Many Shanghai residents have heard of the Sulphur springs near Nanking, but few have visited that interesting locality. 'T'ang-shui-kai, the village where the springs rise, is however worthy of a visit in more respects than one, Situated some 36 miles from Chinkiang and some eight miles from the nearest accessible point by water, T'ang-shui is at present somewhat inaccessible, and this defect is increased by the utter want of accommodation for visitora. Indeed, in this latter respect, the neighbourhood of Nanking, the ancient capital of China, and now the residence of the Viceroy of three provinces with a numerous stof of officials, is probably the worst provided district in the empire. Nowhere has the false system of cultivation adopted by the Chinese more impoverished the soil, and nowhere is there a greater expanse of land admirably suited for pasture age allowed to lie waste, producing sbsolutely nothing useful for man or beast, The peasantry are poor and unthrifty, the roads, once well paved, are now heaps of scattered boulders; the long residence of the rebels in the neighbourhood reduced to ruins all the villages and temples, so that the most ordinary comforts of even Chinese life, few as they are at the best, are completely absent. Along the main roads, villages at intervals line the way; they are chiefly supported by the coolies engaged in the traffic carried along the pathways in wheelbarrows or on donkeys' backs, and consist for the most part of toa-shops and eating-houses in which provender and accommodation for man and beast may be obtained—the latter being, however, of rather superior character to the former. Four patched-up walls, a leaky roof of thatch or tiles, a couple of ledged doors anda small hole or two for windows, comprise the edifice tenanted jointly by the traveller and his beasts; and a few sheaves of straw thrown in a corner, or perhaps in the former case 5j ona couple of planks supported by loose bricks, form the common sleeping accommodation. The district, whose export of rice has astonished the foreign resident, scarcely supplies that article in its wayside inns, and what there is tobe had is so filthy and badly prepared that an ordinary Chinaman would scarcely look at it. ab: page, bean curd, anda few strange productions composed of wheat or barley flour and oil, with now and then a piece of pork thrown in, form the ordinary. bill of fare; s0 it will readily be imagined that all supplies needed for the journey must be carried with the traveller. From Chinkiang right up to the Taiping gate of Nanking, stretches a range of considerable hills. Though devoid of wood at Chinkiang, the central portions are fairly clothed with trees, in the midst of which are to be found betimes abundance of wild pig. South-east from the range stretches an undulating plain, the summits and steeper slopes of which are covered with. grass, while the bottoms and more level portions are cultivated with various grains, At the bottom of valleys cut through the rolling country, flow streams which drain the. hills away towards the Kin-hwei-o, itself joining the Yangtsze at Nanking, The air blowing over those undulating plains is naturally fresher and purer than that from the low alluvial soil of the lower province, and on their edge, creeping up the entrance of a small valley, and looking towards the 8.E, in thg small village of T'ang-ahui-kai, consisting of a single street running. along the foot of a limestone hill some 500 feet high, For a distance of some 300 yards along the foot of the hill, the springs burst, up at tervals in a line parallel with the atrect of the village, finally making their way into conduit under the road paving, and. excaping at the end in a considerable stream some three feet wide and probably a foot and a half in depth. All about the south er end of the village, and even up to the summit of the hill, hangs the peculiar amall of the contained sulphuretted hydrogen, while for some distance round the springs the stones are' sensibly hot, The most northerly spring rises'near-a bridge in the centro jof the village, and a branch is taken off leading into: a pith-house, with stonebathsunkin the floor, Attached to bath-house is a shed, where patients coming to make use of the springs mnay set up their beds or throw down their straw and cook their victuals; and to any one acquaintd with the habits of the Chinese, it will be superfluous to draw a description of the visitors who congregate in both places. In the centre of the town, below the street, is a bath for women; and nearly opposi another for men—now but little used, ai! healing powerisnot considered.o efficacious. Towards the southern extremity ut tie village, where the springs seem strong a peculiar use is made of them; they a led isto large receptacles, in which, kept down by stones, are soaked numbers of bundles of straw, which are kept there til decomposition has well set in, On enguiry as to the use to which these were put, learnt that they were employed as poult for external application. The water was temperature of about 120° Fahrenheit; hot to allow the hand to be kept iti more than afew seconds at the spring it self; it tastes but slightly sulphurous, 14 is never made use of internally by the Clit nese.
From Tang-shui stretch several vel wooded valleys, leading in various dire tions into the mountain chain. Oppos* is the Pao-hwa-shan, with one of most celebrated temples in: the provi
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.