558 THE GREAT CANAT,

 

“TREGQAN TO TALK WITH HIM ABOUT CARRYING US TO TILK
GULF OF NANKIN.”

Not being able to put the old man out of his talk, of which he
was very opinionated or conceited, I told him we were gentlemen
as well as merchants, and that we had a mind to go and sce the
great city of Pekin, and the famous court of the monarch of
China. “Why, then,” says the old man, “you should go to
Ningpo, where, by the river which runs into the sea there, you
may go up within five leagues of the Great Canal.”” This canal is
a navigable river, which goes through the heart of all that vast
empire of China, crosses all the rivers, passes some considerable
hills by the help of sluices and gates, and goes up to the city of
Pekin: being in length near two hnndred and seventy leagues.