sufficiently explains why, except the Great wall, there are few ancient monuments in China. Their edifices. are far from being of a solid construction, the columns being in most cases of wood, and the climate throughout the country subject to the greatest vicissitudes of moisture and dryness, as well as of heat and cold. The nine-storied buildings called pagodas, being of good solid brick-work, are among the most lasting. That of Nanking is at the head of these monuments, which are of a religious nature, and, like the steeples of churches, were at first attached to temples. Several still remain with the religious establishments to which they belong, besides the one at Nanking, a printed representation of which, with a description attached, was purchased by some of the embassy while in the neighbourhood. Its dimensions are nearly two hundred feet in height, the ground-plan being octagonal, and the spiral staircase built through the solid part of the wall, which surrounds a hollow space in the centre that is carried to the summit of the building. In niches at the sides of the stair are placed images of Budh, or of the goddess Kuân-yin. Nanking being situated in lat. 32° 04', the excellence of the climate, joined to its proximity to the great Keang, still renders it a populous place with a very considerable trade, however fallen from its former splendour. Besides its silk manufactures, and the cotton cloth which takes its name, the Chinese highly esteem the paper, and the squares of ink which are made here. The pithy substance, in England vulgarly called rice. paper, is likewise prepared in this neighbourhood from a leguminous plant called Tung-tsaou, which like the rush inhabits marshy places. When the pirate Koshinga ravaged the eastern coasts, he sailed easily up |