152 
WOO-YUEN. 
visited the Woo-yuen, or “ the five gardens,” formerly a favourite 
imperial residence, and found them much in the state described by 
De Guignes. * “ They covered a large space of ground, one part of 
which was filled with pavilions, either grouped or isolated, and com- 
municating together by an infinite number of corridors and smaller 
buildings. These were all in a ruined state. The roofs had fallen in, 
and the window-frames and floors were rotten. One apartment alone 
contained any thing to interest curiosity. In this a pedestal of white 
marble supported a white slab inscribed with a sentence composed by 
the Emperor Kien-Lung. A serpentine river had in former times 
meandered through the gardens, but its bed alone remained. The 
remains of several bridges still existed, one of which had been of a 
curved form. Factitious rocks, of grotesque forms, the delight of the 
Chinese, were scattered about in all directions, and were still in a 
state of good preservation. These gardens, when in perfection, must 
have exhibited a good example of Chinese pleasure-grounds.” 
Surpassing the gardens in beauty and interest was a view obtained 
of a part of the Yang-tse-kiang, in the neighbourhood of Qua-tchow. 
Standing on a point of land projecting into the river, you see the 
Kin-shan, or “ golden hill,” rising like the summit of a mountain 
above the waters of the Yang-tse-kiang. Its appearance verifies the 
fidelity of those singular landscapes, given in Chinese books, of moun- 
tains insulated in the midst of rivers or lakes, and covered with houses 
and temples, and trees and flowers. The sides of the Kin-shan were 
clothed with trees shading houses and temples of light and fantastic 
forms. On the summit a grove of pines surrounded a magni- 
ficent pagoda which rose above them. Beyond the Golden hill 
is seen the city of Chin-Keang, situated at the foot of hills stretching 
away southward. Their dark-green declivities, when seen by the 
Embassy, formed a beautiful contrast to a camp of white tents 
scattered among them, and reflecting the rays of an unclouded sun. 
* De Guignes, tom. ii. 
