look around us there. We ascended above the eastern gates and walked over half the extent of the city's boundary walls, looking down upon the crowded streets, the various public buildings, and the more secluded dwelling houses of the rich: and towards the west of the city our eyes were gratified with a sight of some beautiful parks and fruit and flower gardens.
Passing out of the city by the western gate, we ascended a gently rising hill beyond it whence excellent views may be obtained of the city and the country around. This hill is called K'aig- wan; it has three separate summits at short distances from each other, and each of them is surmounted by a covered porch. Standing under those porches, and enjoying the pleasing shade which they yielded us, we contemplated in various aspects the city which lay opened out to our view as a vivid picture, and we looked with much interest on the widely extended prospect before us. The plain on which the city is built stretches far to the north- ward and to the east-ward before it reaches the high hills by which it is bounded; and over that wide plain we traced towns and villages almost innumerable.
From the fact that the cities of China are all built after one model, we feel that the sight of one makes us acquainted with what all the rest are like ; some cities are larger and more opulent than others, and the scenery around each has its own specific character, yet the general appearances of the houses, the shops, the public buildings, &c., are so much alike, that the impression of mysterious- ness may pass off from our minds in thinking of the multitude of cities in the interior of China to which no foreigner has yet had access.
But the more we see of the real state of the people, who, in numbers almost without number, are spread abroad over the face of this vast land, the more fervently should our desires ascend to heaven for the speedy evangelization of China.
Amoy, 8th February, 1850.
