140 EAMBLES OF A NATUEAJ.IST. [Cn. IX. 



the stream bristled with fortifications and guns ; but it was 

 evidently a very old and tumbledown affair, more picturesque 

 than useful. 



Pagoda Anchorage receives its name from a stone pagoda 

 built upon Losing Island, ia a broad reach of the river, near 

 which is the town of Mingi, a busy spot, inasmuch as it is 

 the emporium which carries on business between Foo-chow 

 and the shipping at the anchorage. The Pagoda is pictu- 

 resquely situated, rising above trees and terraced houses, 

 .so that four storeys are visible, of a dark grey or brown 

 colour and of rather heavy proportions. This perhaps arises 

 from the fact that the top storey was wantonly destroyed 

 some years since by some sailors of a man-of-war, so that it 

 naturally has an imperfect and unfinished appearance. Not 

 very far from, the spot a second pagoda may be seen from 

 the river, up one of the vistas between the hills. That these 

 pagodas have some religious meaning I think cannot admit 

 of a doubt, notwithstanding that a Chinaman, when I ques- 

 tioned him, laughingly denied that they had anything to do 

 with "joss pidgin." But anyone who has mixed with the 

 Chinese soon discovers two peculiarities in their character, 

 viz., first, that they will laugh off any inquiry or reference 

 to their religious customs or superstitious belief, as though 

 it were not worthy of discussion, or too ridiculous to be 

 mentioned ; and secondly, that it is impossible to get any 

 satisfactory answer to rational inquiry into their own man- 

 ners, customs, politics, or history. I never heard of any 

 reliable information being obtained from a Chinaman upon 

 such points in a general way ; and it is only those who have 

 long lived among them, and have mastered not only their 

 character but also their language, who can place the least 

 confidence in the statements made by them. 



