Directory_and_Chronicle_1842 — Page 114

96

Notices of the Pei Ho.

FEB

horses. they are, however, coarse and ill-shaped, and promise neither strength nor action.' Davis has given quite a different sketch. Vol. I., pp. 124, 142. The reader must decide which of the two, Ellis or Davis, is the most correct in description.

Judging from all that we have read of Tientsin, we presume it is, in its general features, not unlike the other great cities of China. The present city appears to be built on a rising ground, though on every side the country falls into a perfect flat, like the sea, presenting one extensive plain terminated only by the horizon. 'If fine build- ings and striking localities are required to give interest to a scene, this has no claims; but, on the other hand, if the gradual crowding of junks till they become innumerable, a vast population, buildings though not elegant, yet regular and peculiar, careful and successful cultivation, can supply those deficiencies, the entrance to Tientsin will not be without attractions to the traveler.' So writes Mr. Ellis. Barrow describes the same scene in similar terms: "the crowds of large vessels, lying close together along the sides of the river; the various kinds of craft passing and repassing; the town, manufacto- ries, and warehouses, extending on each bank, as far as the eye could reach, indicated a spirit of commerce, far beyond anything we had hitherto met with. The large vessels, the small craft, the boats, the shores, the walls surrounding the houses, the roofs, were all covered with spectators. Our barges, being retarded in the narrow passages among the shipping, were at least two hours in reaching the head of the town. During the whole time the population stood in the water, the front rank up to the middle, to get a peep at the strangers. Hitherto, among the spectators, there had generally appeared full as many of the fair sex as of the other; and the elderly dames, in par- ticular, had been so curious as to dip their little stumps into the water, in order to have a peep into the barges, as they glided slowly along; but here, among the whole crowd, not a single female was visible. Although the day was exceedingly sultry, the thermotneter of Fahrenheit being 88° in the shade, as a mutual accommodation, their heads were all uncovered, and their bald pates exposed to the scorching rays of the sun. It was an uncommon spectacle, to see so many bonze-like heads, stuck as close together, tier above tier, as in Hogarth's group, intended to display the difference between charac- ter and caricature; but it lacked the variety of countenance which this artist has, in an inimitable manner, displayed in his picture."

Tientsin, and the ground between it and the anchorage for foreign ships, may soon become a scene of great interest.

For many