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to proceed with the contemplated repairs, and also recommendatory papers in which they advise the people to assist in accomplishing this work. It being an affair which greatly concerns both our honor and prosperity, we have a right to expect, fellow-countrymen, that you will heartily coöperate, joyfully and promptly contributing, little or much according to your ability, so that by our united efforts the repairs may be soon undertaken, and the buildings rise again to their former splendor! Then, according to your deeds of merit, the gods will send prosperity, and your glory and virtue will be become great beyond comprehension. A special solicitation.'
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"The two pagodas within the walls of the city of Canton are not as conspicuous to persons coming up the river as their height would indicate, in consequence of the intervening city walls, masts, flagstaffs, &c., which partly hide them. They are seen to good advantage, how- ever, from the hills north of the city. The Kwáng táho or Plain Pagoda, as it is commonly called, is remarkable, as it shows the wealth and power of the Mohammedans in Canton at the time it was erected, about a thousand years ago. The Mohammedans still reside in its neighborhood, and maintain a mosque for their religious services, which surrounds the base of the pagoda, it rising like a minaret from the centre. The Manchú garrison is also stationed in this quarter. The account of the Plain Pagoda given in the Kwángchau Chi is very meager, but I insert it :-
"The Hudi Shing sz'
or Remembering-the-Holy Monastery,
is situated within the city, and was built during the Táng dynasty by fo- reigners; it can be ascended by circuitous stairs. It is 165 cubits high. In the days of Ming, Abdallah, a foreign officer lived here with seventeen families. On the summit was a golden cock, which turned with the wind, and every year the foreigners used to go up to the top of it during the fifth and sixth moons about four o'clock in the morning, and call out with a loud voice, praying to the weathercock. In 1388, a tyfoon threw down the golden cock, which was carried to the imperial treasury, and a copper one put up in its place; this was thrown down, and a [wooden] gourd put up, which was again thrown down in 1670.'
"If this notice is complete as regards it serection, it shows that the structure must be very solidly built, to have resisted the effects of climate and time; and though a few shrubs can be seen growing on the upper part, it is not ruinous. Not far from it stands the Hwá táhor Flowery Pagoda, as it is called for distinction's sake, but as no foreigner can go in and see these erections, I can only give the native account, from which it appears that the Flowery Pagoda is a very ancient edifice, though not so old as its fellow :-
“The Tsing Weisz'
(i. e. Placid Intelligence Monastery) is