Note 23 — Chapter XV

In no part of China are there found within the same distance so many large pagodas or religions monuments as upon the banks of this fine river. This is not the place to describe them minutely, or to discuss their purpose. They are found in most of the large towns, and sometimes on the banks of rivers, and form a part of the religious buildings of the Budhist superstition, and together with it, seem to have been originally introduced from the west. The shape of them is familiar to most readers. The finest and most celebrated one of the kind is the famous Porcelain Tower of Nankin; which is in reality a pagoda, larger and more ornamented than the rest, and distinguished by being principally constructed of Porcelain brick glazed, and of various shades of colour. These towers, or pagodas, are of great use in the navigation of the Canton river, as, from their height, they are conspicuous objects at a distance, and are generally placed in advantageous positions.