Splendid views of one of the richest agricultural regions in the world are here unfolded.

Away down in the valley is the palatial family mansion of Pien, one of the wealthiest yeomen in the province.

Beyond you see the commencement of the high road, a paved causeway eight feet wide, which extends for hundreds of miles to Chentu, the capital of the province, and takes rank as the finest work of its kind in the empire.

On every hill-top is a fort.

That bolder than the rest commanding the city at a distance of five miles, is on the "Hill of Heavenly Birth." It was built, says Hobson, during the Taiping Rebellion; it existed, says the missionary, before the present dynasty; discrepant statements characteristic of this country of contradictions.