their well-known disposition to undervalue and mock foreigners; and the very remarkable degree to which they are given to navigation, upon their rivers and sea-coasts, are all successively noticed. The antipathy which they entertain against foreigners is again observable in the first of the following lines, 7 Od. 33, Ουδ' αγαπαζόμενοι φιλευσ' ος κ' αλλοθεν ελθοι as the second of them again likewise notices their devotion to maritime pursuits; and that circumstance is remarked in almost every page that treats of the Phæacians, so that they are often styled, as in 13 Od. 166, Φαιηκες δολιχηρετμοι ναυσικλυτοι ανδρες and as the strongest confirmation of such their habits, Neptune himself, in his address to Jupiter, 13 Od. 130, says that the Phæacians were of his own family. Φαιηκες, τοι περ τοι εμης εξεισι γενέθλης Ulysses is told that when he comes to βασιληος Swuara, Pekin, or the emperor's palace there, he will find διοτρεφέας βασιληας δαιτην δαινύμενος (7 Od. 59), alluding to the powerful princes, and even kings, who follow the court of the emperor of China; and to his custom of entertaining them with banquets, a circumstance noticed at more length hereafter: the prodigious respect, approaching to adoration, which is paid to the emperor is remarked, in 7 Od. 11, Φαιήκεσσιν ανασσε θεδ δ' ως δημος ακγεν and his palace is described with minute detail in the passage which follows the 81st line of the 7th Odyssey, but which is too long to cite here: it is sufficient to observe, that every word of it applies to the Chinese, as is evidenced by the allusion to the granite foundations on which the larger buildings of China are generally erected; the shining yellow tiles which constitute an ornament peculiar to the emperor's palace; the lofty roofs; and the doors of real gold, which in fact are stated to exist in the temples or palaces at Pekin: nor do the lines above referred to appear to be a description merely of the emperor's palace; since in many particulars they are applicable to the city of Pekin, Βασιληος Baoiλnos Swμata, and even to the country of China at large; and so, aprupeo saluoi, are not only descriptive of the silver ornaments in the interior of the temples and palaces, or perhaps the images and vases of white porcelaine; but probably also to the harbours of the Piho, or White River, and xpuσen noрwvn, to the famous canal which unites the Yellow with the White River. The pagodas (HUVES, cones), the Nankin cloths (πεπλοι εύνητοι), the peculiar yellowish colour of which is expressed under the words Xpuσeio 8por (unless the word pure there, should be supposed to refer to the olive-coloured silk dresses of the boys that assist in their temples, or to the yellow dresses worn solely by the emperor's own family); the habits of festivity of the Chinese, NOVTES OI EdovTES; their fireworks and nightly illuminations, αιθομένας δαιδας φαινοντες νύκτας; the numerous rivers that flow through China, πεντηκοντα δμωαι Names: the skill of the women in the loom, as of the men in navigation; the famous gardens of the emperor; are all circumstances applicable to the Chinese of the present day; and the few last lines of the passage referred to, which are expressive of the perpetual succession of fruits, I should interpret to relate to the great extent of the Chinese empire, which, traversing all sorts of climates, furnishes the fruits of all of them, in some part of the country or other, at all times of the year. The names of the persons of distinction among the Phæacians mentioned in 8 Od. 112, et seq. Ωρτο μεν ακροονευς και αγχιαλος και ερετμεις almost all of them refer to the skill of the Chinese in navigation; though one of them Aäodauas, seems to have relation to their skill in hewing and transporting the massive stones, for the use of which they are so famous in constructing their canals, bridges, and other public works. The predilection which the Chinese entertain for fat people is noticed in these lines, Και μιν μακρότερον και πασσονα θηκεν ιδέσθαι Ως κεν Φαιήκεσσι φίλος πάντεσσι γενοιτό Δενος τ' αιδοιος τε The very remarkable propensity of the lower classes of the Chinese to industry, trade, and commerce, is poetically stated in the following lines under the figure of their frequent sacrifices to Mercury the God of Commerce, 7 Od. 136, Ευρε δε Φαιήκων ηγήτορας ήδε μέδοντας Their whitish sails, made of matting, seem alluded to in 8 Od. 55, and their superior excellence in the practice of sculling, or managing the oar as a rudder, in 7 Od. 327. Ειδήσας δε και αυτος ενι φρεσιν όσσον άριςαι |