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The short grasses covering the rugged surface of the granite glow at almost all seasons, with colours of peculiar richness, from a deep purple to tender yellow, forming a carpet the tints of which are interrupted here and there by boulders of fantastic form and ombre hue, or relieved by delicate groups of the feathery bamboo, flourishing in some nook in which a few inches of soil have been formed by the disintegration of the granite. A solitary hamlet, the only one visible in a distance of at least thirty miles, may be seen occupying the strand at the Northern extremity of the Island on the right hand. This absence of population along the shores of the river is due as much to the lawless nature of the people as to the barreness of the soil. The villages which exist along the course of the river are for the most part planted at the head of secluded creeks and bays, where greater opportunities of defence against hostile attack or of withdrawal from the action of authority are presented. The deserted aspect of the shore becomes particularly noticeable as the steamer proceeds, coasting under the rugged cliffs which rise from the eastern bank, whilst on the left hand the channel rapidly expands into the broad estuary, the prospect being only bounded on the left hand by the rugged promontories of Lam-tao, which are usually shrouded in dense masses of rolling mist. As the steamer passes on, the island of Ling-ting is seen in mid-channel, and is pointed out as the place of anchorage for the opium ships in days when traffic in the drug. was contraband. Large numbers of fishing boats dot the broad expanse, and at every shoal the stakes to which their nets are attached are seen protruding from the water. Three hours after leaving Hongkong, after accomplishing a distance of about fifty miles, the Bogue is approached, the bay and fort of Chuen-pe being first passed on the left hand. The fortifications of A-nunghoy Point are the first that attract attention, consisting in a long range of granite masonry pierced with embrasures for guns at the water level, with a wall running up the cliff in a semi-circle as a protection from attack in rear. The shattered blocks of granite still lie as they were driven from their places by the guns of the British squadron in 1856. Abreast of this fortification lie the North and South Wang-tong, or Bar-the-way Islands, completely encir

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cled with granite batteries, which, however are in no better condition than those of the main. The defensive position is completed by the batteries on Tiger Island, lying a little further on, to the left hand in ascending. This island, a remarkable mass of rounded granite with precipitous sides, rising to a height of about 400 feet, takes its name from a resemblance, fancied by the Chinese, to a tiger's head. Europeans discover, on the contrary, a well defined elephant's head and trunk formed by a declivity about the centre of the island. Others declare that, if it must be known by the name of some animal, it should be called Bare Island.

Once inside the Bogue, the banks of the river become more clearly defined, and assume the character of alluvial flats, richly cultivated with rice and sugar-cane. The steamer's course, which hitherto has been on the whole northerly, is turned to the west shortly after passing on the right a range of hills surmounted by a prominent land mark known as the Second Bar Pagoda (from the existence at this point of shallows known as the Second Bar), and the masts of the foreign shipping at Whampoa are shortly descried. The scenery surrounding this anchorage, consisting of low, wooded hills, is extremely picturesque, but the aspect of the Chinese village, fitly denominated Bamboo Town, opposite which the steamer stops for a minute or two is repulsive beyond description. As the first view of purely Chinese habitations, the dilapidated and decaying tenements erected on piles along the shore usually inspire unmitigated disgust. Some amusement may be derived from watching the deft manner in which the boatmen and boatwomen of Whampoa manage their sampans, which crowd in a dense mass around the steamer, in the midst of a Babel of vociferations, and seem to escape by a daily miracle the peril of swamping beneath the still-revolving paddles."

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For wealth, magnificence and naturally advantageous position, Canton or more correctly speaking, Kwang-chow-foo-may be classed among the most famous cities in the "Middle Kingdom," and, owing to its commercial relations and many attractions in the way of temples, pagodas and curioes, the most noted among other nations.

This far-famed emporium stands on the nothern bank of the

Cheu Kiang or Pearl River, in the province of Kwangtung-hence its designation among foreigners, the word Canton being a corruption of the name of the province by the earliest Portuguese and English residents; and is situated in Lat 23° 7' 10" N and Long 113' 14' 30" East, being bound on the north by the provinces of Hunan, Kwang-si and Kiang-si, on the north by Fuhkien and on the east and south by the sea.

In consequence of its favoured position the traffic of other countries was directed to it at a very early period; and as far back as the tenth century after Christ it was regarded as one of the principal centres of commerce in the Far East. At that time the Arabian navigators traded between there and the ports of Western Asia; and to this day there exist several monumental relics of their time in the shape of Muslim structures and followers of Mahommed. One of the most notable of the former is the Mohammedan Mosque and Minaret-known to the Chinese as the Kwang T'ap or Bare Pagoda which was built by the early Arabian traders A. D. 850, and stands in the Tartar quarter of the city, a little to the southward of the crumbling Tah Yah or Flowery Pagoda."

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The mosque is a plain and simple structure consisting of a large hall, the roof of which is supported by ordinary Chinese pillars; while the white-washed walls are only relieved from their severe simplicity by a few texts from the Koran. The floor is of stone covered with matting; and the only article of furniture is a rude altar upon which stands a tablet inscribed with an invocation. to the great "Lord of Ten-Thousand-Times-Ten-Thousand-Years."

The origin of the mosque is denoted by the shape of the arches that form two sides of the structure, close to which stands a circular tower or minaret which rises to a height of 130 feet, gradually decreasing in diameter until the first story is reached, from there the tower takes a much smaller calibre. Some bushes and a tree have grown out of the platform of the first story which used to be reached by a spiral staircase in the interior, but owing to its ruinous condition the entrance was blocked up some forty years ago.

In the sixteenth century the Portuguese, who were the pioneers

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