Ch. IX.] SHWIN-GAN PASSAGE. 141 



From what I could gather concerning pagodas, however, 

 they were decidedly of a religious or superstitious origin. 

 All the country round which can be seen from the top of one 

 of these structures is supposed to be blessed with fertility, 

 and the higher, therefore, and the more imposing the build- 

 ing, the greater would be the extent of rich and fertile 

 district ; and I have been informed that the inhabitants of 

 all the villages of a given neighbourhood united their means 

 in order to cause a respectable pagoda to be constructed, 

 which should thus bring a common blessing upon them all. 

 Nine storeys, however, seem to be a favourite number, and 

 most pagodas appear 'to be of greater or less antiquity. At 

 the anchorage rode about 30 vessels of all nations, among 

 which several Americans were conspicuously dressed out 

 with flags, it being the 4th July. 



We returned to the ship the same night, narrowly missing 

 it in the dark owing to the extraordinarily rapid tide which 

 flowed out, and against which pulling would have been of no 

 avail ; and the next day we left our anchorage at the mouth 

 of the Min, and, crossing the remarkable tidal line before 

 mentioned, made for the Incog. Islands, about which some 

 surveying operations were attempted ; but a strong north- 

 east wind drove us off the ground. 



The coast of China, though barren and desolate, is not 

 without picturesqueness. The nmnerous islands which are 

 clustered along nearly its whole extent are seldom visited by 

 European ships, partly because they have ever been the 

 nests of pirates, and also because the navigation would be 

 far too intricate to be of advantage. A good idea of their 

 character was gained by passing through the Shwin-gan 

 Passage, in which the islands assumed a comparatively fer- 

 tile aspect, being green and dotted with trees, the ground 



