plain covers an area of 70,000 square miles. Between 34° and 35°, the Plain enlarges, and in the parallel of the Yellow river it extends more than 300 miles from east to west; while further south, along the course of the Yangtsz' kiang, it reaches nearly 400 miles inland. Estimating the mean breadth of this portion at 400 miles, there are 140,000 square miles; which, with the northern part, make an area of 210,000 square miles-a surface seven times as large as that of Lombardy, and about the same area as the plain of Bengal drained by the Ganges. The northern portion towards the Great Wall is dry and sandy, destitute of trees, but producing millet, wheat, and vegetables in abundance; that lying near the coast in Kiangsu, south of lat. 35° N., is low and swampy, covered by numerous lakes, and intersected by many water courses. This portion of the plain is extremely fertile, and furnishes large quantities of silk, tea, cotton, grain, and tobacco, for the consumption of other provinces. Proceeding inland, the soil becomes more firm, and produces these articles in great abundance. The eastern portion of the Plain is traversed by the Grand Canal, which not only serves to facilitate communication, but also to drain some of the elevated swampy portions. The most interesting feature of this Plain is the enormous population it supports, which is, according to the census of 1812, not less than 177 millions of human beings, if the whole number of inhabitants contained in the six provinces which lie wholly or partly in it be included; making it by far the most densely settled of any part of the world of the same size, and amounting to nearly two-thirds of the whole population of Europe.*

The public works of China are probably unequalled in any land or by any people, for the amount of human labor bestowed upon them; the natural aspect of the country has been materially changed by them; and it has been remarked that the Great Wall is the only artificial structure which would arrest attention But their usein a hasty survey of the surface of the globe. fulness, or the science exhibited in their construction, is far inferior to their extent. The Great Wall, called Wan-lí Chang (i. e. Myriad-mile Wall) by the Chinese, was built by Tsin Chí

• Penny Cyclopædia, Vol. VII., page 74; McCulloch's Geographical Dictionary, Vol. I., page 596.

hwangtí about B. c. 220, in order to protect his dominions from the incursions of the northern tribes. It is sufficient evidence of the solidity of its original construction, that it has remained so well preserved in a region of frosts and moisture. The ships of the English Expedition visited the point on the coast of Liautung, at Shanhai wei, latitude 40° 4′ N., longitude 120° 2′ E., where it commences its course, and which is described as a place of considerable trade; the gate here is called Shanhai kwan or Hillsea barrier. Lord Jocelyn describes it, when observed from the ships, as "scaling the precipices and topping the craggy hills of the country, which have along this coast a most desolate appearance."

It runs along the shore for several miles, and terminates on the beach near a long reef. Its course from this point is west, a little northerly, along the old frontiers of the province of Chihlí, and then in Shansí, till it strikes the Yellow river, in latitude 391° N., and longitude 11110 E. This is the best built part, and contains the most important gates, where garrisons and trading marts are established. Within the province of Chihlí there are two walls, inclosing a good part of the basin of the Hang ho west of Peking; the inner one was built by one of the emperors of the Ming dy nasty. From the point where it strikes the Yellow river it forms the northern boundary of Shensí, till it touches that stream again in latitude 37° N., inclosing the country of the Ortous Mongols. Its direction from this point is north-west along the northern frontier of Kansuh to its termination near Kiayü kwan, through which the great road passes leading across Central Asia, in about longitude 99° E., and latitude 40° N.

From near the eastern extremity of the Wall in the province of Chihlí, extending in a north-easterly direction, is a wooden stockade or palisade, which forms the boundary between Liautung and Kirin, and has been often taken from its representation on maps as a continuation of the Great Wall. It was erected by the Manchus, and garrisons are placed at the twelve gates through which the roads pass leading from Shingking into Mongolia.

The entire length of the Great Wall, including all the doublings, is estimated by McCulloch at 1250 miles. The construction of this gigantic work is somewhat adapted to the nature of the country it traverses. In the western part of its course, it is less substantially built than in the eastern, being in some places merely a mud or gravel wall, and in others earth cased with brick.

The eastern part is generally composed of a mound of earth and pebbles, faced with masonry, supported on a coping of stone, the whole being about 25 feet thick at the base, and 15 feet at the top, and varying from 15 to 30 feet high; the top is terraced with tiles, and defended by a slight parapet, the thinness of which has been taken as proof that cannon were unknown at the time it was erected. There are brick towers upon it at different intervals, some of them more than 40 feet high, but the usual height is a little under that elevation. They are not built upon the Wall, but are independent structures, usually about forty feet square at the base, diminishing to thirty at the top; at particular spots the towers are of two stories, when they are nearly fifty feet in height.

