along the whole bed of the ocean throughout its course; a conjecture of this sort is perfectly legitimate; the vast scale of the moving aqueous mass, the incessant impulse which is implied in its motion, sometimes impetuous, and often resisting the utmost violence of opposing winds, the great depth of the body where such has been ascertained, cannot fail of impressing upon us a belief that some mighty design has been stamped upon its course; and that, to maintain this course, nearly encircling the globe, the body of the stream must be deep seated; for no superficial stratum of waters could retain its fluency in a stream to such a distance. The lateral extent or breadth of the "Agulhas" current is from 90 to 100 miles. Is it not surprising that during so long a peace, no measures have been taken by the maritime nations of Europe to survey the whole extent of this ocean river; and to construct a chart of its entire course, its branches and off-sets, its breadth and seasonal variation thereof, and, if possible, its breadth beneath the surface? If each civilized nation pour forth its nautical surveyors, and each national ship take her section, in three or four years the object would be accomplished, and accomplished as it ought to be-scientifically. The cause or causes would be a subordinate consideration, but may be separately embraced by each party, by which means, if unanimity of conclusion did not prevail, the philosopher might find enough contained in the mass of information to decide on the question one way or other. Navigation is so dependent on the currents of the ocean, that the neglect of any enlarged and organized system of investigation of their origin, connection, and permanency or otherwise, by the maritime powers, seems very extraordinary. In detail, the subject, we are aware, has always engaged the attention of the British Navy, by authority; but hitherto, very little additional knowledge seems to have been imparted by the individual observations of those who merely rove over the ocean to fulfil points of professional duty unconnected with science. Indeed, unless expressly employed on scientific research, nothing further than a few isolated facts can be expected of such voyagers; and, as it is impossible to take up, in all cases, the "thread" of the one, and of the other so as to unite them; no general estimation can be formed from their divided labours however valuable they may be: locally, however, these individual observations become profitable, and the compilers of works of reference laudably seize upon them for the benefit of the profession at large, as for those who may be especially interested. 66 We are strongly impressed with the belief, not vaguely entertained, but from diligent and earnest reflection, assisted by practical observations, that the greater portion of these apparently disjointed" sets, so often experienced and recorded, of the Atlantic waters, originate from one main source, and that this powerful engine (if I may be allowed the expression) is far remote in its primary impulse. Secondary movers, no doubt proceed from the Boreal regions, a consequence, probably, of some process connected with evaporation and moisture, the general accession of low temperature, and the sudden seasonal dissolution of ices and snows. The initial velocity of a current will be proportioned to the force, whatever that may be, which creates it; but it is clear from observation, that the velocity in a lengthened course will be subject to variation from existing auxiliary causes and counteracting circumstances; in the first place, from strong gales blowing in the direction of the current; from channels between banks narrowing the breadth of the stream; from channel-deeps beneath the surface producing a similar effect; and, probably, from changes in the atmosphere. In the second place-from calms of long continuance; from impetuous land freshes; from transverse breezes of strength; and opposing strong winds in the open ocean. In the Pacific the general tendency of the central waters is to the westward, from a certain distance from the American coast; countercurrents often, indeed, very irregular, and hitherto unaccounted for by navigators, are experienced in the centre as well as on either side; and where groups of islands exist, the flowing waters are drawn through the channels, and are often found changed in direction; but whether this be a regular alternation has not, we believe, been fully ascertained. Some navigators have considered that, between the tropics, the moon has an effect on the currents; if so, the change observable in their direction may accord with the changes of that luminary-in fact, a sort of currotidal operation. CHE-KIANG AND OTHER CITIES. [Extract from the Hongkong Register.] CHE-KIANG is one of the most fertile and commercial provinces of China; cotton, tea, indigo, wheat, and rice, are easily and abundantly raised in the vast plains, watered by more than a hundred streams. The temperature is very favourable for the culture of the mulberry, and rearing of silk-worms. Han-chow, the capital, is celebrated throughout China for its silk manufactures. The population of the province, according to the statistical papers drawn up by direction of the Emperor Kien-long, amounts to twentysix