PACIFIC AND BEERING’S STRAIT. 
451 
CHAPTER XVII. 
Appearance of Loo Choo— Visits of the Natives— Deputation— Permission given to land— 
Excursions into the Country — Discover Money in Circulation — Mandarin visits the 
Ship— Departure of a Junk with Tribute— Visit of the Mandarin returned— Further 
Intercourse— Transactions of the Ship— Departure— Observations upon the Religion, 
Manners, and Customs of the People ; upon their Laws, Money, Weapons, and Punish- 
ments ; their Manufactures and Trade— Remarks upon the Country, its Productions and 
Climate-Directions for entering the Port— Historical Sketch of the Kingdom of Loo 
Choo. 
Loo Choo from the anchorage presents a very agreeable land- CHAP, 
scape to the admirers of quiet scenery. The land rises with a gradual 
ascent from the sea-coast to something more than five hundred feet May. 
in height, and in almost every part exhibits a delightful picture oi 
industry. The appearance of formality is just removed by a due pro- 
portion of hill and valley, and the monotonous aspect of continued 
cultivation is broken by rugged ground, neatly executed cemeteries, or 
by knots of trees which mingle the foliage of the temperate zone with 
the more graceful vegetation of the tropics. The most remarkable 
feature is a hill named Sumar, the summit of which commands a coup- 
d’oeil of all the country round it, including the shores of both sides of 
the island. Upon this hill there is a town apparently of greater im- 
portance than Napa, called Shui or Shoodi, supposed both by Captain 
Hall and ourselves to be the capital of Loo Choo. With our tele- 
scopes it appeared to be surrounded by a wall, and it had several 
flags (hattas) flying upon tall staffs. The houses were^ numerous, but 
the view was so obstructed by masses of foliage which grew about 
these delightful residences that we could form no estimate of their 
numbers. Upon a rise, a little above the site of the other houses 
of the town, there was a large building half obscured by evergreen 
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