King—Can only move one square at a time, and only straight or sideways as a castle, neither can he move outside his nine points, nor into a square exposed to the adverse king from the opposite side of the board, without any intervening piece.
Mandarins, or Shields—Can only move within the nine points, one at a time, diagonally, as a bishop; they take the same way.
Bishops—Can only move upon their own side of the ditch, always move two points at a time, and take the same way. Their move is diagonal.
Knights—Move and take the same as with us, go all over the board, but cannot move when the angle at the first point of the move is occupied by another piece. They cannot jump over a piece as with us, but must have the road clear.
Castles—Move and take, and have entirely the same value as with us.
Guns—They move only as a castle, but can only take by jumping over an intervening piece.
Pawns—Move one point at a time, straight forward, take the same way, and when they cross the ditch, can take and advance, forwards or sideways, like a castle; but still only one point at a time. They cannot, however, move backwards. It requires a move of the pawn, and half a move of the knight, to cross the ditch. Castles and guns can go as far beyond as willing in one move.
I passed close to the Nankin fortifications, but did not anchor, as I saw quite sufficient to guide me in joining the Chung-wang there without stopping; the place being evidently open and easy of access.
At Chin-kiang I heard terrible rumours of pirates, about the Lang-shan crossing and entrance of the river; and the more the deeds of the pirates were talked about, the greater embellishment they received from the imagination of the narrator, so that, at last, bad as they certainly were, the deeds attributed to them would never have been recognized by the perpetrators themselves.