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Eagre of the Tsien-Tang. 
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316 D. J. Macginndh oD 
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No extensive repairs were called for until twenty years af 
but from that time, the fall and rebuilding of dykes are frequen 
mentioned. After one of these disasters, an ox was sacrifice 
the shin of the eastern sea, the repairs at this time required thir- 
teen years’ labor, and nearly the whole province was called on to 
aid in defraying the expense. : 
A typhoon, in 1578, which lasted three days and nigkts, caused 
with the tide extensive losses. Roaring or howling noises are 
mentioned several times in connection with sea storms; they 
were peculiarly alarming in that typhoon. Salt water covered 
the fields for many miles, drowning many of the inhabitants. In 
reconstructing the dykes, unusual care was taken to have stones 
hewn in such a manner as to afford mutual attachment and sup- 
ort: five were Jaid lengthwise, and on these, five more were 
placed crosswise ; the wall was then carried up, the stones, which 
were five feet two inches long, and one foot eight inches in thick- 
hess each way, being placed alternately sideway and endwise to- 
wards the stream. Some details are given of the cost of these 
stones. The quarrying and dressing was three mace of silver, 
one mace for boat-hire and seven candareens for portage,—that is, 
about seventy-five cents for each stone. The dykes which Isaw _ 
on the T'sien-tang were perpendicular walls; the Chinese, how- 
ever, are perfectly aware-that a slope towards the water gives ad- 
ditional strength to an embankment ; a sea wall at one part of the — . 
bay near Chin-hai, is placed a portion of its way at an angle of E 
thirty degrees. C 
In the reign of Kang-hi in 1665, after a typhoon, like the for- 
mer of three day’s duration, and occurring with an Eagre, the 
dykes were generally overturned, with much destruction of life 
and property. In rebuilding them, iron clasps were employed to 
nt. 
which had carried off several miles of country, and were sacri- 
ficing to the gods for succor, when another tide suddenly brought 
the whole back again! 
Kang-hi’s successor Yung-ching (1723-36, ) endeavored by the 
use of huge amulets and numerous religious ceremonies to appease 
the gods, although he did not neglect the embankments. Find- 
ing that five iron oxen which had been placed at different points 
of the river and estuary were not likely to prove efficacious talis- 
mans, he ordered the erection, at his own expense, of a great 
temple dedicated to the Hai-shin or sea gods, in the city of Hat- 
ning. A stone slab or monument contains the imperial rescript — 
in relation to the structure. “I find,” says his majesty, “that 