millions of souls-that of a kingdom. At the entry of the river Ta-kia, which conducts to Ningpo, stands the small city of Chin-hai, where, in the last war, the Chinese wished to oppose some resistance to the English fleet. This circumstance was of too rare occurrence not to attract our attention. The combat was short, and Chin-hai, in spite of its walls and its two forts, was carried by assault. The English gave it up to pillage, and destroyed many pagodas, the ruins of which are still to be seen. In other respects, Chin-hai is a city of little trade, dull enough, the population moderate, especially for a Chinese city. The only remarkable object is a long embankment of hewn stone which protects it from the sea, and the fine work of which recalls the splendour of a former age. Europeans reach it easily, though by the treaties it is not included in the number of ports open to com merce. To reach Ningpo we must sail up the Ta-kia about fifteen miles. The river flows, with many windings, through an immense plain occupied by rice-grounds and cotton-trees. Occasionally thickets of bamboo announce a village, a farm, or merely a pagoda, which varies and enlivens the landscape. The fields are everywhere cultivated with perfect regularity, and with a care which the prodigious fertility of the soil amply compensates. Turn now your eyes towards the river; around you are junks of a thousand colours, fishing-boats, mandarin-boats, revenue boats, smugglers, duck-boats, &c., &c., vessels of all kinds, and each of a different shape, which pass and cross each other in every manner, and from which proceed promiscuously, the cries of seamen, the sounding peal of the gong, the noise of crackers, and sometimes the firing of cannon. You sail amidst this perpetual commotion until you arrive at Ningpo, the steeple of which you have long seen, that is, an old tower, very high, which we shall visit presently. Ningpo was taken by the English in 1841 and held for six months. The treaty of Nankin opened it to foreign commerce. Among the Chinese it is esteemed one of the most beautiful cities in the Celestial Empire. In the buildings, exterior appearance, cleanliness, and arrangement of the streets, it is not to be compared with one of our cities of the second rank. After a person has inspected one Chinese house, he knows all others. They have the same plan, the same interior arrangement. The buildings are generally of no great height, consisting of only one story. They are usually constructed of brick, or in the poorest quarters of wood only. Stone houses are very rare. The whole is rounded above, and rises at the ends by a curve more or less marked. The architects bestow all their care on the design and form of this elevation, elegant of itself and often original. There are dragons or other fantastic animals, or images of divinities, which terminate the roof by skilful delineation. The openings in the walls are enclosed by open brickwork, the forms of which are infinitely varied, and certainly form the particular object the most interesting to study, and the most copious in Chinese architecture. In the interior, there are a range of small rooms without other furniture than a bed, wooden seats, and tables arranged around the rooms for placing a cup of tea, or pipes for drawing the smoke through water. The stranger looking upon these structures, is at first struck by the air of singularity attached to a new object, in China particularly. But after the first moment of surprise, he sees only a monotonous assemblage of houses all similar and destitute of that character of grandeur which gives to our buildings their stateliness, the regularity, and strictness of the plan. If he next examine the streets, what can a European think of these narrow, foul, miry alleys, always impeded, where the sun scarcely penetrates? This arrangement cannot be understood in a country where, for nine months in the year, the heat is very moderate. The wall which encloses Ningpo is about fifteen feet high, it is dila pidated at many points, and incapable of opposing the least resistance. It is six miles in circuit, but is far from including the whole of the city; vast suburbs surround it, and their extremities join the country villages, so that it is difficult to assign their limits. The river Ta-kia is divided into two branches, over one of which is a floating bridge formed of thirteen boats bound together by iron chains. This bridge unites the city to the suburb where most trade is carried on. In other respects, one might almost say that an immense bridge of boats covered the surface of the river, so many junks are there which occupy its whole width. The streets of Ningpo, especially in the neighbourhood of the river, are lined with shops, and immense storehouses. Each quarter seems to have its own occupation and trade. Thus in one, the manufacture of silks prevails, in another that of cottons. Here are carpets and furs, there repositories of furniture. We cannot stop before each shop. However, it would be profitable to study these small details of the great city, to observe in their exercise the tastes and manners of the buyers and consumers, and to recognize, frequently, a resemblance between the Chinese and Europeans, which passes unnoticed. Thus I shall adduce as an