'A short and interesting report by his Royal Highness the Duke of Genoa has been published in the Italian Maritime Review of the cruise of the Vetter Pisani, sri Italian corvette of 300-horse power, from Shanghai to Hankow and back, and thence to Hongkong and Manila. Not only is it the first time European prince has visited Hankow, the most distant of the five open or treaty ® ports on the great "Blue River," but no war steamer, or indeed avy vessel so large, has hitherto made the passage in the month of April. The country and the people were all-new to the royal traveller and his companions, for Italy's intercourse with these country and her commerce cant; and there la in this report a freshness of observation, a sense of humour, and an absence of prejudice which carry conviction of the justice of his Royal Highuess's remark:
While to the Duke, our Harrow boy, pelon, the credit for his pluck in facing the of the early season and consequent lownes: the water, the depth of which in many pi barely equalled the draught of his ship, himeelf attributes th of up. So groat is fast stream, of nabled him to carry The vessel leit to the mouth of the following month, The large English te steamers do not move upwards till Ju and July, when, from the melting of the the waters of the Upper Yuvgteze have risen forty f Dake of Genoa di ras_ passed its influence ceased. Nil tigation on this much-frequented difficult river was impossible, and the perils by day at this season were not despicable. Above Nanking th juntered enormous timber-I
Blade) of which the cure is Of these steamers, which struggle with them, they are even a gre come upon them Is are not only torn from their anchorage, but sometimes only succeed in disengaging themselves after they have been carried away several miles."
On the Sth of April the Italians arrived off the outlet by which the Lake Po-yang empties itself into the Yangteze, and here they wer detained by want of depth of water till the 14th. "They employed the time in visiting, the places near, of which Kiukiang, one of the treaty ports," and consequently a depot for tea, was the principal. He tells "It is, besides, the actual centre for the exportation.of the porcelain of King-te-Ken, which is at the other end of the lake. the most famous factories of China, established, according to Chinese annale, 200 years before the Christian era, are situate over groat deposits of kaolin. At the beginning of this century they had still 3,000 ovens in But about 20 years ago they wore laid was by the Taiping rebels, and though lately opened again the art has disappeared, and at the present time not a single piece of porcelain can be found comparable to the ancient ones in colouring, drawing, or artistic form, The Inst generation of disappeared and could not leave the traditions of the past; and, on the other hand, with them wae dispersed the imme collection of models that formerly existed here. The fow really antique pieces that are found from time to time in the interior fetch fabulous prices; the modern ones are value Jess, and I think that now Japan takes the loud in this industry, especially for large objects, However, the prestige of the name or other reasons assisted them to sell with profit the large quantity of porcelain sent thence to the last Exhibition in Pai length the torrents of rain—for the, Euro} ud was The Prince was cordially wel aysombled his troops auk of the stream. The weath continuing to be wet, the Prin to see that, though rided witl paid and returned, and on the morning of the fifth day, the 2tst of April, when the vessel was about to depart, mandarin was sent on board by the Viceroy Li Han-chang, with 60 silver medals, each 12 centimétrea in diameter, for distribation to all the officers who had Innded with the Prin wd to the men who had rowed them ashore. These medals, which had been hastily strack during the night, boro ti following inscription:—"Valour, Happiness, A remembraueo from the Viceroy Li Han-chang."
Much has been written of late of the revival of the Chinese Power, and it in possible that the Tartar troops on the north of the great Empire may be able to cope with and check the Ru advance, and that even mere Chin led oF trained by Europeans may be made to fight; although the Italis jars noticed roved fortifications, well-built ships, ial activity, with an interest imi hen, to whom Ohina and all hi It and its suburbs would be and pleasing enough... we the moment you put your feet you are overpowered with shuddering horror of the misery in which the unhappy population is Ruius on every side; crowds of sores, exposed Of the streets and specially the town; an unendurable filth all this is what strikes the new rival, who rarely ventures to go ashore a second time."
The Prince mentions truly that the ruin of this place was by the destruction of the Imperial Canal and the invasion of the Taipings, but he adda
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.