountain scenery. It was only hereabouts that the two British embassies varied in their respective routes. That of

Lord Amherst proceeded along the Yangtse-keang after leaving the canal, until it reached the lake; while Lord Macartney crossed the Keang below Nanking, visited Soochow and Hâng-chow, and proceeding south and west, approached the lake at its southern extremity. The following account of the west side of the Poyang is from a MS. Journal:"Arrived early in the day at Nankang-foo. A long mole was built on the south-east side of the town, making a small harbour for boats to lie in, secure from the tempestuous waters of the lake in bad weather. While we were here, sufficient swell existed to make it resemble an arm of the sea, and the shore was covered with shingles in the manner of a seabeach." A description of the mountains in the neighbourhood will appear in another place, as well as of King-te-ching, the most noted manufactory for porcelain, to the eastward of the Poyang.

From Keang-sy to the adjoining province of Kuangtung, or Canton, the passage is cut through the precipitous ridge of mountains which separate them. It was formed by an individual during the dynasty Tâng, more than a thousand years since; and an arched gateway in the centre, of later construction, marks the boundary between the two provinces. The name of the pass, Meiling, is derived from the flower of a species of prunus which grows wild in profusion near the summit. After reaching the foot of the steep acclivity on the north side, the embassy were obliged to dismount from their horses, or quit their chairs in order to walk up. On reaching the summit, where the rock is cut to the depth of above twenty feet, the view on the Canton side breaks upon the eye in full grandeur, consisting of ranges of wild mountains, well wooded. The rocks at the pass have been erroneously stated to consist of gneiss and quartz: they are, in fact, limestone, in common with the whole

north of Canton province, and supply the grey marble, which is so plentifully brought down the river. Immense square blocks of the stone which compose the mountain are piled up in pyramidal shapes on each side of the road down the southern declivity; the separate masses, however, preserving the remains of a horizontal stratification.

The

The only two provinces to the east, or left of the route pursued by Lord Amherst's mission, are Chekeang and Fokien, both of them bordering the sea. The first of these competes with Keang-nân in the production of silk, and the country is thickly planted with young mulberry-trees, which are constantly renewed, as the most certain way of improving the quality of the silk which is spun by the worms. principal city of the province is the celebrated Hângchow, at the end of an estuary of the sea, where the tide, according to Barrow, rises six or seven feet. Close to this opulent town, on the west, is the famous lake Sy-hoo, about six miles in circumference, the water quite limpid, and overspread with the nelumbium. This extensive sheet of water is covered with barges, which appear to be the perpetual abodes of gaiety and dissipation. On the coast, in the 30th parallel of latitude, is the well-known port of Ningpo, the former seat of European trade. The entrance is said to be difficult, as there are scarcely twenty feet of water on the bar at the highest tides. Fifty or sixty miles from it, among the islands on the coast, is Chowsân or Chusan, with a good harbour, but inconvenient for trade in comparison with Ningpo itself.

The adjoining province of Fokien preserved its independence against the Manchow Tartars longer than any portion of the empire, being supported by the squadron of the famous pirate (as he is sometimes called, though he deserves a better name) whose son expelled the Dutch from the adjoining island For