146 
MAHOMMEDAN MOSQUES. 
the roofs were ornamented with wood richly carved. Idols were 
placed in niches of the walls, but were in a state of decay. Its height 
was estimated at one hundred and twenty feet. From an inscription 
on a tablet over the door of the building, Mr. Morrison ascertained 
the date of its erection to be the 13th year of the Emperor Wan-lech, 
of the Ming dynasty, answering to the year 1584 of the Christian era. 
In the vicinity of the pagoda some buildings were seen, of a dif- 
ferent style of architecture to any before met with. They were of a 
quadrangular form. The sides were equal, supporting a sloping roof. 
This was somewhat cone-shaped ; had also equal sides going off from 
the corresponding walls, and rising in a point, surmounted by a round 
ball. They proved to be Mahommedan mosques, called, by the Chi- 
nese, Le-pee-tze. * 
The Embassy passed the pagoda at two in the afternoon, and 
anchored at the entrance of the canal about four o’clock, leaving Lin- 
tsing to the north-east. The Eu-ho continued its course southward 
across the mouth of the canal. 
On the 23d, the boats entered the canal, or Cha-ho, “ river of 
floodgates,” which at first took an easterly direction, but gradually 
swept towards the south ; in this respect corresponding with the 
course given to it on the map of the Jesuits. It was wide at its 
entrance, but after a few miles, became covered with rushes, which 
closed the prospect on both sides. 
On the 24th, the Embassy passed through several floodgates, often 
contracting the width of the canal to twenty-two feet ; and, occasion- 
ally, scarcely permitting the passage of His Excellency’s boat, whose 
greatest breadth was about nineteen feet. All these were of the 
simple construction described by former writers, being formed of 
“ planks sliding in grooves that are cut into the sides of two stone 
abutments.” In the evening, the boats anchored under the suburbs 
of Tang-cliang-foo, distinguished by its handsome gates, square 
* For a notice respecting the Mahommedans in China, see Appendix. 
