Chap. V. 
SHAOU-HING-FOO. 
87 
of moat. A branch of it goes straight through the city 
itself. Being anxious to visit this place, I directed my 
boatmen to go through the city, and we entered it by an 
arch in the ramparts. 
The walls of Shaou-hing-foo are between three and 
four miles in circumference, but, like most Chinese cities, 
the space enclosed is not all built over. On the sides of 
the canal the houses have a somewhat mean and poor 
appearance, but they are better in other parts of the 
town. A great trade seems to be carried on in all the 
common necessaries of life ; and as the town is as it were 
a half-way station between Hang-chow and Ning-po, it is 
visited by a great number of travellers. A considerable 
quantity of tea is gi'own on the hills not far from here. 
It is, I believe, of a very fair quality, and second only to 
that of Hwuy-chow. 
Amongst the sights here which the Chinese point out, 
and are proud of, is a fine Buddhist temple standing on a 
pretty little hill just outside the city walls. I saw many 
ornamental gates in the town, erected to the memory of 
virtuous women, who, judging from the number of these 
structures, must have been unusually numerous in the 
place ; but its chief fame results from the number of 
literary men which it has produced, and who are scat- 
tered over the whole of the empire. Wherever you meet 
them, it is their pride and boast to have received their 
education in the city of Shaou-hing, 
The surrounding country here is flat, and in every 
direction intersected by canals. The hills, which are 
seen at no great distance, have a barren appearance — 
at least they are far from being so fertile as those in the 
