Nanchang, the provincial capital, lies near the southern shore of the Poyang Lake; the city walls are six miles in circuit, and accessible by water from all sides. The character of its population is not favorable among their countrymen, and owing to the difficulty of reaching it from the Yangtsz’, it escaped the ruin and rapine which befel Kiukiang. Small steamers can come up to its jetties, but as the tea and porcelain are shipped on the south-east side of the lake, Nanchang is not likely to become a large mart; few of the cities above it can ever be reached by steamers. Barrow estimated that there were, independent of innumerable small craft, 100,000 tons of shipping lying before the place. The banks of the Kan kiang, near the lake, are flat, and not highly cultivated, but the scenery becomes more varied and agreeable the further one ascends the stream; towns and villages constantly come in sight, and the cultivation, though not universal, is more extended. Among other sights on this river are the bamboo water-wheels, which are so built on the steep banksides, that the buckets lift their freight 20 or 25 feet, and pour it out in a ceaseless stream over the fields. The flumes thrown out into the stream to turn a stronger current on the wheel, often seriously interfere with navigation. Many pagodas are seen on either bank of this water-course, some of them undoubtedly extremely old. As the voyager ascends the river, several large cities are passed, as Linkiang, Kih-ngan, Kanchau, and Nan-ngan (all capitals of departments), besides numerous towns and villages; so that if the extent of this river and the area of the valley it drains be considered, it will probably bear comparison with that of any valley in the world for populousness, amount and variety of productions, and diligence of cultivation. Beyond Kihngan are the Shihpah tan, or ‘Eighteen Rapids,’ which are torrents formed by ledges of rocks running across the river, but not of such height or roughness as to seriously obstruct the navigation except at low water. The shores in their vicinage are exceedingly beautiful. The transparency of the stream, the bold rocks fringed with wood, and the varied forms of the mountains, call to mind those delightful streams that are discharged from the lakes and north counties of England. The hilly banks are in many places covered with the Camellia oleifera, whose white blossoms give them the appearance of snow, when the plant is in flower. Kanchau is the town where large boats are obliged to stop; but Nan-ngan is at the head of navigation, about three hundred miles from the lake, where all goods for the south are debarked to be carried across the Mei ling, or ‘Plum Pass.’