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CHAPTER ^X— Continued. 



TOPOGRAPHICAL NOTES. 



HANGCHOW. 



By the Rt. Rev. Bishop Moule, D.D. 



Yuhang hsing shfing sze fang wu, f^i1^J^WV^~)j ^^ 



Chou p'ang ts'ing shan Hsien tsnng hii * i]\\ ^^\i\Wk^M 



Peh-Ku-yih (Cent. 8— 9). 



"Sans faille la plus noble cite est la meillor qe soit au monde." 



Marco Polo (Cent. 13). 



npHE city thus praised by alien and by citizen lies about 150 miles south-west of 

 * Shanghai. The Huang-p'u and its creeks serve the traveller as far as Kiashan (Kazay'*), 

 some 70 miles ; and at Kiahsing (Kashing), 10 miles further, he finds himself in the Grand 

 Canal, which touches this city on its way from Soochow to its southern terminus, about a 

 mile from the Wulin Gate of Hangchow. 



The whole distance has been done by a houseboat under sail in about 24 hours. 

 The native passenger-boats, named after the city of Wusieh, take from three to six days, as 

 they are bad sailers in any but a fair wind — quite helpless in rough weather. They rely 

 chiefly on the yitloh (scull) and tow-line. Recently, however, a service of steam-launches has 

 been put on, which starts daily from Shanghai and Hangchow, each towing a train of three 

 to seven or eight of the Wusieh boats, either engaged privately, or filled with passengers 

 at so much a head, or who have clubbed two or three together to share one of the three 

 cabins into which the boat is usually divided. A boat costs $20 more or less, including the 

 tow ; a cabin from $6 to $9. 



At T'angtsi (Dongsi), some 17 miles nearly due north of Hangchow, the hills are well 

 in sight; and P'ingyao (Bingyow, "the Potteries"), a well-known resort of sportsmen, is 

 only a few miles to the south-west. 



The waterway from T'angtsi is bordered on each side with orchards of plum, peach, 

 loquat and other fruit trees, as well as mulberry plantations ; while the hamlets or single 

 homesteads of the cultivators, shaded with groves or clumps of trees, add picturesqueness 



* The fair prospects of Yuhang (old name of Hangchow) are unmatched in the four regions; 

 Its Prefect leans on the green hills, its sub-Magistrate is pillowed on the lake. 



