I s l e o f
C h e w - s h a n ,
N i n ç - po , o r
L im p o .
been gained from the ,fea, as Holland was by tiie Dutch. Ther
period is not juftly known. The tradition of the Chine/e is, that
there had been a mighty deluge: in all probability that of Noabr
Du Halde* attributes to the emperor Tau the vait works which
recovered thefe provinces from the Tea. I will not difpute the
learned Jefuit’s ikill in chronology; but the emperor began his
reign in 1137 before Cbriji, and reigned a hundred years; the
period in which he was born could not therefore have been long
after the univerfal deluge.
Le Pgivre alfo informs us, that thefe provinces were, fome
thoufand years ago, covered with water, and regained from the
fea by the induftry o f the inhabitants. The immenfe mounds
which guard it from the fury o f the waves, are ftupendous marks
of the power of labor exerted by a molt populous nation. They
exceed all the limilar dikes of Holland; belides, they have a
much more powerful fea to refill than that which beats on the
coaft of the European low countries. Mon'Mfquieu attributes to
the induftry of the natives o f thefe two provinces, their fuperior
fertility to any .in the Cbinefe empire.
In Lat. 30°, at a fmall diftance from the coaft, is the iiland of
Cbew-Jban, or as we call it Cbufan, mentioned in this volume at p.
115 as the firft fettlement the Englijh had in China. It is fur-
rounded with many little iiles, the remoteft of which conftitutes
the moil eaftern part of the great curved fhore o f the empire.
A t the bottom o f a long eftuary Hands the city of Ning-po,
known to the Europeans by the Portuguefe name o f Liampo or
Limpo. It is feated in the midft of a fine ¡Tain, cultivated like a
* Du Halde, vol. i. p. 144»
garden,
garden, furrounded with hills, and divided by a principal canal,
branching from it, with fixty-fix others. On one o f thefe canals,
between Sbau-hing-foo and this city, is an example of the Angular
method of palling from one-level to another, and feemingly a
very awkward one *. The waters o f one canal not being on a
level with that of another, the boat, by means of two câpitans, is
hoifted upon a ftone glacis, or flope, which being made ilippery
with water, the boat glides down into the fécond canal, as
fwift as an arrow out o f a bow. For this reafon, they are
made in form o f Gondolas, with keels-of a wood hard enough to
fuftain the weight o f a bark. Thefe boats are proper only for
carrying goods from Ning-po, and the towns depending on it, as
far as the canal of Sbau-bing. They differ much, both as to fize
and make, from the imperial barks, which would be broken to
pieces, or at leaft receive fome confiderable damage in the
defcent.
Hingpp carries on a confiderable trade with Batavia, Siam, and
Japan. The Portuguefe had early a fettlement in this city, where
they acquired immenfe wealth, and with it, all the vices attendant
on riches. Infolent and highly debauched, they- dared to Profligacy
fpize.the.moft beautiful young girls they-could hear of, and em- £GRTTHuGUESE.
ployed a fet of profligates for that purpofé. When they
had kept thefe poor viftims as long as they thought proper, they
returned them to the unhappy parents. Enraged at this, the
Cbinefe cutoff a party of the infamous Chaffeurs. The Portuguefe
had the audacity to. complain; the affair was brought
before the higheft tribunal.; and fuch fcenes of iniquity were
difcovered, that a decree was immediately made that the Portu-
* Embajfy to Ghina> vol. ii; p. 450, and plate 34 of the folio volume. E.
X a guefè