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beauty. The hills are verdant to their very fummits, which are fome-
times-crowned with pagodas; and the lower parts are enriched with
houfes and gardens* and that variety óf cultivation, which diftinguifetes.-
this extraordinary country.
On entering this bay*-it was difcovcred that there were a variety o f
currents running with great violence, and in oppofife dire&ions, at not
lefs than leven miles an hour; and the {kill of navigating it confl^s 4n
being able to get into that individual current which suns towards the-
place o f the veflbfs particular deftinatioa.
In this fituation we fhould have heen glad, i f it had been corififtent-
■ with the courfe of the voyage, to have caft anchor, and enjoyed,“ at
leifure, the contemplation of its beauties i but the fleet immediately
fleered tow a rd s ft lar^ river, which it fe»rt entoredv«nd? whole flream
foon bore ; «5, as it were, -into; the bofom ó f a rick arui hmurififl
country.
At the mouth of this river there iaa large:, town* with the palace 'óf
a mandarin o f the firft cfefe, farrounded by a ftrong ftene wall': itiik a
tery. large, edifice, crowned with-tiuaets* r ie% gilt and: ornamented
ftfler the fefhiern a£ the country. The fon t looks tawa«dsith&bay*©f
W,Meh it Commands:an extenfive and enchanting proved!.
Town now.fucceedetb^o town i the county offered the moft beautiful
views, of which no adequate idea can be given by w Aten- deferip-
tion. And when I mention the country as oae (cene of varied' cultiva-
tion, divided by welbplanted enctofures, peopled with- farms that are
furrounded-by. orchards* enriched with villas, and their ornamental
gardens, a. very inadequate phfture is given of the expanfive fenery
on either fide o f the navigation which bore*us.through it. *j
At two o?d®ck, and as we were preparing for dinner, thé junks
arrived at a very large town* through which the river took a courfe.of
z at
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a t leafl three miles. This place is'YoHned on a tnore regular plan thafl t
,anyj,*whfch we bad few in ^flina-. 4 The ■ hefufes'-’W^'d’ uniformly, built November
o f bribk*- varied with an imrermlxture of blue ftone, tad feldom de4 '■
-viated from the height of two Aories. ’
The uffial-h®ribtirS ^'••'»^Si'ted'Sftlilary' gfiards w€t#¥eb<S$ed;' here,
a t tbrofugh' edery plate we paffed, o f whatever fizd Or ‘dlftindtioh it
might be : the wailed city, and the Village, 3 were; equally 'attentive to
»this fttt o f official ‘ci-viIby™«y.cbdtdstng rtoi'fneif rdfpeiflive capacities*
dt mayyrittdecSij- M here o1AerV£di That through ’ the1 Whble^of oil!
travel's in*-'; this: roduhfry:, whether by /land, o r b y Water,% arid not excepting
Tartaiy, the villages,'^'"dell as the cities, h£vd their1 mandarin,
and’his guards prapoltionbdTc/ the magnitude and corifeqtt&lCer of thfe
place where'they are' catitonfed*;- and that the interior parts- df the
kingdom are equally fectired by’troops*, as the'frontiers, dr feV'-bcriffs
we may, therefore, be faid to pafs, almoft, between a continued line
o f foldidbs,1 dn each fiSe o f' the cahals, orrivers; where the1 intervals
arefo fmall between thofe villages and great towns, which form-a chain
o f military cantonments.
In the latter part o f - the afternoon we anchored*. for fotne time, at
another'' confiderabie town, where the junks flopped to take in a
fupply o f China wine. It is fituated on the fide o f a large lake,
which,- in fo trie'places, was divided only by a bank from the river
on which we failed. As I could not difcover any land in the diftant
part o f this laage bodyrif water, I was di^pofed to confider it as an
inlet of the Yellow fea.
The cdtflftry now 'began to wear a fwampy appliance, and, o f
•cotfrfe, did hot altogether retain thofe beautiful features, which I have
faintly reprefented it to poflefs, during the rnord reterit. parts of oqr
voyage. This, cifcumftance naturally arifes from the great number Of
«iveys, canals, and lakes, that aid the navigation.- d f this part o f flje
C c a K J ’ “ ‘ country j
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