The Sun.
London, England, 1840-11-28 00:00:00

clouds of flame and smoke which rise from it, and make it
appear at night like a great city on fire. No foreigner
has been admitted into its precincts, lest he should -dis-
cover the o secret . ofg_ thesi
isbounded processes carriedby a
lofty on .
and Thena southernkcd
frontier
bar-
rier of mountains, which interrupts the water communica-
tion between Pekin and Canton. :7
MACAO, (called by the Chinese U- Moon, the mouth of the
river,) is a Portuguese settlement situated on a peninsula
in the district of Canton. The population is between' 15,000
and 20,000, of whom not more than 5,000 arc Poituguese,
the rest consisting of Canton foreigners, who require to
be nominally associated with the Portuguese to be allowed
to trade from the port. Vessels destined for Ciinton are
generally detained twenty-four hours in the Macao Roads
till the Chinese Government send down a pilot. The
voyage from Macao to Calcutta generally lasts about a
month. A ship arriving from Calcutta generally makes
the land to the outward of Macao, near the Pedra Branca
Rock. A pilot then comes on board, having. a pass, a chop,
or license from the pilot Mandarin, to conduct the vessel
to Macao. Since the decline of the Portuguese trade,
M cao has become a place of comparatively little import-
ance. It is distant from Canton about 96 miles, and
Europeans leave their wives and females attached to their
families at Macao, as no European female is allowed to
proceed to Canton. A largo opium trade was formerly
carried on, but the heavy port dues demanded by the Por-
tuguese have drawn it to the 1-long Kong and Canton
stations. The country around Macao is very romantic
and beautiful—large granite rocks, verdant vales,* and the
cool sea breezes. For this reason Macao is made the
summer
uarnv
have
veryi
nieorsb
residence
roe mauatnitfui grounds.
ic c f s nearlypots
in all
the
hTt
ehhe coe English,wralzdd
overlooking
No
some
rtao
one whtohoe
mf
inner harbour, and containing a grotto, in which the Po-
rtuguese poet, Camoens, wrote his Lusiad, formerly
belonged to two Englishmen connected with the factory.
On leaving Niacin), and sailing tip the Canton River,
another a pilot comes on board to conduct the vessel to
Whampoa, and a license must be o'otained before the ves-
sel is allowed to proceed. The forms having been com-
pleted, two hoppoo men, or custom-house officers, come on
board, and fasten their junk to the stern of the ship.
Passing up the river to the Bocca Tigris, four small forts.
are seen. The Chinese speak of these fortifications as
very formidable, but Captain Maxwell drove the
Chinese from the guns, and laid these forts in ruins,
Tiger Island
.is a little further on, and upon arriving at
Whampoa Roads a ship generally anchors between Danes
and French Islands. The country around is very beauti-
ful. Hills rise on each side cultatived to the summit,
waving fields of rice and extensive sugar fields, scattered
over with villages and pagodas; an immense number of
country boats, curiously rigged and manned ; fleets of
ships from all parts of the world, lying at anchor in the
river, make up a picture such as is not seen in any other
part of the globe. In arriving at Whampoa a shipmaster
accepts the services of a comprador, whose business is to
supply the ship's company with their provisions during

