98 CHRISTIANITY IN CHINA, ETC. '• Also there is in this city the palace of the king *, which is the greatest in the world. It is ten miles round, and is surrounded by high embattled walls, and within the Avails there are the finest and most delectable gardens in the world, and many fountains and lakes fall of fish ; and in the midst is the palace, which is very large, and very fine."f This description is remarkably accurate. We have had occasion, during our long residence in China, to visit Han-Tcheou-Fou, which is still one of the finest and most considerable cities in the empire. It is still intersected by numerous canals, on which thousands of junks, painted in bright colours, and brilliantly varnished, convey the rich merchants and elegant lite- rati of the province of Tche-kiang, in various di- rections. Marco Polo must have been, at Han-Tcheou-Fou, delightfully reminded of his native Venice, with its gondolas and its warm climate. It was in this city that the massacre mentioned by the Arab traveller took place ; and it is to be pre- sumed that there were also Christians in other towns, and that they were no more spared than those of Han- Tcheou-Fou by the bands of Hoang-Tchao. This in- surrectionary chief, after having ravaged several pro- vinces of the South, increased his army with all the vagabonds and malcontents whom he met on his road, and he soon found himself at the head of two hundred thousand men. Then he changed his title of " General
- Han-Tcheou-Fou has been the capital of the empire at various
epochs, and especially under the dynasty of Song. f Voyage de Marco Polo, MS. of the Imp. Lib. fol. 67, &c.
