[23] In no part of China are there found within the same distance so many large pagodas or religions monuments as upon the banks of this fine river. This is not the place to describe them minutely, or to discuss their purpose. They are found in most of the large towns, and sometimes on the banks of rivers, and form a part of the religious buildings of the Budhist superstition, and together with it, seem to have been originally introduced from the west. The shape of them is familiar to most readers. The finest and most celebrated one of the kind is the famous Porcelain Tower of Nankin; which is in reality a pagoda, larger and more ornamented than the rest, and distinguished by being principally constructed of Porcelain brick glazed, and of various shades of colour. These towers, or pagodas, are of great use in the navigation of the Canton river, as, from their height, they are conspicuous objects at a distance, and are generally placed in advantageous positions. [24] The Hong merchants' boats are both large and convenient, somewhat resembling a small room or van, placed upon a very sharp-pointed but broad boat, as they are only used for pulling about the smooth waters of the river. Nothing can be better adapted to comfort, affording shelter both from the sun and rain, with plenty of room for at least half-a-dozen people to sit down and converse. The outside of these boats is showily painted, and commonly decorated with handsome wood-work. The inside is generally elegantly fitted up. They are usually pulled by four men forward, who use a short broad-bladed oar or paddle, with great dexterity and effect; and they are also assisted as well as steered by a large heavy scull-oar behind. CHAPTER XVI. Keshen, who had spent all his life either in large provincial capitals or in the imperial city itself, could have had little opportunity of learning anything either relating to foreign trade or foreign ships, still less was he acquainted with the "outer waters" along the coast of the empire. After describing them to his imperial master, he boldly ventures his opinion, that the reputation of the fortifications of the Bocca Tigris, as a place of defence, have been much overrated, and he goes on to say--"It is, then, clear that we have no defences worthy to be called such. It is, in truth, the local character of the country, that there is no important point of defence by which the whole may be maintained." No wonder that such a declaration from a man who was also the third member of the imperial cabinet, taken, as it was, from personal observation, should have sounded unpalatable and even traitorous to the emperor's ear. But this was not all. Indeed, one might almost imagine that some European must have pointed out to him defects which his own unpractised and unaided eye could never have detected.