This remarkable structure did, no doubt, in some degree, serve as a barrier against the incursions of the nomadic tribes near it for many ages after its erection, though it is plain from the facts of history that it availed but little against the attacks of their enterprising chieftains. At present it is simply a geographical boundary, and, except at the passes, nothing is done to keep it in repair; most of the garrisons are located at these points. Beyond the Yellow river to its western extremity, the Great Wall, according to Gerbillon, is chiefly a mound of earth or gravel, about fifteen feet in height, with only occasional towers of brick, or gateways made of stone. A structure of this sort, in such a climate, must of course soon be overgrown with trees of greater or less size, but none of those who mention having crossed it speak of this circumstance, from which it might be inferred that care was taken to prevent the growth of plants upon it.

The other great public work is the Grand Canal, or Chah ho (i. e. river of Flood-gates) called also Yun ho (i. e. Transit river), an enterprise which reflects far more credit upon the Mongol monarch who devised and executed it, than the Great Wall does to the Chinese conqueror; and if the time in which it was dug, and the character of the princes who planned it, be considered, few works can be mentioned in the history of any country more creditable and useful. By means of its connection with the rivers which flow into it, an almost entire water communication across the country from Peking to Canton is completed; and, through the two great rivers, goods and passengers can pass from the capital to nearly every large town in their basins. The canal properly commences at Lintsing chau in Shan

tung, in about latitude 37° N., and longitude 116° E., though its northern termination is generally placed at Tientsin fu near Feking. An abridged account of Davis's remarks (Sketches, vol. i., p. 245) will afford a good idea of its construction and appearance. Early on the 23d September, we entered the canal through two stone piers and between very high banks. The mounds of earth in the immediate vicinity were evidently for the purpose of effecting repairs, which, to judge from the vestiges of inundation on either side, could not be infrequent. The canal joins the Yu ho which we had just quitted, on its eastern bank, as that river flows towards the Pei ho. One of the most striking features of the canal is the comparative clearness of its waters, when contrasted with that of the two rivers on which we had hitherto travelled; a circumstance reasonably attributable to the depositions occasioned by the greater stillness of its contents. The course of the canal at this point was evidently in the bed of a natural river, as might be perceived from its winding course, and the irregularity and inartificial appearance of its banks.* The stone abutments and floodgates are for the purpose of regulating its waters, which at present were in excess and flowing out of it. As we proceeded on the canal, the stone floodgates or sluices occurred at the rate of three or four a day, sometimes oftener, according as the inequalities in the surface of the country rendered them necessary.

"As we advanced, the canal in some parts became narrower, and the banks had rather more of an artificial appearance than where we first entered it, being occasionally pretty high; but still the winding course led to the inference, that as yet the canal was for the most part only a natural river, modified and regulated by sluices and embankments. The distance between the stone piers in some of the floodgates was apparently so narrow as only just to admit the passage of our largest boats. The contrivance for arresting the course of the water through them was extremely simple; stout boards, with ropes fastened to each end, were let down edgewise over each other through grooves in the stone piers. A number of soldiers and workmen always attended

*This is supposed, with a great degree of probability, to have been once the bed of the Yellow river, or of one of its mouths, whose waters found their way north-eastward through the marshes near Kaifung fu in Honan. Biot has written a memoir upon the subject.

at the sluices, and the danger to the boats was diminished by coils of rope being hung down at the sides to break the force of blows. The slowness of our progress, which for the last week averaged only twenty miles a day, gave us abundant leisure to observe the country.

"We now began to make better progress on the canal than we had hitherto done. The stream, though against us, was not strong, except near the sluices, where it was confined. In the afternoon we stopped at Kai-ho chin (i. e. River-opening mart), so called, perhaps, because the canal was commenced near here. On the 28th, we arrived at the influx of the Yun ho, where the stream turned in our favor, and flowed to the southward, being the highest point of the canal, and a place of some note. The Yun ho flows into the canal on its eastern side nearly at right angles, and a part of its waters flow north and part south, while a strong facing of stone on the western bank sustains the force of the influx. At this point is the temple of the Dragon King, or genius of the watery element, who is supposed to have the canal in his special keeping. This enterprise of leading in this river seems to have been the work of Sung Lí, who lived under Hungwu, the first emperor of the Ming dynasty, about 1375. In his time, a part of the canal in Shantung became so impassable that the coasting passage by sea began to be most used. This was the very thing the canal had been intended to prevent; Sung accordingly adopted the plan of an old man named Píying, to concentrate the waters of the Yun ho and neighboring streams, and bring them down upon the canal as they are at present. History states that Sung employed 300,000 men to carry the plan into operation, and that the work was completed in seven months. On both sides of us, nearly level with the canal, were extensive swamps with a shallow covering of water, planted with the Nelumbium; they were occasionally separated by narrow banks, along which the trackers walked, and the width of the canal sometimes did not exceed 25 yards. On reaching the part which skirts the Tu-shan lake, the left bank was entirely submerged, and the canal confounded with the lake. All within sight was swamp, coldness, and desolation-in fact, a vast inland sea, as many of the large boats at a distance were hull down. The swamps on the following day were kept out of sight by some