The city and suburbs of Amoy can hardly be less than eight or ten miles in circumference, and they are in a great degree commanded by a fortified hill or citadel in the rear, which, however, is again commanded (as is very commonly the case in China) by unfortified heights beyond it to the eastward. The suburbs, or outer town, are separated from the principal or inner town by a line of steep, rocky hills, which run transversely down to the beach; but a paved road or narrow causeway leads into the city, through a pass which is protected by a covered gateway at its summit. As there is, therefore, what may be called a double town, so is there also a sort of double harbour--the outer one running along the face of the outer town, and the inner one extending along the front of the principal town, and joining a large estuary, which runs deep into the island across its centre, and skirts the northern side of the city. In this manner, nearly two-thirds of the city of Amoy are washed by the sea. In fact, it stands upon a corner or tongue of land, having a line of bold mountains in its rear and on its flank. The walls are castellated at top, and vary in height, according to the nature of the ground, from twenty to thirty feet. There are also, as in other places, four principal gates, having each an outwork or outer wall, with a court or open space between them, and a second gate leading from this, and placed at right angles to the inner one, so that the approach to it from the outside is commanded by the principal wall of the town. The citadel of Amoy was afterwards found to contain a large supply of military accoutrements--ginjals, matchlocks, swords, shields, and spears of all kinds; there was also an immense quantity of gunpowder, and materials for making it; in short, there was every reason to believe that Amoy had been made use of as the great military depôt of the province. It is impossible to form even a tolerable estimate of the number of troops collected for the defence of the place, but the different accounts which were received varied from six thousand to eight or ten thousand men. It was also known that the high officers of the province had come down to Amoy purposely to encourage the defence, and to witness, as they hoped, the utter discomfiture of the barbarians. It was, however, upon their newly-constructed works that they placed their great reliance.