In the evening, after many delays on account of wind and tide, and also with the view of securing more passengers and cargo, we lifted our anchor and set sail. In crossing the bay of Hangchow, the tide runs very rapidly, and the Chinese junks and boats never go across without a fair or leading wind. I shall never forget the strange and motley group of passengers who were my fellow-travellers in this little vessel. We were all huddled together in the centre cabin, and our beds were spread down on each side, merely leaving room for us to walk down the middle. Some of the passengers were respectable merchants, but even these had something filthy and disagreeable about them. Little insects whose names sound harsh to "ears polite," were charitably supported in great numbers amongst the warm folds of their dresses. The first thing I did when my bed was spread down, was to surround it with my trunks, gun-case, and another box or two, to prevent, if possible, any visiters of this description from leaving their rightful lord and master, and taking up their quarters with me. With all my care it was next to impossible to keep myself apart from the Chinese, owing to the motion of the little vessel which sometimes sent us rolling from one side to the other.
A great part of the night was spent by the Chinese in smoking opium and tobacco. When morning dawned, the scene which the cabin presented was a strange one. Nearly all the passengers were sound asleep. They were lying in heaps, here and there, as they had been tossed and wedged by the motion of the vessel during the night. Their features and appearance, as seen in the twilight of a summer morning, were striking to the eye of a foreigner. I almost fancied that I could read the characters of the different beings who lay stretched before me. There was the habitual opium smoker—there was no mistaking him—his looks were pale and haggard, his breathing quick and disturbed, and so thin was he, that his cheek bones seemed piercing the skin. Some seemed care-worn with business, and others again apparently slept soundly with hearts light and joyous. All had the fore part of their heads shaved, and their tails lay about in wild confusion.
We were now far on our way across the bay having had a fair wind and tide during the greater part of the night, and the hills near Chapoo were already visible on the horizon to the northward. All hands were soon busily engaged in getting breakfast ready. A Chinese sea breakfast consists chiefly of rice, fish, and vegetables. The proprietors of the junk provide food for the passengers, for which they charge a small sum from each, independent of the passage-money. If the passengers do not choose to have breakfast, or dinner, they are not required to pay for it. When breakfast was ended, some began to smoke opium and others tobacco, after which most of them went to bed again and were soon fast asleep. The Chinese when travelling do little else than eat, smoke, and sleep. During the whole time I was travelling in the country, I never remember seeing one Chinese engaged in reading.
About eleven in the forenoon we came to anchor in a muddy bay abreast of the city of Chapoo, where many of the junks are high and dry at low water. I had my luggage put into a small sand-pan and rowed for the shore. "You had better take off your shoes and stockings, and draw up your trowsers," said one of the Chinese boatmen as we were getting near the landing-place. The prudence and necessity of this advice was soon apparent; for when the boat touched the beach, I found that I had to walk a quarter of a mile up to the knees in mud, before I could get on firm ground. Now came the critical part of my expedition. When I had got through the mud, I inquired for the nearest spring and commenced my ablutions, making no attempt to disguise myself, as I was dressed in the common English garb. Long before I had finished washing, I was surrounded by some hundreds of the natives, who seemed perfectly astonished at the sight of an Englishman, although this place had been attacked and taken during the late War. All sorts of inquiries were made regarding me; "where had I come from?" "where was I bound for?" "what were my objects?" and a hundred other questions were put to me, or to those who accompanied me. All were, however, quite civil and did not attempt to annoy me in the slightest degree. I now walked to some hills near the city, and inspected their vegetation. On the way I visited some temples which had been battered down by our troops during the war, and which still remained in the same ruinous condition. Hundreds of people followed me to the hills, the view from which is one of the finest I ever saw in this country. Here it is that the hills of the south end, and the wide plain of the Yang-tse-kiang commences. On one side, looking towards the south and west, mountains are seen towering in all their grandeur; whilst on the northern side, the eye rests on a rich and level plain, watered by its thousand canals, and dotted all over with towns and villages peopled with an immense number of industrious and happy human beings. Chapoo and the country which surrounds it may well be called the garden of China.