example, the druggists' shops, where medicines, more numerous perhaps than those of Europe, are ranged with the same care and in an order equally perfect; the libraries, where the poorest Chinese buys, at a very moderate price, the works of Confucius, as well as the sacred paper which he is about to burn at the neighbouring pagoda in honour of the great philosopher; the manufacture of gods, where each comes to buy the image which he shall adore on his domestic altar; the magazines of curiosities, where the rich man displays his capricious fancy on a crowd of old porcelain, antique bronzes, and medallions effaced by time; the studies of painters, whose designs selected with taste, are destined to ornament the interior of every Chinese house; brokers' shops, frequented by the poor; magazines of shoes, of lanterns, and of tobacco; the exchanges of money and pawnbrokeries, where they lend upon pledges. Luxury has everywhere the same demands and misery the same wants. There are, besides, a great number of eating-houses and of tea-shops, for the most part in the neighbourhood of the gates and in the suburbs. Is it not the same in our cities? We might also make in Ningpo a tour almost picturesque. The city is very ancient. It encloses some old monuments, the appearance of which attests the power of past ages. First, the tower of Ningpo, as celebrated in China as the famous one of Nakin, is hexagonal, it is of six stories, and is ascended by 150 steps, which gives a height of about forty-five metres. It is built of brick, and has on each side and on each story a window of moderate size. It is now a mere ruin, the bricks are loosened, and the grass, that leprosy of time, makes inroads upon the walls. An old bonze in rags keeps the monument and opens the gate. We see at once that the English have been here. The walls are covered with names and dates. Each soldier of the victorious army has thought it a duty to enter his name in this aged book, the last page of which has been stained by the hand of barbarians. A European can walk in the streets of Ningpo without being followed, as at Canton, by a dense crowd which constrains his movements, watches his steps, and sometimes becomes hostile. Curiosity is here artless and almost discreet. Every where one is welcomed into the shops, invited to sit down, to take tea, to smoke. He can believe himself in a friendly country. Still no city in China suffered the evils of war more than Ningpo. They show the long and narrow streets where the English cut down by grape-shot, the people in the moment of revolt. The recollection of that period of disasters cannot yet be effaced, and fear, no doubt, has a large share in the benevolent disposition of the people. But at Ningpo sooner than elsewhere the time will come for a more sincere friendship and a freer sympathy. Ningpo has not yet succeeded in attracting foreign commerce to its port. Its situation on the banks of a river which receives a great number of tributaries; its proximity to the silk manufactures, and the districts producing the green tea; the easy manners of the inhabitants-all seem at first sight calculated to ensure it a large share in the profits, which the ports recently opened ought to derive from the direct trade with Europe. Hitherto, these anticipations have not been realised. The proximity of Shanghai has injured Ningpo. Situated at a small distance to the north, and on the extreme limit of the trade allowed between China and Europe, Shanghai can extend her exclusive influence over a larger space, and Ningpo finds herself circumscribed by the vast circle of the operations of her ancient rival. Besides the most important and the principal objects of industry of the country, the cotton and cloth sold as Nankin stuffs, have now to contend against the combined effects of Bengal cotton and English cloths. It is beyond a doubt that the products of Europe will finally carry the day over the antiquated manufactures of the Celestial Empire. Finally, the last injury received by Ningpo was this: When the power of trading was reserved to Canton alone, all merchandize, European or other, which passed up or down the coast of China, stopped at each of the seaports. Navigation, in consequence of ancient custom and the construction of the junks, was wholly confined to coasting. Each port supplied, through its rivers and the numerous canals of the interior, the circle which its situation assigned to it, and received in some measure a right of passage from the merchandize destined to go farther. But now that direct communication is allowed, that European vessels tend more and more to supplant the junks, and engross the transport, each of the ports formerly touched at must experience a sensible diminution in the importance of its navigation; and Ningpo finds itself in this respect in the worst condition, since it occupies on the coast one of the intermediate points between Canton and Shanghai. The English have from the first established a consulate at Ningpo, but the establishment has been reduced. In 1845 there was but a single merchant and some American missionaries. This was the whole European population. In other respects one cannot yet form a decided opinion upon the future trade of Ningpo. The evacuation of Chusan NO. 4.-VOL. XVII. 2 B |