18.12.
Notices of the Per 1o.
95
breach which from tune to time might be made m them by inunda- tions. In his second day's traveling, a considerable inclosure was, for the first time, perceived, resembling a gentleman's park. This was the residence of the chief of a district. His dwelling was dis- tinguished by treble gates, and by two poles erected near them, each forty feet high, destined to bear ensigns of dignity by day, and lan- terns by night. Within his inclosures were seen several buildings, a variety of trees, and some sheep and horses. Hitherto he had seen few cattle of any kind. To his view the fields exhibited "a high state of cultivation," generally covered with Barbadoes millet, grow- ing ten or twelve feet high, and the lowest calculation of its increase was an hundred fold. The houses had the appearance of being built of mud, as at the mouth of the river; but, on a closer inspection, the walls were found to be made of bricks ill-burnt, or dried in the sun. On one side of the river was a large grove of high and wide spread- ing pines; near and amongst which were inonuments of stone, erect- ed to the memory of persons buried underneath. On the opposite bank were the stacks of salt, estimated at six hundred millions of pounds in weight, and of which every body has heard. This salt was in bags. Similar masses were seen by Abel, which in most in- stances, however, was loose, covered with bamboo matting. These stacks were in sight at Tientsin, the general emporium of the north- ern provinces, 'built,' says Staunton, at the confluence of two ri- vers, from which it rises in a gentle slope.' One of these two flows down from near Peking, the other comes from a more southern re- gion. A third flows in from the south, forming a communication between Tientsin and the Grand canal.
The practicability of marching from the coast to Tientsin, we are unable to determine from any inforination in our possession. Infantry no doubt could easily move across the plain, but artillery probably could not-for we suppose (from what we know of other parts of the country) that ditches and small canals run in almost every direction, and that the only roads are narrow foot-paths. Staunton says, the governor of the province, who awaited the arrival of the embassador at Tákú, came to Tientsin from thence, over land, by a shorter route than was described by the windings of the river. Ellis mentions, in his Journal, while at Síkú, the carts on two wheels,' as justifying the complaints that have been made of them. He says also, that he was surprised with the size of the Chinese horses, having been led to ex- pect that their height did not exceed that of small ponies; on the con- trary, they were not inferior in that respect to the generality of Arab
•