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 see 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 stream,

which goes through the heart of that vast empire of China, crosses