the boundaries of his knowledge; for the word of God is the fountain of wisdom, whence emanates what truly ennobles and adorns the intellectual faculties; but, above all, their exertions tend to purify the heart, improve the character, and prepare the soul for heaven. In some instances, without diverging from their proper object and aim, Christian missions have aided commerce, extended the limits of science, given a new direction to literature, and enlarged the field for philosophic investigation; while, in connexion with these confessedly subordinate objects, they have aroused the slumbering zeal of the church, and given an impetus to its religious and moral energies heretofore unknown. This paper, containing a sketch of Canton and its suburbs, together with a brief glance at the Chinese mission originally located there, is addressed to such as are zealous for the success of the Gospel in China itself, and who may not have access to the same information through other channels.

Kwang Tung, Sang Ching, or as it is now generally called, Sang Ching, the provincial city, stands on the north bank of the "Pearl river, Choo Keang, about sixty miles from the sea. It is one of the oldest cities in this part of the empire, and has undergone numerous changes since it was first founded.

The entire circuit of the wall, which now includes both divisions of the city, is variously estimated by the Chinese. It is probably about six English miles in circumference. The foundation and lower portions of the walls and arches of the gates are composed chiefly of coarse sand-stone; the remaining part, of bricks, which are small, and of a soft texture. The walls rise nearly perpendicularly, and vary in height from twentyfive to thirty-five or forty feet. In thickness they are twenty or twenty-five feet. Their height and strength are greatest on the north, evidently because hostile bands would be most likely to make an attack in that direction. A line of battlements, with

embrasures at intervals of a few feet, are raised on the top of the wall, round the whole city; these the Chinese call ching jin, literally city men; and in the rear of them there is a broad pathway. A few soldiers are stationed at each of the gates, to watch them by day, and to close and guard them by night. They are shut at an early hour in the evening, and opened at the dawn of day. Except on special occasions, no one is allowed to pass in or out during the night watches; and although a small fee will usually procure ingress or egress, it always exposes the keepers to punishment.

The population of Canton is a difficult subject, about which there has been considerable diversity of opinion. It has been estimated in round numbers at 1,236,000 persons. This number, remarks the editor of the Chinese Repository, may be far from the truth; no one, however, who has had an opportunity of visiting the city, of passing through its streets, and viewing the multitudes that throng them, will think of its being much less than a million. From the returns of the exports and imports, exhibited in a table for five years, ending in June, 1833, the average imports into China are estimated at about twenty-two millions of Spanish dollars annually; while the exports, during the same period, amounted to a yearly average of about nineteen millions and a half. It appears that the China Trade employs annually one hundred and forty firstrate vessels, with a large amount of capital, and thus constitutes a very important branch of modern commerce. Our limits will not allow us to follow the writer in the Repository through his interesting details respecting the articles imported and exported, the regulations under which the trade is placed, the comparative amount of capital employed by European nations and America, the style of living by foreign merchants and residents at Canton, or the various occupations of the native inhabitants of so densely populated a city. No inconsiderable portion of the population

of Canton live in boats, the number of which, on the river adjacent to the city, is eighty-four thousand; each of which, of all sizes and descriptions, is registered. "A very large majority of these are tan kea, egg-house boats, generally not more than twelve or fifteen feet long, about six broad, and so low that a person can scarcely stand up in them; their covering, which is made of bamboo, is very light, and can be easily adjusted to the state of the weather. Whole families live in these boats; and, in coops lashed on the outside of them, they often rear large broods of ducks and chickens, designed to supply the city markets. Passage-boats, which daily move to and from the neighbouring villages and hamlets; ferry-boats, which are constantly crossing and recrossing the river; huge canal boats, laden with produce from the country, cruisers, pleasure-boats, &c. complete the list of these floating habitations, and present to the stranger a very interesting scene."

The buildings of the city, which no doubt afford a fair specimen of the state of architecture in China, are in few instances splendid or magnificent, according to European taste. Bricks are more generally used in building than any other material. A larger number of houses, however, are constructed of mud, which, in the old city, are said to be inhabited by the Tartars. Stone and wood are not very extensively used for the walls of houses. In passing through the streets of the city, the spectator is struck with the difference which he finds in its various buildings, though this diversity by no means exhibits the relative condition and circumstances of the people. A few only are rich; and the external appearance of their houses does not at all exceed in elegance those of the middling classes. Many. are very poor; and their houses are mere mud hovels, low, narrow, dark, uncleanly, and without any division of apartments. A whole family of six, eight, or ten, and sometimes twice that number of individuals, is crowded into one of these