The houses occupied by a few of the most opulent in Canton are by no means inferior to the imperial palaces, excepting it be in the space which they fill. The family residences of some among those merchants, who are licensed by government to trade with foreigners, furnish good specimens of this description of buildings. The seat of the late Consequa, now half in ruins, was once superb; that of the present senior hong-merchant, is on a scale of great magnificence; it is a villa or rather palace, divided into suites of apartments, which are highly and tastefully decorated. The dwellings occupied by the government offices, and the numerous temples of the city, need not be particularized in this place; suffice it to remark, that they are usually more spacious than private houses, and that, at present, most of them are in a very ordinary condition; very few of the houses or temples in Canton, have more than one story, the halls of which are of the whole height of the fabric, without any concealment of the beams or rafters of the house. Terraces are often built above the roofs, and when surrounded by a breastwork, afford in the cool of the day, a very pleasant and secure retreat, to which the inmates can ascend, in order to breathe a pure air, enjoy a wider prospect, or to witness any event that transpires in the neighbourhood. These terraces are not perhaps unlike the _flat-roofs_ of other orientals. In some other points there is also a coincidence between the houses of the Chinese, and those which are noticed in the sacred writings. Professor Jahn in his Biblical Archaeology, when referring to the buildings described in the Scriptures, says: “The gates not only of houses, but of cities, were customarily adorned with an inscription which was to be extracted from the law of Moses; a practice in which may be found the origin of the _modern_ Mezuzaw or piece of parchment inscribed with sacred texts, and fastened to the door-posts. The gates were always shut, and one of the servants acted the part of a porter: the space immediately inside of the gate, called the porch, is square, and on one side of it is erected a seat for the accommodation of those strangers who are not to be admitted into the interior of the house. From the porch we are introduced through a second door into the court, which is commonly paved with marble, and surrounded on all sides. Sometimes however only one side is enclosed, with a peristyle or covered walk, over which, if the house has more than one story, there is a gallery of the same dimensions, supported by columns and protected by a balustrade.