[76] I am compelled to give a free translation of this verse, and confess myself not quite certain of the signification of the poetical figures used by our author. _F[=u]ng_ signifies a hollow pyramid filled with combustibles; _y[=e]n_ signifies the smoke caused by combustion; _tse[=a]ng_ signifies the spar or yard in a boat or ship, to which the sail is attached, and _ying_ is shadow. It seems that the author alludes to the spar or yard-arm, at which _Mei ying_ was fastened by the pirate; but what he means by _shadow_ I do not really know, perhaps _ying_ is in the place of _Mei ying_. [77] The Chinese characters are printed like the other portion of the work. I have divided them according to the verses. Only the first eight lines have a regular metre of five feet, or words, and as the author himself says, his song is then at an end; but the language still remains poetical, and for that reason it was thought proper to divide also the remaining lines like verses. Every word must be considered as consisting of one syllable or sound, even if we write it with three or four vowels. Poetry is perhaps more esteemed in China, than in any other country in the world. The late governor-general of Kwang tung and Kwang se, his Excellency Yuen, published the poems of his daughter, who died when only nineteen years of age. Most of the emperors of China wrote verses, and I have, if I remember rightly, an imperial collection printed at the command of Këa king of many volumes, containing the poetry of the crowned heads of China. The reader may easily imagine that the Chinese have many works on poetry; I am also in possession of a Chinese _Gradus ad Parnassum_ in ten large volumes, in which are to be found, divided under different heads, all the fine expression and poetical images of the classical poets. Mr. Davis has given some excellent specimens of Chinese poetry in his elegant dissertation on that subject. [78] Verbally "monkeys and birds," a sort of birds which according to Dr. Morrison are something similar to our crows. [79] In the memoirs concerning the south of the Mei ling mountains, three books (from 9-11 incl.) are filled up with a description of the seas, rivers, and lakes, of the province of Canton. Book ninth begins with a general description of the Chinese seas, and of the different entrances from the sea-side; then follows a particular description of the sea near Canton and Hainan, and of the different Tides at various places. The mariner would certainly be gratified by a translation of this part of the work. The translator has often remarked the extraordinary phenomenon of the fiery appearance of the sea, during his residence in China. In the before-mentioned work, b. ix. p. 5 v, we read the following notice concerning this phenomenon: