Page:The costume of China, illustrated in forty-eight coloured engravings.pdf/299

 A STONE BUILDING

in the Form of a Vessel.

In one of the courts of the hotel, appointed for the residence of the Embassador in Pekin, was an edifice representing a covered barge; the hull was of hewn stone, situated in a hollow or pond that was filled with water, which was supplied from time to time by buckets from a neighbouring well, as might be necessary; the upper part of this whimsical building was used by part of the suite of the Embassy as a dining room.

The fragments of rocks artificially piled on each other with flowerpots, containing dwarf trees here and there interspersed, will convey in some degree an idea of Chinese taste in ornamental gardening on a small scale.

Over the roof of the stone vessel, and above the wall enclosing this extensive mansion, the tops of a few pagodas, a triumphal arch, and other public buildings were visible within the walls of the great city of Pekin.

This great mansion was built by a late (Hoppo or) collector of customs at Canton, from which situation he was promoted to the collectorship of salt duties at Tien-sien; but his frauds and extortions being here detected, the whole of his immense wealth was confiscated to the crown.