Moreover, the ordinary junk now in use for the coasting and inland navigation of that country, will be noticed as forming an exact counterpart of many of the Egyptian vessels engaged on the trade of the Nile, and, more especially, that called _paro_, another description of trading craft very common in China; while the account given by Sir George Staunton of some of the small vessels of China exhibits a remarkable similitude between these and the ancient boats of Britain. “The boats,” he says, “commonly in use among them, consist of five planks only, joined together without ribs or timber of any kind. These planks are bent to the proper shape by being exposed some time to a flame of fire. They are brought to a line at each end, and the edges are joined together with wooden pins, and stitched[256] with bamboo split into flexible threads, and the seams afterwards smeared with a paste made with quicklime from sea-shells and water. Others are made of wicker-work, smeared all over, and rendered watertight, by the same composition as is used for the former. The owners affect to paint eyes upon the heads of all these boats, as if to denote the vigilance requisite in the conduct of them. They are remarkable for standing the sudden shock of violent waves, as well as for being stiff upon the water, and sailing expeditiously. The boat belonging to the chief of the district was built upon the same plan, but on a larger scale, had a carved and gilt head, bearing some resemblance to that of a tiger, and a stern ornamented with sculpture, and painted with a variety of designs in lively colours. In these boats the principal sitters are generally at the stem, instead of being near the stern, as is the custom of Europe.” Considering themselves to be the most ancient and the most learned of people, the Chinese were too vain to learn from others; they thought they knew more than anybody else, and they think so still; for, having daily before them some of the most magnificent European ships of modern times, they still retain the ancient form of the junk. To a people so fond of money, and so industrious, one would have thought that the fact of such vessels conducting the most valuable trade on the Chinese coast, would have induced them to make some endeavour, by means of shipping better found and better fitted than are any they possess, to retain a trade for centuries originally and exclusively their own.