alio, it was remarked, that the bed o f the canal was carried in a
line fo nearly horizontal, that the water had a gentle current
either to the northward or the fouthward, according as thefe
flaiicea were kept fhut or thrown open ; this line being afcer-
tained, perhaps, rather by the furface o f the lake than by the
affiftance o f inftruments ; for it was fufficiently remarkable, that
no opportunity had been omitted in carrying this great work
along the fide, or through the middle, o f lakes or other pools of
water wherever it could be done.
The nature o f the country admitted o f fuch management for
three days’ journey, or about eighty miles from Tfte-ning. The'
whole o f this extenfive plain confifted in lakes or fwampy
ground half covered with water. On the former were conftant-
]y feen moving about veflels with fails and boats o f every de-
fcription, conveying an animated pifture o f activity, induftry,
and commerce. Almoft all the lakes were ftudded with iflandsr
and thefe were covered with villages, that were chiefly inhabited
by fiihermen. Here, for the firft time, we obferved the
L cu-tzé or fiihing corvorant, the Pelicanus Sinenfis, diving after
the finny tribe and feemingly no lefs anxious than its matter
to take them. This bird is fo like another fpecies o f the pelican,
called the Carbo or common corvorant which in England, as
naturalifts inform us, was formerly trained for fiihing, that it has
ufually been confidered the fame, but from feveral, fpecimens
brought home with us it appears to be a different fpecies. The
ufual p ra iticeis to take ten or twelve o f thefe birds, in the
morning when failing, upon a raft o f bamboo poles lafhed together,
and to let one or two at moil at a time dive for filh,
which
which are taken from them the moment they bring them to the
furface., Thefe birds, not much larger than the common duck,
will feize and gripe fad fiihes that are not lefs than their own
weight. When the proprietor judges the firft pair to be pretty
well fatigued, they are fuffered to feed by way o f encouragement
on fome o f the filh they have taken, and a fecond pair
are difpatched upon the water. The filh we obferved them to
take was a fpecies o f perch. In the courfe o f three days’ navigation,
w e faw feveral thoufand boats and rafts employed in this
kind o f fiihing.
Except on the water and the ¡Hands, the whole o f the
fwampy country might be faid to be uninhabited and totally
void o f any kind o f cultivation. Sometimes,.indeed, a few mi-
ferable mud huts appeared on: the fmall hillocks that here and1
there raifed their heads out o f the dreary wafte of morafs; but
the chief inhabitants were cranes, herons, guillemots and a vail
variety o f other kinds o f birds that frequent the waters and
fwamps. Here too are great numbers o f that Angular and beautiful,
bird, the Anas Galertculata, ufually known by the'name'
of tht Mandarin thick- which* like the gold-and filver frftfes,
is caught and reared as an article o f fate -to the opulent and curious
« The great extent o f water had aTenfible1 effe£t on the temperature
o f the air, efpecially in > the. mornings and evenings;
when Fahrenheit’s,thermometer was fometimes below 40°.
Having. pafled the; lakes and fwamps, we entered fuddenly, 1
on the 31 ft» upon a moil' delightful part o f the country,’ crowded
with temples and villages and towns :and cities, near all1 o f
3 t 2 which*