Directory_and_Chronicle_1845 — Page 214

70

and around is terraced even to the summits of the hills, and under careful cultivation. A good deal of active bustle and improvement was perceptible as we approached the bridge. Numerous junks were lying in the river, their shapes and devices bespeaking the different ports to which they belonged, from the high poop and clunmsy bulk of the Shanghái barks, to the low, long craft, dispatched from Ningpo, and waiting for a cargo of black tea, &c. Shore boats, filled with idle gazers, plied round us in great numbers, generally worked only by women-ruddy, healthy, and merry-looking--by the aid of an oar at the stern and one at the bow, from 25 to 30 feet in length, serving as rudders. The city is not visible from the anchorage. A low sub- urb on both sides of the water, consisting of wooden and very dilapi- dated looking-houses, does not give a very favorable idea of the pro- vincial capital. To the left some low hills advance nearly to the water's edge, fringed with pines and fir-trees, and interspersed with temples and gravestones. To the right, in front and behind, a girdle of high hills defines the boundaries of an ample valley, through which, during the rains, the river rolls a rapid and turbid volume of water, often flooding, even for days, the whole of the surrounding country. The celebrated bridge of Fuhchau connects the little island (which blocks up

the main channel and divides it into two lesser streams, of which the larger flows on the north side,) with each shore of the river, and probably from the substantial and durable material, of which it is composed, is called the Wan shau kiáu, or "Bridge of ten thousand ages." The larger bridge, on the nerthern side, con- sists of about forty arches, of immense slabs of granite, thrown across at right angles with the piers, rightly merit that name. The lesser bridge, on the south, consisis of nine similar arches. At high water, vessels of small burden can pass up the stream by lowering their masts. At low water a cascade pours forth through into the lower level of the river on the other side. This bridge is occupied by shops, something like London Bridge in olden times, and its narrow thor- oughfare is generally crowded by all kinds of busy wayfarers. *** A long suburb of nearly three miles, stretches thence to the southern gate of the city, consisting of a high street, and abounding with every variety of trades and handicrafts.

Passing onward and at length emerging on the other side of the city-gate, through a large and massive breadth of the wall, we pro- ceeded, after a sudden turn to the left, along the inner side of the