SHA-MTN. 285 



Northern, or Tartar, and the Southern, or Chinese, 

 town, is surrounded by fortifications and a dry ditcli. 

 left in a most filthy condition by the receding tide. 

 Hills enclose Canton on three sides, the river lining the 

 fourth, and one vast burial-ground covei's the slopes of 

 the former, the graves mostly occupying a large semi- 

 circle cut into the hill, and filled with rude stone monu- 

 ments. The town itself, as seen from Fort Alfred, has a 

 flat appearance, most of the houses are two-storeyed anrl 

 covered with tile roofs, with a few pagodas and watch- 

 towers, whence alarm is ofiven in case of fire. On everv 

 roof a certain supply of water is kept in large buckets, 

 owing to the frequency of conflagration and the difli- 

 culty of procuring water, unless the tide happens to be 

 rising ; for otherwise the canals are dry. 



Honam, a suburb, famous for a very large Buddhist 

 temple, covering seven acres, and maintaining a 

 number of sacred pigs of enormous size, lies on the 

 opposite side of the river, 



Sha-Min consists of a piece of land ceded by the 

 Chinese in 1861 to the Allies for 325,000 dols., the French 

 retaining one fifth, upon which, however, they have never 

 built ; and at the time of my visit an American circus 

 had been erected there, much to the annoyance of the 

 British community, as it brought all the roughs of 

 Canton to the European settlement. The other four- 



