1842.
Topography of Shantung.
565
effecting repairs, which, to judge from the vestiges of inundation on either side, could not be infrequent. The canal joins the Yú hó, which we had just quitted, on its right or eastern bank, as thatʼriver flows towards the Pei ho. One of the most striking features of the canal is the comparative clearness of its water, when contrasted with that of the two rivers on which we had hitherto traveled; a circumstance reasonably attributable to the depositions occasioned by the greater stillness of its contents.
"Whatever the course of the canal might become hereafter, it was, at this commencing point, evidently in the bed of a natural river, as might be perceived from its winding course, and the irre- gularity, and inartificial appearance of its banks. The stone abut- ments and flood-gates are for the purpose of regulating its waters, which at present were in excess, and flowing out of it. As Lintsing chau, where the canal commences, is just under the thirty-seventh parallel of latitude, and Hángchau fí, where it terminates, is nearly in 30°, the direct distance is about five hundred English miles, with- out allowing for windings. It is the channel not only of subsistence, but of all kinds of tribute to Peking, in a country where so large a portion of the revenue is paid in kind. We observed, on the first day of our voyage on its waters, a large junk decorated with a yellow umbrella, and, on inquiring, found that it had the honor of bearing the dragon-robes,' as the emperor's garments are designated. These are forwarded annually, and are the peculiar tribute of the silk dis- tricts. As we proceeded on the canal, the stone flood-gates or sluices occurred at the rate of three or four a-day, sometimes oftener, ac- cording as the inequalities in the surface of the country rendered them necessary." Vol. I., page 245.
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"As we advanced, the canal in some parts became narrower, and the banks had rather more of an artificial appearance than where we first entered it, being occasionally pretty high; but still the winding course led to the inference, that as yet the canal was for the most part only a natural river, modified and regulated by sluices and em- bankments. The distance between the stone-piers in some of the flood-gates was apparently so narrow as only just to admit of the pas- sage of our largest boats. The contrivance for arresting the course of the water through them was extremely simple. Stout boards, with fastened to each end, were let down edgewise over each other ropes through grooves in the stone-piers. A number of soldiers and work- men always attended at the sluices, and the danger to the boats in passing was diminished by coils of rope being hung down at the