Miscellaneous. 133 



— military or civil : to widen them however in an efficient and perma- 

 nent manner would be a work of but little expence, as the lines are 

 very direct, excellent road materials procurable in all directions, the 

 drainage'perfect, and the bridges for the most part of breadth sufficient 

 to allow of the passage of a field piece, or so built as to be with facility 

 widened. 



Commerce. — Manufactures — the principal appears to be the spirit called 

 Sam-shew, which is distilled from rice, flavored with a certain addition 

 of an infusion of Juniper bark : it contains much alcohol, and some 

 found in store was observed to be highly rectified, evidently improving 

 in strength by age. It is packed in one and two gallon jars closed with 

 bladder for exportation, and from the quantity found in various parts 

 of the sea-port town, must employ a great proportion of the working 

 class during the winter in its preparation. Salt is made along the 

 coast wherever the elevation of the beach admits of it, but it did not 

 appear to me to be produced in considerable quantities. Some coarse 

 cordage is made in small quantities out of a poor description of hemp 

 (probably imported,) chiefly for fishing nets and hauling lines, but none 

 for the service of the trading junks, or those of the emperor, for the re- 

 fitting or repair of which no slip or dock channel, nor any naval arsenal 

 was observed. 



Several average samples of the gunpowder found in the arsenals of 

 Chusan, produced on analysis a mean of the following results — 



Nitrate of Potash 77- 



Sulphur 13 v 



Charcoal 9 



Water 1 



Some appeared to be granulated and even glazed with considerable 

 care, but much unevenness and inequality are discernible in the greater 

 portion, and the result of experiments on its strength by the Madras 

 Artillery was generally unfavorable. 



Some saltpetre was also found, together with a small quantity of 

 sulphur part of which was evidently native, and not sublimed from sul- 

 phureous ores : the saltpetre was well refined — up to 4 to 9 refraction, 

 and was principally in the state of coarse prunelle not entirely freed 

 from water of crystallization. 



The art of casting in iron seems to be familiarly known to the Chi- 

 nese, and although the guns and shot found in store in the island may 

 be pronounced rude and clumsy in the extreme, the strength, finish, and 

 even elegance of some of the tripods, incense-burners, &c. seen in cer- 



