thé waters to be fully as populous as the land. No rent is ex-
afled by the government, nor toll, nor tyfhe, nor licence-mo-
ney for permiflion to catch fiih ; nor is there any fort o f impediment
againil the free ufe o f any lake, river Or canal whatfoever.
Thé gifts that nature has beftowed aré cáütioülly ufurped by
áiiy power, even in this defpotie government, for individual
ufe Or profit ; but are fuffered to remain the free property o f ail
who may chufe by their labour to derive advantage from them.
But even this free and unreftrained ufe is barely fuffieient te
procure for them the necefiaries, much lefs any o f the comforts,
o f life. The condition o f the peafantry, in the northern parti
o f this province, was much more defirable. Their clothing
was decent; their countenances cheerful, indicating plenty;
and their dwellings were built o f bricks or wood, appearing
more folid and comfortable than thofe o f the province in which
the capital is fituated. But the poor filhermen carried about
with them unequivocal marks o f their poverty. Their pale
meagre looks are afcribed to the frequent, and almoft exclufive,
ufe o f fiih; which is fuppofed to give them a fcrophulous’
habit o f body. Their endeavours, however, are not wanting
to corre£t any acid or unwholefome humours that this fort o f
diet may produce, by the abundant ufe o f onions and garlic;
which they cultivate even upon the waters. Having no houfes
on ihore, nor ilationary abode, but moving about in their v e t
fels upon the extenfive lakes and rivers, they have no induce--
ment to cultivate patches o f ground, which the purfuits o f their
profeffion might require them to leave for the profit o f another;
they prefer, therefore, to plant their Onions on rafts o f
bamboo, well interwoven with réeds and ttrong grafs and
covered
covered with earth; and thefe floating gardens are towed after
their boats.
The women afllft in dragging the net and other operations
o f taking fiih ; but the younger part o f the family are fometimes
employed in breeding ducks. Thefe ftupid birds here acquire
an aftonilhing degree o f docility. In a fingle veffel are fometimes
many hundreds which, like the cattle o f the Kaflfers in
'fouthern Africa, on the fignal o f a whittle leap into the water,
or upon the banks to feed ; and another whittle brings them back.
Like the ancient Egyptians, they ufe artificial means o f hatching
eggs, by burying them in fend at the bottom o f wooden boxes,
and placing them on plates o f iron kept moderately warm by
fmall furnaces underneath. Thus the old birds which, provided
they hatched their-eggs themfelves, would only produce
one brood, or at moil two, in the courfe o f the year, continue
to lay eggs almoft every month. Hogs are alfo kept in many
o f the fiihing craft. In fa£t, ducks and hogs affording the moffi
favory meat, moft abounding in fat and, it may be added, beft
..able to fubfifl themfelves, are efteemed above all other animals.
The ducks being fplit open, felted, and dried in the fun, are
exchanged for rice or other grain. In this ftate we found
.them an excellent re liih; and, at our reqneft, they were
.plentifully fupplied during the whole progrefs through the
country.
The province o f Shan-tung extends in latitude from thirty»
/ o u r ,and a- half to thirty-eight degrees. The mean temperature,
from the 19th o f October to the zgth o f the feme month,
was