Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: 34 WITHIN HIS DANGER. " You stand within his danger, do you not ?" —Merchant of Yenice. IT was a common saying among the ancients that he who had visited Hang-chow had been to the City of Heaven. The modern Chinaman, breathing the same enthusiastic admiration for the most beautiful city in Eastern Asia, says, " See Hang-chow and die; " and unless we are to suppose that every traveller who has visited the town has been a victim to hallucinations, there are few spots on the surface of the earth which surpass in bright beauty the city and neighbourhood of Hang-chow. Earth, sky, and water there combine to form one of the most lovely pieces of landscape-gardening on a gigantic scale that it is possible to imagine; while the coloured roofs of the yamun and pagodas, the countless bridges and splendid temples of the city, present objects of man's art which are not unworthy of their natural environments. Even the wondrous beauty of the lake which washes the western wall of the city, is held to be heightened by the temples, palaces, and pavilions which adorn the islands scattered over its surface; while allaround it are erected beautiful palaces and mansions, of the richest and most exquisite structure. On summer evenings it is the habit of these noble citizens to take their pleasure on the lake in barges, which reflect in their bright decorations and luxurious fittings the meretricious beauty of their surroundings. In such a galley, one glorious evening in early autumn, the magistrate of Hang-chow was taking his ease at the close of a hard day's work, and by contact with the fresh breezes of heaven, was seeking to rid himself of the taint of chicanery, bribery, and intrigue which infected every nook and corner of his yamun. His compagnon de voyage was a Mr Tso, an old reside...