Chap. VI. 



CHINESE RIVER-LOCKS. 



113 



During the night we passed over two embank- 

 ments, which, for small vessels, answer the same pur- 

 poses as the locks on our canals at home. We were 

 drawn over the embankment by means of a windlass 

 and an inclined plane. This mode of getting from a 

 higher to a lower level, or vice versa, is common in 

 China, where locks, such as those seen in Europe, do 

 not seem to be used. As our boat glided swiftly 

 down the inclined plane at midnight, amidst the 

 lanterns of the Chinese, the effect was curious enough 

 to a person like myself who had never seen anything 

 of the kind before. The second launch brought us 

 upon the waters of the Ning-po river. 



During the night we passed a large city named 

 Yu-eou, and next morning I found we were sailing 

 down a wide and beautiful stream, which I knew 

 passed by the city of Ning-po, and entered the sea at 

 Chinhae. The country in its general features was 

 hilly, but a plain of some extent was seen on each 

 side of the river. This low ground was wet and 

 marshy, and only fit for the cultivation of rice. 



An immense number of tombs were seen covering 

 the sides of the hills, and plainly betokened that we 

 were approaching a large and populous city. J uniper 

 and pine trees were grouped about the graves, and 

 gave a sombre yet pleasing aspect to the last resting- 

 places of the dead. The tallow-tree still occupied a 

 prominent place on the edges of the fields and canals, 

 as well as on the hill-sides ; and showed, by the extent 

 to which it is cultivated, that it must be a most im- 

 portant tree to the Chinese. 



