English. The Chinese government, indeed, affects great indifference with respect to all intercourse with foreign nations, and treats visitors with illiberal suspicion. It has, however, suffered the Portuguese to form a settlement on the isle of Macao, opposite Canton; but they who reside in it are debarred from communication with the continent. The principal commodities exported from Canton are silk, porcelain, and especially tea, of which eighteen millions of pounds are said to be annually sent to Europe. Their imports are woollens, stuffs, lead, tin, furs, clocks and watches, and some other articles of manufacture.

Although the laws of China are unfavourable to schemes of foreign commerce, and forbid emigration, yet the natives have a genius for trade, and, from the difficulty of subsistence at home, are readily induced to settle in other parts. Many of the neighbouring Indian islands and ports on the continent are frequented by them, and become their residence. Their larger ships, called junks, are indeed from their construction ill fitted to encounter a rough sea, and numbers of them are annually lost off the coast. It lately happened that a Chinese who had begun to build a ship on the European model, was commanded to desist; such was either the absurd attachment of the government to old customs, or its fixed determination to discourage distant voyages in its subjects.

The most remarkable antiquity of China is its Great Wall, erected at a remote period as a barrier against the incursions of the northern Tatars. It is a stupendous work, of the computed length of 1500 miles, traversing mountains and valleys, and crowned with towers at short intervals. It forms the boundary of some of the northern provinces, and excites high admiration as an effort of human labour and contrivance; but does little honour either to the courage or the policy of the Chinese. As a defence it has always proved totally inadequate. Now that the neighbouring Tatars are under subjection to Chinese emperors of their own race, the fear of invasion has subsided, and the wall is suffered to go to ruin, though military posts are still stationed at the grand entrances.

There are many islands in the Chinese sea, two or three of which are entitled to particular notice.

HAINAN lies in the gulf of Tunquin, to the south of the province of Quang-tong, below the 20th degree of N. latitude. It is about 180 miles in length, and 120 in breadth. The southern and eastern parts of it are very mountainous, and the only side fitted for cultivation is the northern, which produces plentiful crops of rice, together with sugar-cane, cotton, tobacco, and indigo. The mountains are overgrown with forests, which yield several woods esteemed both for their beauty and their fragrance; and they are the resort of game of all kinds, and of a variety of beautiful birds. Great quantities of gold have been procured from mines in the centre of the island, and employed as a medium of traffic with China. The natives are partly a savage race, living in the uncultivated districts, and making perpetual incursions for pillage, and partly settlers in the villages, tributary to China, and in the service of the Chinese who possess lands in the island.

TAIWAN, called by Europeans FORMOSA, is situated on the north-east of China, at no great distance from the coast of the province of Fokien, to which it now appertains. It is upwards of 200 miles from north to south, but of a narrow breadth. A chain of mountains divides it lengthwise into an eastern and western portion, of which the latter only is settled and possessed by the Chinese, while the eastern is left to the original inhabitants. These are represented as being nearly in a state of nature, but of a mild and peaceable disposition when unmolested. The Dutch had formerly a settlement on this island, which they have now abandoned. The Chinese did not take possession of it till the end of the 17th century. Taiwan is a very desirable country, with a pure air and a fertile soil, productive of corn, rice, and all the usual objects of culture in those latitudes. The level parts are watered by numerous streams descending from the mountains, and are laid out in regular plantations. There are no animals of prey in this island, and few of game, excepting stags and monkeys. The capital, Taiwan-fu, is a

populous city, built in the Chinese style, and defended by a numerous garrison. It has a good port, but of difficult entrance. The islanders under the Chinese dominion live in towns and

villages of their own, and pay tribute.

To the north-east of Taiwan, and south of Japan, lies a group of islands named the LEOO-KEOO, tributary to China. The principal of these, particularly distinguished by that name, is about a degree in length, and well peopled. The people are gay, affable, and civilized; they speak a language of their own, but in writing use the Japanese characters. Their exports are chiefly tin, copper, sulphur, shells, and mother of pearl.

CHINESE TATARY.

UNDER this general name may be comprehended the whole remainder of the Asiatic continent, bounded on the north by Asiatic Russia, on the west by Independent Tatary, on the south by Tibet and China, and on the east by the ocean. It is a very extensive region, including many countries little explored, and which cannot be laid down or described with geographical precision. Taken as a whole, however, it is the greater part of that middle belt of Asia which forms a vast elevated plain, consisting chiefly of dry sandy deserts, but frequently interrupted by fertile tracts in the courses of rivers, and crossed in parts by mountainous ridges. Though distinguished by the appellation of Chinese, its relation to that empire is, in many parts, especially to the west and north, very lax and precarious; and some of the Tatar tribes within these bounds might, without impropriety, be ranked among the independent.

As this extent of land lies in the same parallel with some of the finest parts of the temperate zone, it might be expected to exhibit the character of the warm climates; but its great elevation and open exposure subject it to severe cold, though in a far less degree than Siberia. Among its great natural features may be mentioned the wide deserts of Cobi and Shamo; the former on the borders of Tibet, the latter of China; both destitute of water and plants, and only to be crossed, like those of Arabia, by camels.

Of its mountainous ridges, those on its northern, western, and southern boundaries have been mentioned under the bordering countries. A long chain, under the name of the Alak mountains, runs from west to east through the central part of the country, till it turns northward to join the Altaic chain. Others in the same direction are traced further to the east,

which at length nearly meet a chain descending southward from the Daourian ridge, called the Siolki mountains. To the north of Corea, in the country of the Mandshurs, are several considerable ridges; and a mountainous chain borders the coast of the sea of Japan. The maps, however, are not much to be trusted for their accuracy in delineating the surface of these little explored regions.

Of the rivers, that of Yarkand, in the western part, uniting several streams of Little Bucharia, has a considerable course before it discharges itself into the lake of Lok. Some of the great rivers of Siberia and of China have been mentioned as having their rise and the earlier part of their course in Tatary. The great river of eastern or Mandshur Tatary is the Amur, called also Sagalien Oula. This takes its rise in the Yablonoi chain, and flows through the Kalkas country, and on the borders of the province of Nertchinsk, under the names of Kerlon and Argoon: it then, in a very circuitous course, passes through Daouria and the Mandshur country, receiving numerous streams, of which the principal is the Songari Oula from the south: after the junction of that river its course is north-easterly to the sea, into which it falls opposite to the northern extremity of the island of Sagalien. The whole of its course is estimated at 1850 miles.

A number of large lakes occur in this tract of Asia. Eastward from the Palkati Nor, several lie in a line, of which the largest and most remote is the Zaizan Nor. Directly to the south of this, but at a great distance, is the Lok Nor. At the eastern extremity of the great desert of Cobi is another group of lakes, in which is distinguished the Koko Nor, or Blue Lake. Many more are scattered over the different deserts.

The vegetable and animal products of this country, in the districts most favoured by soil and situation, are those usual in the temperate zone: the only peculiarities are in the wild and uncultivated parts. A singular vegetable production met with in the deserts, concerning which various fables have been related, is a kind of fern called the barometz, or Scythian lamb; the latter name being given to it from its woolly body, attached to the ground by a long slender stalk, affording a distant r