452 
VOYAGE TO THE 
CHAP, trees, which some of us imagined might be the residence of the king, 
XVII. had chosen so elevated a situation, in order to enjoy the luxury 
May. of breathing a high current of air in a country occasionally exposed 
to excessive heat. A rich carpet of verdure sloping to the west- 
w'ard connects this part of the landscape with the bustling town 
of Napa, or Napa-ching*, of which we could see little more thazi a 
number of red roofs turned up at the corners in Chinese style, or at 
most only a few feet down the chunammed walls which support them, 
in consequence of a high wall surrounding the town. To the right of 
the towm a long stone causeway stretches out into the sea, with arches 
' to allow the water a freer access to the harbour at the back of it, and 
terminates in a large square building with loop-holes. To this cause- 
way sixteen junks of the largest class were secured : some had prows 
formed in imitation of animals, and gorgeously coloured ; others pre- 
sented their sides and sterns highly painted and gilt; while, from 
among their clumsy cordage aloft, and from a number of staffs placed 
erect along the stern, were suspended variously shaped flags, some 
indicating, by their colour, or the armorial bearing upon them, the man- 
darin captain of the junk; some being the tributary flag of the celestial 
empire, and others the ensign of Japan. Many of them were curiously 
arranged and stamped in gilt characters on silken grounds. 
To the left of Napa is the public cemetery, where the horse-shoe 
sepulchres rise in galleries, and on a sunny day dazzle the eye with the 
brightness of their chunammed surfaces, and beyond them again, to 
the northward, is the humble village of Potsoong, with its jos-house 
and bridge. 
The bay in every part is circumscribed by a broad coral ledge, 
which to seaward is generally occupied by fishermen raising and de- 
pressing nets extended upon long bamboo poles, similar to those of the 
Chinese. Beyond these reefs are the coral islands of Tzee, the more 
* Napa is decidedly the name of the village, and the words ching and keang, which 
are occasionally subjoined, in all probability are intended to specify whether it is the town, 
or the river near it, that is intended; cMng being in Chinese language a town, and keang a 
river : and though these substantives are differently expressed in Loo Choo, yet when thus 
combined, the Chinese expression may probably be used. 
