118 
WANDERINGS IN CHINA. Chap. VIII. 
now becomes beautiful and highly picturesque, the flat 
cultivated land near the shores forming a striking con- 
trast to the barren hills on the outside of the forts ; the 
mountains in the distance appear to encircle the ex- 
tensive plain ; and although, like the others, they are 
barren, yet they make a fine background to the picture. 
A few miles further up the river the shipping in Blen- 
heim and Whampoa reaches comes into view, and the 
celebrated Whampoa pagoda, with several more of less 
note, besides numerous other towers and joss-houses, all 
remind the traveller that he is approaching the far- 
famed city of Canton, one of the richest and most 
important in the celestial empire. The noble river, 
with its numerous ramifications, forms many islands, on 
one of which the small town or village of Whampoa is 
built. 
Large quantities of rice are grown, both on the 
islands formed by the river, and on the flats on the 
main-land. The tide is kept out by embankments, and 
the ground can be overflowed at will. These embank- 
ments are not allowed to lie idle, but are made to 
produce crops of plantains. When the land is too high 
to be flooded by the tide, the water-wheel is brought 
into play, and it is perfectly astonishing how much water 
can be raised by this simple contrivance in a very short, 
space of time. 
Sugar-cane is also grown rather extensively near 
Whampoa, and, in its raw state, is an article in great 
demand amongst the Chinese. It is manufactured into 
sugar-candy and brown sugar ; many kinds of the latter 
being particularly fine, though not much used by the 
