464 ANNUAL REGISTER, 1797. 
markably ferpentine. The banks 
are elevated confiderably above the 
adjacent plains, extending as far as 
the eye can reach ; which circum- 
ftance, together with the windings 
of the river, made the vefféls failing 
on it appear to move in every ‘di-, 
rection over the adjoining fields. 
Thefe fields were generally covered 
with the /olcus forghum, or talleft of 
the vegetables producing efculent 
grain, vulgarly called Barbades Mil- 
Iet. It grows to the height of ten 
or twelve feet; and the lowedt cal- 
culation of its increafe isan hun- 
dred fold.—When night came on, 
the banks were illuminated by lan- 
terns, the tranfparent fides:of which 
were made of differently coloured 
paper; while the number} of lan- 
terns hoifted on the maft-heads of 
the various veffels in the river de- 
noted the refpective ranks of the 
paffengers on hoard ; all which pro- 
duced a moving and party-coloured 
illumination, a {pecies of magniti- 
cence much affected by the Chinefe. 
The night was nearly as noify as the 
day, to which contributed not 2 lit- 
tle the fhiill founds of the loo or 
ong, on every occafion of convey- 
ing fignals. . 
On one fide-of the river was a 
large grove of high and wide-{pread- 
ing pines; the other was crowded 
with pyramids or ftacks of falt, 
brought annually from the fouthern 
provinces in 2000 veffels of 200 tons 
each; and fuflicient for the annual 
confumption of thirty millions of 
people. The pyramids of falt were 
within fight of the great port called 
Tien-fing, or the heavenly {pot ; 
an appellation claimed by its genial 
climate, fertile foil, dry air, and fe- 
rene fky. The townis fituated on 
an eminence, at the confluence of 
two rivers, and is the general em; 
porium for the northern provinces 
of China, One of the rivers near 
to Tien-fing is expreffed by a word 
meaning the ** Grain-bearing Ri- 
ver ;’’ and even at this early ftage 
of the expedition, the travellers 
found that the Chinefe names were 
not mere arbitrary founds, but 
ferved to denote the nature and 
qualities of things: a circumftance 
which proves this country to have 
been poffeffed always by the fame 
race, without any confiderable mix- 
ture with foreign nations. The 
crowds of fpeCtators were immenfe ; 
yet, in all the ardour of curiofity, 
the people preferved order and re- 
gularity, without the aid of foldiers 
or conftables: and for the fake of 
mutual accommodation, none of the 
common Chinefe who ufually wear 
{traw-hats, kept them on their heads, 
though thus expofed to a fcorching 
fun. The fleet conveying the em- 
baffy anchored nearly in the centre 
of the city, oppofite to a pavilion 
in which the viceroy of the pro- 
vince waited for the ambaffador. 
There the latter was informed that 
the Emperor was in his country- 
refidence of Zhe-hol, in Tartary, 
where he intended to celebrate the 
anniverfary of his birth-day on the - 
17th of September. It was propof- 
ed, in confequence, that the em- 
baffy, after having reached Tong- 
thoo by water, within twelve miles of 
Pekin, fhould -proceed by land di- 
rectly to Zhe-hol:’ but before we 
accompany the travellers thither, 
the foilowing circumftance at Tien- 
fing ought to be noticed. ’ 
* Among other inftances of the 
Viceroy’s attention to the Ambafia-_ 
dor, a temporary theatre was erect- 
ed oppofite to his Excellency’s 
yacht. The outfide was adorned 
with a variety of brilliant and lively 
colours 5 
