galleys ■were animated, the chief objetft o f the Chinefe chorus
feemed to be that o f combining chearfulnefs with regularity.
“ Verfe fweetens toil» however rude, the found.”
O f their honefty, fobricty, and earefulnefs, we had already received
convincing proofs. O f the number pf packages,
amounting to more than fix hundred, o f various fizes and de-
fcriptions, not a fingle article was miffing nor injured, on their
arrival at the capital, notwithftanding they had been moved
about, and carried by land, and tranihipped feveral times. O f
the three ftate-officers, who had been deputed from court to
attend the embaffy, two o f them were the moft obliging and
attentive creatures imaginable. The third, a Tartar, who firft
made his appearance at Tien-fng, was diftant, proud, and imperious.
The Chinefe indeed were invariably more affable
than the Tartars. In ffiort, had we returned to Europe, without
proceeding farther in the country than Tien-fing, a moft
lively impreffion would always have remained op my mind in
favour o f the Chinefe. But a variety o f incidents that afterwards
occurred, and a more intimate acquaintance with their
manners and habits, produced a woeful change o f fgntiment in
this refpeft. O f fuch incidents, as may tend to illuftrate the
moral character o f this extraordinary people, I fhall relate a few
that were the moft ftriking, in taking a general view o f their
ftate o f fociety, to which, and to the nature o f the executive
government, all their moral actions may be referred: and by
the influence o f which, the natural bent o f their character evidently
has undergone a complete change.
Leaving
Leaving Tien-fing on the n th o f Auguft, we found the
river coniiderably contracted in its dimenfions, and the ftream
more powerful. The furface o f the country, in faCt, began to
affume a leis uniform appearance, being now partly broken
into hill and dale ; but nothing approaching to a mountain was
yet vifible in any direction. It was ftill however fcantily
wooded, few trees appearing except large willows on the banks,
and knots o f elms, or firs, before the houfes o f men in office,
and the temples, both o f which were generally found at the
head o f each village. More grain was here cultivated than on
the plains near the mouth o f the river. Tw o fpecies o f millet,
the panicum eras g alli, and the italicum, and two o f a larger
grain, the holcus forghutn, and the faccharatus, were the moft
abundant. We obferved alfo a few patches o f buck-wheat,
and different forts o f kidney-beans; but neither common wheat,
barley, nor oats. A fpecies o f nettle, the urtica nivea was alfo
fown in fquare patches, for the purpofe of converting its fibres
into thread, o f which they manufacture a kind o f cloth. We
faw no gardens nor pleafure-grouuds, but eonfiderable traits o f
pafture or meadow-land intervened between the villages, on
which however were few cattle, and thofe few remarkably
fma'll. Thofe we procured for the ufe o f the Ihips along the
coaft o f the gulph o f Pe-tcbe-lee, feldom exceeded the weight o f
two hundred pounds. The few fheep we faw were o f the
broad-tailed fpecies. The cottages o f the peafantry were very
mean, without any appearance o f comfort, and thinly fcat-
tered; feldom Handing alone, but generally collected into fmall
villages.
M 2 I f