their stay; the captain obtains a pass of the Hoppoe, and
proceeds to Canton,
surrounded by
CANTON (Chinese Kvrang-choo-four and Chan-Chong)
stands en the eastern bank of
athe Pekiang river which
flows from the interior in a navigable stream for 300 miles
e,faenvery
to this town, where it is fully
.broa.ler than the Thames at
miles, fall;
five miles in circum-
ference. It stretches about five miles along the
,ivnat
lel
sthv,e, London-bridgei
tsheeah
eb
ri;oaa
dsnedaa
naefdft edcrehea
deep
pnn a
.ad
banks of the
river, and three miles in a contrary direction. It is defended
towards the river by two high walls, mounted with cannon, and
two fortresses built on two islands; on the land side it has a
strong wall and three forts. These forts and walls, however,
di
tdeiht4,?heaoltuactov,nar se i . , f so
would be totally unavailable in case of aregular attack con-
ducted accordino. to European warfare. No correct estimate of
the population has everbeen obta ne _ , but it is supposed to be fully
quarter of the globe.
as great as that of Calcutta, or nearly 1,000,000.
The principal
street appropriated to Europeans is denominated China-street.
The
fact r e tor i
ebseef of found
different
powers extend a mn-
siderable distance along the banks of the river at about 100
yards from the water. 'f hey consist of large handsome houses,
erodu eEtittornespt
on which are hoisted the flag:. o_ the different nations trading
with the country. The Briour hthfeactory far surpasses all oihers
in elegance and extent. I'
vessel's sPace of four or five miles
opposite Canton boats and
of are ranged Parallel to each
other in close order, many them occupied by numerous
families who reside constantly on the water. In the middle
of the river lie the Chinese junks,are front
whichf trade with the Eastern
Islands. Some of the junks
ill-built.,
600 to 1,000 tons bur-
den. They are extremely a., almost unmanageable ex-
cept before a wind, and require
nis crew
the of at least thirty men to
every hundred tons. Cantonation. only port in China open to
vessels of every European
1 RIVERS.

OR YELLOW
elly°Lscend from the high table lands
inclined to
liGa'n°—Ho,
-ch of them meets a branch of moun-
tains, AND THE
Separated by an interval of
toliiATnCNsieG,lnE-wTtli:GaiEcli-h'EAKAfsloTAiiees it to describe a vast circuit, the first to
the north and the second to the south. They are thus
direct itself to
the tropical seas, while the other wanders among the icy
dleJsocroibmedilebsy,
deserts of Mongolia. Suddenly recalled, as if impressed
by the remembrance of their early brotherhood, they ap-
proach one another, and wind along together like the Eu-
phrates and Tigris in another Mesopotamia ; where, after
being almost joined by canals and lakes, they terminate
within a mutual distance of 110 miles their majestic and
rhaeltoe-Brun: rusnee:m—s4.
immense course." The Hoang- Ho derives its name from
the colour of its waters, which hold in solution a large
quantity of ochreous clay. _This river, the Pe- Ho,
and other streams which disembogue themselves into the
Sea of Cores, bring down so large a quantity of earth
and mud that the sea is discoloured, and called the Yellow
Sea; and as the current sweeps round the shores of the
Chan-tong and the Corean peninsula. there is no outlet
for the alluvial matter, and it is deposited in the Gulf of Pc-
tche-ti, and among the islands of the Corean Archipelago:
so that at no very cistant day all this country, now washed
by the sea, will become a vast plain, like the alluvial plain
of Bengal, or the plains of the northern portion of the
South American Continent. The Yang-tse- Kiang, called
by the Chinese " Child of the Sea," is the most magnificent
river of Asia. Some of the tributaries of these rivers

equal in size the largest rivers of Europe. The lloan or Si-
-I:iang in the south, after a course of 740 miles, falls into the
gulf of Canton, and in the north the Pe- Ho, after receiving
the ''an-ho falls into the Gulf of Pekin. Most of the rivers
and lakes are united by canals deep enough to carry
large vessels. These canals have a stone quay all along
their margin, hut the navigation is slow, as the boats are
generally dragged by men. The most celebrated of these
is the Imperial Canal, which forms a communication be-
tween Pekin and Canton ; it is 600 miles long, alid 170,000
men were employed for three years in its construction.
In a country so completely intersected by canals and
rivers, bridges are very numerous. Some are of stupen-
dous magnitude—one near Tchin-tchou is 800 yards long,
and built of hewn stones, many of them 22 feet long by
5 feet broad. Along the great canal smaller bridges are
very frequent. Van- Braam saw along a single quay no
fewer than 30, all of hewn stone, which must have been
brought from the quarries at least 50 miles distant.