Cuar. VII.] ICE-HOUSES. 
105 
tion and situation differed so much from what I 
had been accustomed to see at home,— differing, 
too, in things which I 
used to consider as 
indispensable to an 
ice-house, — that .I had 
great doubts regarding 
their efficiency; but at 
the present time, which 
is now the end of 
August, 1844, many of 
these houses are yet 
full of ice, and seem to 
answer the end most 
admirably. You are 
probably aware, from 
my former descriptions 
of the country, that the 
town of Ning-po stands 
in the midst of a level 
plain from twenty to 
thirty miles across. 
These ice-houses are 
built on the sides of 
the river in the centre 
of the plain, completely 
exposed to the sun — 
a sun, too, very dif- 
ferent in its effects 
Ice-houses near Ning-po. 
from what we experience in Raglan — clear, 
fierce, and burning, which would try the efficiency 
