CHINA. 419 



never seen an example with the front edges cut, even although I 

 possess several folded books made of extremely stout cardboard. 

 The accompanying diagram will serve to illustrate the develop- 

 ment of the book from the roll. 



DIAGKAM SHOWING THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE CHINESE FOLDED BOOK OCT OF THE KOLL. 



Nearly all Chinese and Japanese books are block books, 

 printed from wooden blocks, each of which contains four pages, 

 a pair of pages on each side. All the letters having to be 

 carved out on every wooden block, it is as cheap or cheaper 

 to fill a page with illustrations as to fill it with characters. 

 Hence, no doubt, the profusion of illustration, especially in 

 Japanese books. 



I paid the usual visit to Canton from Hong Kong. On the 

 passage of the river the tall pagoda of Whampoa is passed. 

 Pagodas, as is well known, are erected as sanitary precautions 

 for the benefit of the cities near which they are built. They 

 represent sharp peaked mountains, and are intended to preserve 

 the balance of exhalations of the several elements, according to 

 the laws of the mysterious science of Fung Shui, and thus avert 

 pestilence and other ills. 



The pagoda interested me, because on every one of the series 

 of balconies or ledges encircling it at successive heights, a large 

 variety of plants had established themselves and were flourish- 

 ing, in some instances bushes of considerable size. The pagoda 

 stands isolated, and the seeds of all these plants must have 

 been carried up by birds or by the wind. I was told that the 

 Chinese considered it lucky that plants should thus settle on 

 the building. 



The strangest sight in Canton is certainly the water-clock, 



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