362 VOYAGE OF THE POTOMAC, [May, 
and two walled cities, divided into two classes, the civil and the 
military ; the first comprising two thousand and forty-five, and the 
second two thousand three hundred and fifty-seven cities. The 
frontiers and seacoasts are defended by four hundred and thirty- 
nine castles, fortified and covered by two thousand nine hundred 
and twenty towns, many of which are equal in population and 
extent to the walled cities themselves ; while the villages scattered 
over the interior are declared to be innumerable. 
There are also, according to the same authorities, eleven hun- 
dred and forty-five royal hospitals, or lodging-places for the offi- 
cers and servants of the court ; eleven hundred and fifty-nine 
triumphal arches, erected in honour of kings and heroes ; two 
hundred and eight monuments, dedicated to the memory of 
females who have been distinguished by the virtues of their sex; 
two hundred and seventy-two libraries, continually open to the 
learned : and in almost every city or town, schools and colleges 
established by their great philosopher Confucius, or founded in 
honour of his name. How near to the actual truth these flaming 
and probably exaggerated accounts approximate, it is impossible 
for strangers to determine. We know that this people possess 
an extraordinary share of national pride and vanity ; despising all 
the rest of the world, and believing, or affecting to believe, that 
every other nation of the earth is bound to pay them homage and 
obeisance. 
Ey the Chinese themselves, their country is called Tehong- 
Kaoue, or the middle kingdom ; because they formerly imagined 
that it was situated in the middle of the earth, and that all other 
countries lay scattered around their empire in the form of small 
islands. In latter times they have indeed acquired a more correct 
geography ; but so inveterately do they adhere to ancient opinions, 
and especially to whatever flatters their national vanity, that they 
still continue to express themselves in this erroneous manner, and 
to preserve unaltered every sentiment and expression of their 
great philosopher Confucius. In their hyperbolical jargon, China 
is the " Celestial Empire," and their emperor the " Father of 
ten thousand years," and the " Brother of the sun and moon." 
But, after making all due allowances for hyperbole and exag- 
geration, the country in question is emphatically one of the 
wonders of the world ; for the whole geography and history of 
