340 



VISIT THE TOWN OF NAN-TSIN. Chap. XVI. 



tions met the eye in every direction. A great 

 quantity of rice was also produced on the lower 

 lands. The natives seemed well to do in the 

 world, having plenty of work without oppression, 

 and enough to procure the necessaries and simple 

 luxuries of life. It was pleasant to hear their 

 joyous and contented songs as they laboured 

 amongst the mulberry-plantations and rice-fields. 



In the evening we arrived at Nan-tsin, and as 

 I was anxious to see something of this celebrated 

 silk-town by daylight, I determined on remaining 

 there for a few days. Early next morning I was 

 up and on my way to see the town. Even at this 

 early hour — five a.m. — the roads were full of 

 people ; for like other nations the Chinese hold 

 their markets in the morning. The streets in the 

 town were lined with vegetables of all kinds, and 

 the fruits of the season were abundant and cheap, 

 particularly water-melons, peaches, plums, &c. 

 Butchers' stalls groaned under loads of fat pork ; 

 there was an abundance of fresh and salt fish ; 

 ducks, geese, and fowls, were there in hundreds, 

 and, indeed, everything was there which could 

 tempt the eye of the Chinese epicure, except cats, 

 rats, and young puppies, and these are not appre- 

 ciated in this part of the country. 



Frogs are in great demand in all the Chinese 

 towns, both in the north and south, wherever I 

 have been, and they were very abundant in Nan- 

 tsin. They abound in shallow lakes and rice 

 fields, and many of them are very beautifully 



