Chap. V. 
VISIT TO NING-PO. 
61 
CHAPTEK V. 
First Visit to Ning-po — The Bridge of Boats — City and Pagoda 
— Medical Missionary — Temperature — Chinese Mode of keeping 
themselves warm — Charcoal Stoves — My Lodgings — Chinese 
Gamblers — Description of Shops — Silks and Embroidery — Jade 
Stone — Cotton Printing — Rope-making — Curiosity Shops and 
Contents — " Furniture Street " and Furniture — Banking Esta- 
blishment—No prospect of Foreign Trade — Temples, and Devo- 
tion of some of the People — Dwarfed Trees — Mode of dwarfing 
explained — Mandarins' Gardens visited and described — View 
from northern Hills — Agriculture — Native Flora of these Hills 
— Graves of the Dead — Coffins exposed. 
I VISITED Ning-po for the first time in the autumn of 
1843. It is a large town, situated on the main-land, 
nearly west from the Chusan group of islands, on the 
east coast of China, and contains about 880,000 inha- 
bitants. It stands about twelve miles from the sea, at 
the junction of two fine streams, which by their union 
form a noble river capable of being navigated by the 
larger vessels and junks. One of these branches runs 
from the west, and the other from the south, meeting at 
Ning-po ; and over the latter the Chinese have con- 
structed a bridge of boats for the trafiic with the suburbs 
on the opposite shore. This bridge is a most simple and 
ingenious contrivance, consisting of a number of large 
boats moored at equal distances across the river, forming 
the basis on which the upper woodwork rests, and enabhng 
