Nov. 22, 1858.] AND THE PEIHO RIVER. 67 



at tlie anchorage, smart double-reef topsail-breezes were frequent, 

 and sometimes very heavy squalls, in wbicli the wind shifted 

 abruptly, and blew equally hard from south-east to north-west or 

 south-west to north. The sea that arose on these occasions was 

 never trying to the ships, neither did any of them have to get down 

 their topgallant-masts on account of the weather; but for boat- 

 work, intercommunication between vessels or with the shore, or to 

 discharge the cargoes of merchantmen, there was often sufficient 

 sea to render such operations hazardous, if not impossible. The 

 heaviest sea experienced was from the south-east, the drift of the 

 waves from that direction being the greatest; that from north- 

 east gales, which in the offing make perhaps the heaviest sea experi- 

 enced in the Gulf, being broken where ships lie at anchor by the 

 extensive sandbanks known as the Sha-lin-tien Shoals, of which 

 a very good chart was published by the Admiralty, in the year 1840, 

 compiled by Mr. Norsworthy, of H. M. S. Py lades. To complete 

 my remarks on this anchorage, I annex the observations made 

 by an excellent officer, Mr. Stephen Court, Master of H. M. S. 

 Furious, together with a tide-table, kept by my officers and checked 

 by myself. 



The most important points to be deduced from those tidal 

 observations are that the rise and fall is 9 feet at spring-tides, and 

 that the time of high- water at the full and change of the moon is at 

 4h. 8m. ; whereas the rise and fall had formerly been stated to be 

 as much as 11 feet, and the time of high- water had been variously 

 stated as at 3h. 38m. and 2h. 45m. 



From the Gulf of Pecheli it is now time to turn to the Peiho 

 Eiver. The Peiho, which, being translated, means " the North 

 River," has its sources in the high lands at no great distance be- 

 yond Pekin, and runs for the major portion of its tortuous course 

 through a level country, the velocity of its stream, rather than the 

 volume of its water, having scoured out a narrow bed in the stiff 

 clay which forms the substratum of the plain of Chili. This scour- 

 ing force, however, becomes so weakened as it approaches the sea, 

 owing to the low level of the shores allowing a constant overflow, 

 that instead of cutting a 12-feet channel straight out into the Gulf 

 of Pecheli, the depth of the river suddenly decreases, and the river 

 discharges itself over an area several miles in extent, forming what 

 is known as the Bar. 



The best, indeed the only, chart we possess of the bar of the 

 Peiho River is the American one, a tracing of which accompanies 

 this paper, and I can testify to its general correctness, except that 

 the water found by the Americans on the bar is nearly two feet 



