Cuap. VI.] BRIDGE OF BOATS. 83 
river, forming the basis on which the upper wood- 
work rests, and enabling the whole to rise and fall 
to a certain extent with the tide. By this means 
there is sufficient room under the bridge to allow 
fishing and passage boats to pass through at all 
times of the tide, providing it is not running too 
strong. At spring tides the water rushes through 
these spaces between the boats with great velocity, 
and sometimes it is next to impossible to get 
through. 
The city itself is strongly fortified with high 
walls and ramparts about five miles round, and the 
space inside the walls is almost entirely filled with 
houses, in most parts densely crowded together. 
There are two or three very fine streets; finer, in: 
deed, and wider than those of any other Chinese 
town which I have visited. A good view of the 
city and the surrounding country, as far as the eye 
can reach, is obtained from the top of a pagoda 
about one hundred and thirty feet high, having a 
stair-case inside by which the top can be reached. 
(See following page.) This pagoda is named 
“ Tien-foong-tah,” or the “Temple of the Heavenly 
Winds ;” it is evidently very old, and, like many 
others of the same kind, is in a state of decay. When- 
ever I visited this place, the Priests (Budhists ) were 
always in attendance with their offerings of cake 
and tea, for which a small gratuity was expected. 
When I first landed at Ning-po, the British 
consul, Mr. Thom, had not arrived, and I was quite 
at a loss where to go, or to whom to apply for 
G 2 
