Directory_and_Chronicle_1845 — Page 387

61

in all directions by water-courses.

So extensive are the ramifica-

tions of these, that apparently there is no parcel of ground, of any considerable extent, that cannot be reached by water in boats. With the exception of the Hwing pú and the Wúsung, however, they are all too small and unimportant to require any particular notice in this general description of the district.

The Hwȧug pú,, in breadth and depth is not very unlike the Chukiáng, or Pearl Kiver, at its entrance near the Bogue. But as you ascend the two, they are found to be very different, that being shallow at Canton, and this deep enough for large vessels many miles above the city of Shánghái. Historians say the river derived its name from one Hwúng hich, who first opened out this channel. affords an easy communication with the northern districts of Cheh- kiáng, so as to secure intercourse between this and the city of Hángchau, &c. "At Shánghái the river is as wide as the Thames at. London Bridge."

The Wusung,, though very far inferior to what it once was, is still navigable for the imperial grain junks destined from hence, to the Grand Canal at Suchau. How the outer anchorage of this river leading up to Shanghái hien, and the little village near it above Páushán, have come to be called Wüsung we do not know. Neither of them is within the jurisdiction of Shánghái hien. On the map, this river from the point where it unites with the Yángtsz', kiáng and all the way up to this city is called Hwang pú. The river of Wúsung is marked with equal plainness, coming in from the westward, as a small tributary, and uniting its waters with those of the Hwang pú so near this city that it forms the northern boun- dary of the British consul's grounds now occupied by the foreign factories. In common parlance, however, the Wúsung is the main river, and the Hwang pú the tributary.

Keeping in mind these brief preliminary notices, regarding its geographical situation, the reader will now be prepared to take up the description of the city more in detail.