Temples were erected on this island as early as A.D. 550, and since it became a resort for priests it seems to have enjoyed the patronage of the government. The goddess of Mercy is said to have visited this spot, and her image is the principal object of worship. No females are allowed to live on the island, nor any persons other than the priests, unless in their employ. The revenues are derived from rent of the lands belonging to the temples, from the collection of those priests who go on begging excursions over the Empire, and from the alms of pilgrims who resort to this agreeable locality. It appears like one of the most beautiful spots on the earth when the traveller lands, just such a place as his imagination had pictured as exclusively belonging to the sunny East, and so far as nature and art can combine, it is really so: but here the illusion ends. Idleness and ignorance, celibacy and idolatry, vice, dirt, and dilapidation, in the inmates or in their habitations, form a poor back-ground for the well-dressed community, and gay, variegated prospect seen when stepping ashore. ~CHAPU and CANFU.~ A town of considerable importance in this province is Chapu, about fifty miles north-west from Chinhai, across Hangchau Bay, and connected with that city through a luxuriant plain by a well-paved causeway about thirty miles long. Chapu was the port of Hangchau, and when it possessed the entire trade with Japan, boasted of being the largest mart on the seacoast of Chehkiang. The town lies at the bottom of a bay on the western face of some hills forming its eastern point; and at low tide the mud extends a long way from the lowland. The suburbs are situated near a small headland; the walled town stands about half a mile behind. When attacked by the British in May, 1842, the walls were found in poor condition, but the Manchu garrison stationed here upheld their ancient reputation for bravery. This body of troops occupies a separate division of the city, and their cantonment is planned on the model of a camp. The outer defences are numerous, but most of the old fortifications are considerably decayed. The country in the vicinity is highly cultivated, and possesses an unusual number of finely constructed, substantial houses.