At last, however, the tresses were all shorn off, and having parted with Marie with the full intention of making her my wife when I returned, and having given her a letter for Cum-ho, concocted by my friend from a Morison's Chinese and English Dictionary, the anchor was rudely dragged forth from its snug hiding-place in the muddy bottom of the Nankin creek; then clapping my shiny-headed men on to the halyards fore and aft, all sail was made, and Nankin bidden adieu for a time.
The Yang-tze river, at its mildest mood and lowest period in the middle of winter, is still a mighty and a swift-running stream; but in summer, when swollen with the vast torrents from the melted snow of the region of great mountains, amid which it rises far away beyond the western limits of Thibet, its waters rush fierce and foaming far into the country upon either side of its proper channel. Such was the case upon my departure from Nankin.
Sailing was out of the question, because what little wind there came was, as the sailors say, dead on end. But although our canvas could not help us on our way, the boiling tide did, and that at the rate of nearly five knots an hour. I have many a time floated along the bosom of that grand Yang-tze, and with nature all beautiful around me, crew and servants obedient to the slightest wish, and, above all, a sympathizing friend, fancied more complete happiness impossible.
At such moments I have often reflected upon the great Ti-ping movement, and wondered whether my partisanship could have blinded me to any of its defects, and so led me to disagree with the manifold tales of horror and detraction narrated by persons who opposed the rebellion. I have even tried to persuade myself that I was a fool, that I had been imposed upon and deceived by the Ti-pings as to their real character, and that the hostile reports were true. But then I could not help feeling myself sincerely a well-wisher of the rebels; I knew that I became a partisan from my conviction of the righteousness and favourable characteristics of their cause, and from no mere worldly interest or attraction; and, moreover, against the hearsay adverse testimony I could certainly plead, "seeing is believing," and prefer my own eyesight and personal experience to the tales of others, the greater proportion of whom had never even seen a Ti-ping under any circumstances, much less when at their home and uninfluenced by the horrors of Asiatic warfare. Besides this, nearly all my friends and acquaintances were entirely of the same opinion as myself, including the Revs. W. Lobschied, Griffith John, and other missionaries, who had really seen Ti-ping life and manners.
A Mast Head View Of Nankin From The River As It Appeared On The Morning Of Departure.
London, Published March 15th 1866 by Day & Son, Limited Lithogrs Gate Str, Lincoln's Inn Fields.
Day & Son, Limited, Lith.
These driftings on the Yang-tze were productive of much meditation. Far from the trammels, disturbance, and troubles of the great cities of men, with the warm pure air blowing freshly upon us, we could think only of the justice and reason of things, completely unbiassed by the stereotyped customs and formal conventionalities of society; but the living voice of Nature all around us, manifested in the murmur of the moving waters, the humming noise of manifold insects, the myriad lamps of the fire-fly at night, and the brilliant-coloured feathery songsters in full chorus among the reed-beds' luxuriant foliage by day, whispered a better and more comprehensive theory of existence. So far as society was concerned, it might have been extinct, for we were at such times perfectly isolated, myself and friend were alone with regard to companionship, will, and authority. Of course this sort of life requires change; it is all very well for a few months; but then one seems to wish for something more than the voice of nature, and the novelties of strange people, new faces, and busy life, become excessively attractive.
To descend unto the mere creature comforts of such living:—at four in the morning we arose; As-sam, with meek devotion, or rather serpent-like Asiatic stealthiness, would bring coffee, containing just a dash of strong waters, with a little breakfast of rice-cake or toast, by way of fortifying oneself in a cholera country. This sailors' inseparable morning stimulant despatched,[40] habited in thin white silk, we were douched with many buckets of water, drawn overnight and separated from the thick muddy particles of the Yang-tze by settling and cooling till morn, when the clear part was poured off for use; then a couple of brawny Chinese mariners would rub us down like young horses, and our day began.
If the locale was favourable and the breeze light, a stroll along the river's bank, gun in hand, keeping time with the progress of our vessel with the tide, almost surely supplied us with many fat pheasants, wild pigeons, and some of the numerous Chinese summer water-fowl, or snipe and curlew of singular variety. A stroll to the trees and bushes further inland would possibly reward us with a few woodcock, rice-birds or ortolan, and other delicious game peculiar to China.