1832.] 
CANTON, DESCRIPTION OF. 
355 
new city. According to some foreign, as well as native books, 
the northern part was once ' composed, as it were, of three differ- 
ent towns, separated by very fine high walls, but so conjoined, that 
the same gate served to go out from the one and enter the other.' 
These divisions ceased long ago to exist. The new city was 
built at a much later period than the old. The entire circuit of 
the wall, which now includes both divisions of the city, is vari- 
ously estimated by the Chinese. At a quick step we have walked 
the whole distance in little less than two hours, and think it can- 
not exceed six English miles. On the south side the wall runs 
nearly due east and west, parallel to the river, and distant from it 
perhaps fifteen or twenty rods. On the north, where ' the city 
rests on the brow of the hill,' the wall takes a serpentine course ; 
and its base at the highest point on the hill is perhaps two hun- 
dred or three hundred feet above the surface of the river. 
" The walls are composed partly of stone and partly of bricks : 
the former is chiefly coarse sandstone, and forms the foundation 
and the lower part of the walls and the arches of the gates ; the 
latter are small and of a soft texture. In several places, particu- 
larly along the east side of the city, the elements have made such 
inroads on the walls as to aff'ord satisfactory evidence, that be- 
fore the prowess of a modern foe, they would present but a feeble 
resistance. They rise nearly perpendicular, and vary in height 
from twenty-five to thirty-five or forty feet. In thickness they are 
twenty or twenty-five feet. They are the highest and the most 
substantial on the north side, evidently so built because in that 
direction hostile bands would be the most likely to make an attack, 
A hne of battlements, with embrasures at intervals of a few feet, 
are raised on the top of the wall around the whole city ; these 
the Chinese call ching-jin, literally, c%-mew; and in the rear of 
them there is a broad pathway. There are two ' wings,' or short 
walls, one at the southeast and the other at the southwest corner 
of the city, which stretch out from the main walls ; these were 
designed to block up the narrow space between the walls and the 
ditches of the city. Through each of these there is a gate, in 
every respect similar to those of the city. 
" The gates of the city are sixteen in number ; four of these 
lead through the wall which separates the old from the new city ; 
so that there are only twelve outer gates — commencing on the 
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