Introduction

The pendent branches look so much like whiskers that the common name for them among the Chinese is the Whiskers of the Banian. The English Church Missionary Society established a Mission at Fuhchau in the spring of 1850. Foreign vessels of large tonnage anchor about ten miles below the city of Fuhchau, at Pagoda Anchorage, so called on account of a pagoda built on a hill on an island in the vicinity. Foreign pilots usually take the charge of vessels until they have fairly entered the river, when they yield to native pilots, who navigate them until they reach Pagoda Anchorage. The city of Fuhchau lies to the north of the northern branch. The southern branch passes nearly parallel with the northern, the two forming a narrow and fertile island, fifteen or sixteen miles in length, and three or four miles in width in its broadest part.