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Article A VISIT TO CANTON. ← Page 6 of 14 →
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A Visit To Canton.
bargain , without ever betraying a sign of anger or impatience . Sometimes , indeed , he will purchase a release from this persecution with a few sapees , but more frequently the phlegmatic patience of the besieged tires out the assaults of the besieger , and the blind beggar has to turn away in quest of a more charitable roof .
Calculations , founded upon the daily consumption of rice in Canton , have given the population of this industrious city at 1 , 200 , 000 souls . The " floating town " alone , we are assured , contains 300 , 000 inhabitants , whilst 900 , 000 dwell upon terra firma . An embattled wall , eight t » r ten metres high , incloses the space formerly occupied by the Mandschu Tartars , when ,
after a siege of eleven months , on November 24 th , 1650 , they took this stronghold , the last which surrendered to their power . Within these walls , in the inner town , the Viceroy , and the authorities of the province , with the richest and most respectable portion of the population , retire every evening . The merchants of Canton frequent their shops onlduring the
y day ; as soon as night draws on , they hasten to their homes , some to the inner inclosed town , and others to their larger and more comfortable dwellings in the faubourgs , where they repose from the labours of the day in the midst of their families .
In spite of the treaty of Nan-King , and the demands of Sir H . Pottinger , this inner town had remained closed to the " barbarians . " We were therefore obliged to forego a visit to the Tartar city , but we wished , at least , to walk round the place . Leaving the factories at daybreak , under the guidance of an American missionary , who had become habituated to
these adventurous excursions , we quietly traversed the western faubourg , then turned eastward , to cross the barren rocks , which , north of the town , are covered with burying-places , and leaving behind us this tract , we climbed the hill upon which Sir Hugh Gough established his head-quarters , May 24 th , 1841 . From this point we descried the distant outline of
the mountains , the green valleys , numerous windings of the river , and the smiling hamlets scattered over the plain . On our right lay the practising-ground for shooting with the bow and matchlock , on our left the fertile gardens bounded by the river . We saw the yellow sails gliding through the meadows , the robust coolies hurrying along the footpathsancl the
, " tigers" of the Celestial Empire shouldering their pikes , and nyirching up ancl down before the gate of the " Eternal Repose . " It was quite a panorama , full of life , and animation , VOL . III . z
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
A Visit To Canton.
bargain , without ever betraying a sign of anger or impatience . Sometimes , indeed , he will purchase a release from this persecution with a few sapees , but more frequently the phlegmatic patience of the besieged tires out the assaults of the besieger , and the blind beggar has to turn away in quest of a more charitable roof .
Calculations , founded upon the daily consumption of rice in Canton , have given the population of this industrious city at 1 , 200 , 000 souls . The " floating town " alone , we are assured , contains 300 , 000 inhabitants , whilst 900 , 000 dwell upon terra firma . An embattled wall , eight t » r ten metres high , incloses the space formerly occupied by the Mandschu Tartars , when ,
after a siege of eleven months , on November 24 th , 1650 , they took this stronghold , the last which surrendered to their power . Within these walls , in the inner town , the Viceroy , and the authorities of the province , with the richest and most respectable portion of the population , retire every evening . The merchants of Canton frequent their shops onlduring the
y day ; as soon as night draws on , they hasten to their homes , some to the inner inclosed town , and others to their larger and more comfortable dwellings in the faubourgs , where they repose from the labours of the day in the midst of their families .
In spite of the treaty of Nan-King , and the demands of Sir H . Pottinger , this inner town had remained closed to the " barbarians . " We were therefore obliged to forego a visit to the Tartar city , but we wished , at least , to walk round the place . Leaving the factories at daybreak , under the guidance of an American missionary , who had become habituated to
these adventurous excursions , we quietly traversed the western faubourg , then turned eastward , to cross the barren rocks , which , north of the town , are covered with burying-places , and leaving behind us this tract , we climbed the hill upon which Sir Hugh Gough established his head-quarters , May 24 th , 1841 . From this point we descried the distant outline of
the mountains , the green valleys , numerous windings of the river , and the smiling hamlets scattered over the plain . On our right lay the practising-ground for shooting with the bow and matchlock , on our left the fertile gardens bounded by the river . We saw the yellow sails gliding through the meadows , the robust coolies hurrying along the footpathsancl the
, " tigers" of the Celestial Empire shouldering their pikes , and nyirching up ancl down before the gate of the " Eternal Repose . " It was quite a panorama , full of life , and animation , VOL . III . z