Page:Ling-Nam; or, Interior views of southern China, including explorations in the hitherto untraversed island of Hainan (IA cu31924023225307).pdf/64

 60 Ling-Nam.

kinds abound, producing cloth, silk, embroidery, rattan and bamboo work, porcelain, brass, and ironwork. For the latter large cargoes of worn-out horseshoes and various forms of old iron are shipped from England. A large business is done in cassia, grain, oil, and timber. The city is intersected by two canals, which furnish the greatest facility for transport. The boat traffic between Canton and Fat-shan is immense. The proposition to run a small steamer over the fifteen miles between these two cities threatened to cause a mob, the tens of thousands of people dependent upon the boats for a living joining a general outcry, so that the project was given up. The telegraph line recently laid passes through Fat-shén, the general office being in the Wesleyan Mission Hospital. Two attractive bungalows on the out- skirts of the town, where missionaries reside, two flourishing churches under the direction of the London aud Wesleyan Missions, and the hospital with its thousands of patients, show satisfactory progress in Christian and benevolent work.

Ona bend of the stream a few miles to the south is the town of Shek-w6n, famous in China for its glazed earthenware, seats, flower-stands, lattice-work, balus- trades, flower-pots, tiles, animals, fruits, vases, plates, and ornaments in endless variation are produced. This ware is very cheap but ornamental, the glazing being done in many colours, blue, green, white, and red predominating. It is sometimes mistaken for the more costly porcelain, an instance of such confusion occurring in the New York Custom House a few years ago. A resident of Canton brought among other things two large flower-pots of this