ning the dead is a long established
one in Fuh-Kien, and does not find much favour among the upper classes. It
exists even to this day in the central parts of the province. The time for
cremation is generally at the time of the Tsing-Ming. At the commencement
of the present dynasty the custom of burning the dead appears to have been
pretty general in the Fuchow Prefecture; it was looked upon with disfavour
by many, and the gentry petitioned the Authorities that proclamations
forbidding it should be issued. It was thought unfilial for children to
cremate their parents; and the practice of gathering up the bones of a
partially cremated person and thrusting them into a jar, euphoniously
called a Golden Jar, but which was really an earthen one, was much
commented on, as, if the jar was too small to contain all the bones, they
were broken up and put in, and many pieces got thrown aside. In the
Changchow neighbourhood, with which we have here most to do, it was a
universal custom in 1126 to burn the dead, and was in existence for many
centuries after." (See note, supra, II. p. 134.)

Captain Gill, speaking of the country near the Great Wall, writes (I. p.
61): ["The Chinese] consider mutton very poor food, and the butchers'
shops are always kept by Mongols. In these, however, both beef and mutton
can be bought for 3_d._ or 4_d._ a lb., while pork, which is considered by
the Chinese as the greatest delicacy, sells for double the price."--H.C.]

NOTE 2.--Che-kiang produces bamboos more abundantly than any province of
Eastern China. Dr. Medhurst mentions meeting, on the waters near
Hang-chau, with numerous rafts of bamboos, one of which was one-third of a
mile in length. (_Glance at Int. of China_, p. 53.)

NOTE 3.--Assuming Tanpiju to be Shao-hing, the remaining places as far as
the Fo-kien Frontier run thus:--

3 days to Vuju (P. _Vugui_, G.T. _Vugui, Vuigui_, Ram. _Uguiu_).
2 " to Ghiuju (P. _Guiguy_, G.T. _Ghingui, Ghengui, Chengui_, Ram.
_Gengui_).
4 " to Chanshan (P. _Ciancian_, G.T. _Cianscian_, Ram. _Zengian_).
3 " to Cuju or Chuju (P. _Cinguy_, G.T. _Cugui_, Ram. _Gieza_).

First as regards _Chanshan_, which, with the notable circumstances about
the waters there, constitutes the key to the route, I extract the
following remarks from a note which Mr. Fortune has kindly sent me: "When
we get to _Chanshan_ the proof as to the route is _very strong_. This is
undoubtedly my _Chang-shan_