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TAKU-TUENTSIN.
389
Taku is mer rable on account of the engagements that have taken place between its forts a... the British and French naval forces. The first attack was made on the 20th M. 1858, by the British squadron under Sir Michael Seymour, when the forts were passed and Lord Elgin proceeded to Tientsin, where on the 26th June he signed the famous Treaty of Tientsin. The second attack, which was fatally unsuccessful, was made by the British forces in June, 1859. The third took place on the 21st August, 1860, when the forts were captured, the booms placed across the river destroyed, and the British ships sailed triumphantly up to Tientsin. From the- description of the place in “The Treaty Ports of China," we gather that the water on the bar ranges from about two to fourteen feet at the Spring tides. The Cinese name of the bar is Lau-kiang-sha. At certain states of the tide, steamers are obliged. to anchor outside until there is sufficient waler to cross, but they are seldom detained very long. Towards the end of autumn it sometimes happens that the river is so low that vessels drawing over seven feet of water are unable to get up to Tientsin, but this is by no means a common occurrence. The river and the northern edge of the gulf are generally frozen in about the 9th December, and few vessels attempt an entry after the end of November. The ice breaks up, as a rule, about the second week in March.
DIRECTORY.
Imperial Maritime Customs. Assistant Tide-surveyor-W. F. Stevenson Tide waiter-W. Fiench
Signalman H. A. Behnke
Lihtship Taku.
Captain-Jas Sloane
Mat-L. O. Medicus
Light Keeper-W. Kui ̧ht
IMPERIAL NAVAL YARD.
Directors-G. Detring and Mah, Taota
Secretary-W. F. Stevenson
Superintendent Shipwright-W. Grant
Engineer-L. Andersen
do.
Clerk--W. Boad, Jr.
TAKU PILOT COMPANY.
A. G. Baxter
W. Boad
J. Young G. Mitchell
J. C. Hill
G. W. Hicks
W. Blanchard
W. Grant
II. Crowlie
C. B. Sherman
Jas. Watts, secretary
C. Parker, clerk
TAKU Tug and Lighter Company.
James Watts, secretary
C. Parker, clerk
Tow BOATS.
Pathfinder, J. M Nisbet, engineer
Peiho, Wm. Wells,
do.
Orphan, Elijah Wells, Insolent,
do.
TIENTSIN.
Tientsin is situated at the junction of the Grand Canal with the Peiho river in lat. 39 deg. 3 min. 55 sec. N. and long. 117 deg. 3 min. 55 sec. E. It is distant from Peking by river about 80 miles. It was formerly only a military station, but towards the close of the 17th century it became a place of some importance. The walled portion is small compared with the burbs, the circumference of the walls being only a little over three miles. The ncipal trade is carried on in the suburbs. The purely native city has the reputation of being exceptionally dirty, and the stench from open drains in and about the city is said to be the cause of a high rate of mortality there. There are a number of soap-boiling works in the neighbourhood, and the smell that arises from them is most disagreeable.
A number of foreigners live in the suburbs of the native city, but the concession, which is situated about a mile and a half farther down on the south bank of the river, has been largely taken up during the last few years, and is now pretty well covered with buildings.
Tientsin will always be famous for the Treaty signed by Lord Elgin in temple since called the Treaty Temple, or Elgin's Jois-house, on the 26th June, 1858,