After inspecting the hills, I went down into the Tartar city of Chapoo. The suburbs are large and populous, but the walled city itself is not very extensive. It is a square, and the circuit of the walls is not more than three miles; they seem very old, and are surrounded by a moat, which also serves the purpose of a canal. Here the Tartar troops and their families reside, living entirely apart from the Chinese inhabitants of the town.
The streets, houses, and shops are of the same kind as those which I have already described. Indeed, so like is one town in China to another, that, if a traveller well acquainted with the northern cities, was set down blindfolded in one of them, he would have the greatest difficulty in saying whether it was Chapoo, Ningpo, or Shanghae. I observed in the shops a considerable quantity of Japanese goods, which are brought annually to this place by the junks which trade with Japan.
By the time I had examined all the chief objects of interest, it was late in the afternoon, and I began to think of leaving the city and taking the road for Shanghae. I had already taken measures by means of my servant to find the part of the canal from which the Shanghae boats started, and thither proceeded with the intention of engaging a boat. A numerous crowd had surrounded and accompanied me, during the whole of the day; but now that I was on the eve of taking my departure, it was greatly augmented. Every street, lane, window, and house-top was crowded with human beings; all, however, perfectly harmless and civil. When I reached the canal and attempted to speak with one of the boatmen, the crowd pressed after me in such numbers, that the boat, had I got on board, would probably have been swamped. The poor boatmen were so frightened, that no reward which I could hold out would induce them to give me a passage. They begged and prayed me not to enter their boats, as some accident would happen from the number of persons whom nothing could prevent from crowding in after me.
I was now in a dilemma, and I scarcely knew how to get out of it. At last I determined, much against my inclination, to go to the mandarins. It is a bad plan to have any thing to do with Chinese officials when it can be possibly avoided, but in this case there was no help for it; so, having inquired for the residence of the superintendent of boats, I set off to call upon him, followed, of course, by an immense mob. As we were going to his house, my servant came up to me and requested that I would not tell the mandarin that he was in my service, or that he had any thing to do in bringing me there. As I could speak the language sufficiently well to make myself understood, I did not need him as an interpreter, and I was of course anxious not to bring him or his relations into any scrape on my account.
When we reached the mandarin's house, the doors were thrown open, and I walked boldly into the reception-room. It was a most difficult matter for the servants to keep out the crowd, but they accomplished the task partly by threats, and partly by whips, which they used rather more freely than we should approve of in England. This, however, is a common mode of punishing the rabble in China, and when they know they deserve it they take it very quietly.
"Tell your master I want to see him," said I in a lofty tone to one of the attendants, who immediately went into an inner apartment and returned with the mandarin himself, clothed in his most imposing robes of office,—hat, button, peacock feather, and all. I made him several very low bows, which he most politely returned." I am in a great hurry," said I, "to go on to Shanghae, and have been trying to engage a boat for that purpose, but cannot succeed without your assistance. Will you have the goodness to aid me?" After repeating after me what I had said, as is the invariable custom in Chinese conversation, he put the following question to me: "How old are you?" This may seem strange, but it is considered complimentary by the Chinese, and is generally amongst the first questions they put. I thanked him for his inquiry, told him my age, and then asked his, and again proposed the question regarding the boat. Upon this he promised to send one of his servants to get one, and in the mean time invited me to take some cake and tea, which were immediately set before me. The gun which I had with me was an object of great curiosity to the old man, more particularly the locks and percussion caps, which he told me he had never seen before. During the time I was discussing the cake and tea, he asked me a multiplicity of questions; such as, where had I come from last? who had told me there was a road to Shanghae this way? &c. &c., some of which I answered, and some I found it convenient not to understand. At last, through some blunder on the part of my servant, it became known that he belonged to me; a circumstance which was immediately communicated to the mandarin, who sent for him and subjected him to a close and searching examination.