a narrow canal with trees up which my boat moved silently as far as a lock by which we mounted into a broad leading direct into it on three sides and connected with other by picturesque stone bridges and giving easy access to most parts of the interior of the city that which i have called a lock properly i or is an ingenious contrivance by which the difficulty of different in the same boat is adjusted the illustration shows the principle and the mode of applying it in but various methods are adopted the essential parts of the contrivance as shown here are a smooth stone slide from the higher to the lower level the middle of which is thickly with moist mud two stout and tall two rude wooden and stout ropes with strong iron hooks in ascending the boat is wound up to the higher level by a number of men at the and in going down she is drawn to the verge and tipped over descending with great by her own the rope at her stern scarcely the violence of the plunge with which she r british i takes a into the water below when everything not securely fastened breaks adrift and a of foaming water round the surprised passenger s feet a few cash are charged for the transfer i thought the canal entrance to grand although below the high blank walls of large private the grassy slopes are the resort of active pigs searching and not vainly for the or police with their striped blue and white and brilliant and the lofty bridges are pleasing to the eye at one of tiie latter dr main for eighteen years a c m s missionary doctor in met me and i was carried through a and dirty quarter through a door in a high wall and under a from which hundreds of clusters were hanging into a large partly and partly rose borders with an english house on one side and on the other two the fine two buildings of two of the crack of the east with their of for men and women a home for children and an refuge it was a bewildering change from the crowds dirt and sordid bustle of the lower parts of a chinese city to broad smooth shaven english trees and flowers english buildings with their taste and completeness and the refined quiet of an english home this most ancient city situated on the left bank of the shallow ch t river of which a magnificent description is given by under the name of though it has not fully recovered from the destruction wrought by the troops is still handsome and dignified and to my thinking with its lovely is the most attractive of the big chinese cities it is certainly one of the most important as the capital of the rich and province of the centre of a great silk producing district and of the manufacture of the best the sole source of the silk supplied to the imperial household the southern of the grand canal and a great centre of chinese culture and literature it possesses the ting library the finest private library in china in buildings adjoining the palace of the ting family the arrangements for the and of books are admirable and a very gentlemanly and intelligent son of the enlightened possessor is the enthusiastic and capable the treasures of this library are open freely to anyone who himself by a card from an official the collection of and books illustrated in the best style of chinese wood is in itself a noble possession every part of a plant is figured and the illustrations are almost accurate leading one to hope that the accompanying them has equal scientific merit is also important as a city the chosen home of many retired merchants and the homes frequently palaces of men of leisure and local patriotism adorn its streets but their stately proportions and are concealed from vulgar view by high walls in which heavily barred and massive gates give access to the the mansion of the ting family in which i took afternoon tea with its lofty reception rooms and courts must cover two acres of ground it is stately but not comfortable and the richly carved chairs with of clouded grey marble for backs and seats and table of the same seem only fitted for the noon of a s day besides the of silk the dwellings of the class there are those of high officials and wealthy tea and silk merchants many of them extremely magnificent the cost of one built by a wealthy banker being estimated at i wrote of dirt and sordid bustle this is chiefly by the and is not surprising in a city of three quarters of a million of inhabitants the west end streets are however broad light well and clean for china one with a general sense of well being i did not see one beggar the people are well clothed and fed and i understood that except during there is no abject poverty it is the grand centre for the trade of a hundred cities and much of the tea and silk sold in and passes through it everything in the city and neighbourhood suggests silk in all the adjacent country the tree is planted in every possible place along the on the separating the fields in acres in extent and near villages in each containing several thousand shoots in expectation of a greatly increased demand for this product there are for the weaving of silk in about people and of these under the inspection of an imperial work exclusively for the imperial household some of the silk shops rival that of at in them are rich self coloured in deep rich and the most delicate shades washing in various shades of and delicate and french which become more every time they are washed heavy and very 