Chap. XXII. TEMPLE OF AGRICULTURE. 365 
tiful examples of Ming porcelain. His Excellency 
Mr. Bruce, Colonel Neale, the Secretary of Lega- 
tion, and Dr. Rennie, had each secured many spe- 
cimens of great beauty. Brigadier-General Stavely 
had a large collection, amongst which were some of 
the finest little pieces I have ever met with. 
But to return to the main street, out of which I 
have been wandering in order to examine the book- 
shops, jade-stones, ancient porcelain, bronzes, and 
other articles of taste and luxury. After proceed- 
ing about half a mile, more or less, up this street, 
I was surprised to find myself apparently out of 
town. Here the broad paved street runs through 
a large uncultivated plain, which, from its appear- 
ance, must be frequently covered with water. I 
then saw, for the first time, that but a small por- 
tion of this Chinese city (so called) is covered with 
houses. At some distance on my right and left I 
observed large parks enclosed with high walls. 
The enclosure on *my left, or to the eastward, con- 
tained the temple of Tein-tin, sacred to the god 
of agriculture, to which the Emperor repairs once 
in every year to worship Heaven. Here, it is said, 
he devotes three days to solemn fasting and prayer, 
and then proceeds to a field near the temple, where 
with his own hands he holds the plough and throws 
a portion of rice-grain into the ground to show the 
importance which the Government attaches to the 
cultivation of the soil. At the time of my visit to 
Peking the Chinese had some objections to this 
place, and that on the opposite side, named Tee-tin, 
