ntemplation, but in idleness.

The city of Foochow is imposing with its fine wall of stone, and
a long stone bridge called Wansuik'iao "the bridge of ten thousand
years." It has a population of about 650,000. To add to its importance
it has a garrison or colony of Manchus who from the date of the
conquest in 1644 have lived apart from the Chinese and have not
diminished in numbers.

The American Board and the Methodist Episcopal Board have large and
prosperous missions at this great centre, and from this base they
have ramified through the surrounding mountains, mostly following
the tributaries of the Min up to their sources. In 1850 I was
entertained at Foochow by the Rev. Dr. C. C. Baldwin, who, I am
glad to say, still lives after the lapse of fifty-five years; but
he is no longer in the mission field.

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CHAPTER IV

PROVINCE OF CHEHKIANG

_Chusan Archipelago--Putu and Pirates--Queer Fishers and Queer
Boats--Ningpo--A Literary Triumph--Search for a Soul--Chinese
Psychology--Hangchow--The Great Bore_

Chehkiang, the next province to the north, and the smallest of
the eighteen, is a portion of the highlands mentioned in the last
chapter. It is about as large as Indiana, while some of the provinces
have four or five times that area. There is no apparent reason
why it should have a distinct provincial government save that its
waters flow to the north, or perhaps because the principality of
Yuih (1100 B.C.) had such a boundary, or, again, perhaps because
the language of the people is akin to that of the Great Plain in
which its chief river finds an outlet. How often does a conqueror
sever regions which form a natural unit, merely to provide a
principality for some favourite!

Lying off its coast is the Chusan archipelago, in which two islands
are worthy of notice. The largest, which gives the archipelago
its name, is about half the length of Long Island, N. Y., and is
so called from a fancied resemblance to a junk, it having a high
promontory at either end. It contains eighteen valleys--a division
not connected with the eighteen provinces, but
[Page 18]
perpetuated in a popular rhyme which reflects severely on the morals
of its inhabitants. Shielded by the sea, and near enough to the
land to strike with ease at any point of the neighbouring coast,
the British forces found here a secure camping-ground in their
first war.

To the eastward lies the sacred Isle of Putu, the Iona of the China
coast.