docility to the hand of labour; the smallest shrub, the most unimportant tree, only exists because it satisfies the wants or contributes to the enjoyment the master who has given it a place in the sun.
In the midst of these immense carpets of verdure, solitary towers rise up at certain intervals, like trunks of giant trees struck by lightning, or stripped by the hand of winter. These octagonal monuments, with five, seven, and nine storeys, were constructed in ancient times, in order, it is said, to attract the essences of the earth, and by the concentration of its mysterious fluids to insure the fertility of these countries. Certainly the inhabitants had no need to have recourse to these cabalistic means; they possess within themselves wonderful secrets for subjecting rebellious nature and fertilising barren fields: the love of labour and prosperity, the spirit of order and economy. The aspect of the river itself testifies to the laborious habits of this enterprising race; on the bank women, naked to the haunches, are seeking in the mud of the Tchou-kiang for shells with which to make lime; while fishermen, on fragile rafts, pursue the unintelligent inhabitants of the waters, and follow them in the labyrinths which they have formed of flint in the bed of the river.
The Tchou-kiang is the sole means of communication by which the commerce of Canton is carried on with the barbarians. It is by this channel,
