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navigable for vessels three quarters of a mile above the Pagoda. There is a sand bank half a mile to the northeast of the Pagoda and three quarters of a cable from the shore.
The navigation of the river might be greatly facilitated and at a small expense. The following are what appear to me necessary:
1st.—An iron basket high enough to be seen at all times of tide on the reef to the eastward of the north Horn at the entrance. 2d. A buoy on the knoll at the entrance. 3d. Rees Rock to be raised higher, and a mark on the land under Square Peak (which may easily be made by the paint or white wash) which brought in line with the rock will lead vessels through the channel to the southward of the knoll and obviate the necessity of compass bearings.
The foregoing directions were written by captain Collinson; the following paragraphs are from the pen of the Rev. G. Smith, except- ing only a few scntences.
City of Fuhchau.
FUHCHAU,, is 4845 li from Peking, in lat. 26° 02′ 24′′ N., and long 119° 25′ E., a provincial capital, and the residence of the gevernor-general of Fuhkien and Chehkiáng. The circuit of the walls is between eight and nine miles.
The amount of its population, in the absence of all authentic statistics, can at best be only a subject of uncertain conjecture. Its apparent extent of space, covered with houses, is about twice the size of Ningpo, three times that of Shánghái, and nearly five times that of Amoy. The lowest estimate I have heard, reckoned it to contain a population of more than half a million. I should myself be inclined to place it at about 600,000, a number which will not be considered excessive, when we remember its eight and a half miles circuit of walls, and the small proportion of space unoccupied with buildings. Though it is the capital of Fuhkien it is a city, on the testimony of the high officers of the local government, of little trade with the interior, and of decreasing commercial importance.
This city lies thirty miles from the mouth of the river, in a valley on its right bank. The scenery of the Min from its embouchure to Fuhchau has been compared to that of the Rhine, with which, in- deed, it has some features of resemblance. The banks are generally steep and abrupt, and though upon the whole rather bare, in many places villages are seen half embosomed in trees, and the land above