Directory_and_Chronicle_1845 — Page 394

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river, the Hwang pú. Now, at the present time, the three channels which pass under the walls of the city near the three eastern gates, bear these same names, and are no doubt all that remain of those once broad water-courses,

These three páng, as they are laid down on the old maps, ran near- ly parallel to each other, from east to west. The central one, the cháu kiá pảng, is now between the river and the wall nearly filled with mud, but at the eastern gate, where it enters the city, it is sup plied with water from the moat, that surrounds the wall, and runs thence due west, and passing out, by the western gate, intersects the moat outside of the wall, and there branches off into the country. The southern, the ich kiá páng, at present comes in from the Hwáng pú in a south-easterly direction; and as already stated, passing under the wall near the little southern gate, runs from thence westward almost parallel with the wall and not many yards from it, until it comes near to the western gate; then it divides, and one part turns round and extends off due east half way through the city; the other part, by a circuitous course northward, unites with the central channel, the cháu kiá páng. On the north, the fang ping, with full supplies of water from the Hwang pi, first fills up the moat that goes round the city, and them passing under the wall, near the north-east gate runs like the two others due west, and when almost reaching the wall, it divides, one branch going off first to the north, and then to the east; while the other branch, after nearing the wall, turns south- wards and unites with the central channel, near the western water- gate, through which the united water of the three ebb and flow, ris- ing and falling with the water in the Hwang pú, from which they are all supplied. At low tide all the channels are quite dry, except- ing when they are dammed up so as to prevent a free current. From the moat round the wall, there are several branches running off into the country; likewise from the main channels in the city there are numerous smaller ones.

Judging from the action of the water in all these, the entire sur- face of the city must be a dead level, and the beds of the channel be- low the surface of the water in the river at low tides.

Over these canals are numerous bridges many of them built of granite blocks and slabs, often presenting a very handsome turned Most of these stone bridges, however, are very old, and some of them are more or less dilapidated.

arch.

On the western and northern sides of the city, within the walls, are some stagnant pools. Wells abound in every part of both the

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