Next came a grand dispute about the sedan-chairs, rickety old things made of bamboo; but we soon got into them, (there were only two,) and held out a dollar; but between fear and disinclination to the job, the men set us down, and left us in the lurch. However, as we kept possession of the chairs, we had the best of the bargain, though it was not a very pleasant prospect for us to sit there until it should please the men to carry us on. At length, after some deliberation among themselves, they agreed to carry us for a dollar each, and away we went, greatly enjoying the fun.
On reaching the village at which we had before halted, they set us down again in order to rest themselves, and tried every means to persuade us to alight, and take some tea; but we were rather too old travellers to be taken in by such tricks, and continued to keep possession of our chairs. At length, finding they could not get rid of us, they made up their minds to carry us on the whole way, and trotted off nimbly enough. The easy, measured step of the Chinese bearers, who carry the poles upon their shoulders, one on either side, with a cross piece joining them together, and resting upon the back of the neck, is by no means disagreeable; and considering the rudeness of the construction of the chairs, we were surprised that the motion was so pleasant.
Presently we fell in with the other party which had been desired to follow us, and received a very good account of the civility they had met with from the people. Indeed, they stated that they had overtaken a respectable-looking Chinaman on horseback, as they were marching along, who, seeing a young midshipman of the party, among so many stout men, very gallantly dismounted, and offered him the use of his horse; intimating by his manner and gestures that he was too young to walk so far. This little piece of attention was the more remarkable as horses are seldom used by the Chinese, and are usually only found in the hands either of people of rank or of great wealth. On reaching a road which branched off to the left, the polite gentleman resumed his horse and disappeared.
At length we reached the beautiful cocoa-nut wood near the river, and refreshed ourselves with the milk of the fresh nuts, under the shade of the trees, which were here growing to a very great height.
Having regained our boats, we found a number of Chinese collected round them, but no violence or insult had been offered; indeed, the peasants had brought down fowls and ducks for sale.
It was now almost sunset, and the tide was just beginning to turn, so that we descended the river rapidly, and, as we emerged from it into the lagoon, it was christened Hall's River, with our last glass of cherry-brandy, a little of which we had taken with us for the journey.
As it was still nearly high-water, the appearance of the lagoon was much more striking than it had been in the morning, and we could see plenty of game coming out of the woods, to feed upon the little green patches at the foot of the hills. But not a single human habitation could be discovered. We soon reached the steamer again, and instantly getting under way, proceeded out of the lagoon, or Inner Harbour, as it is called upon the Admiralty chart.
It should here be remarked, that the entrance to the outer harbour or basin of Yin-lin-kan, as laid down in the chart, is much toe broad and the bay too open; at least, such is the impression from what we remember of the very moderate breadth of the entrance, and of the appearance of the basin when inside of it. There was a heavy swell outside, the result of the strong breezes which had prevailed for several preceding days.
We now stood across the Gulf of Tonquin, towards the coast of Cochin-China, which we kept in sight all the way down. On the 29th we ran into the large and beautiful basin, called by Horsburgh, Phuyen Harbour, in latitude 18° 23' N., with a view to ascertain its character and capabilities, which could be done with very little detention. The importance of an accurate knowledge of the best harbours for ships to run into, in the China Sea, in case of need, cannot be overrated now that there is every probability of a great increase in the number of merchant ships passing up and down. The great Phuyen Basin, which in fact contains three excellent harbours, is accurately described by Horsburgh. We steamed round it in all directions, and were struck with its beauty, and the perfect shelter it affords. The soundings were very regular, from twelve, to five and a quarter, and four and a half fathoms. The Buoy Rock, which is the only danger, is distinctly seen above water, at ebb-tide, looking precisely like what its name indicates. As we came out again at high-water, it was found covered. It lies about half way up the first or outer harbour, at the distance of half to one-third of a mile from the northern shore.
Just at the entrance to this harbour, near its southern shore, stands the high, abrupt, rocky island, called Nest Island, which, although there is deep water close in, on either side, has a coral reef running out from its western extremity. The three harbours are, first, Xuandai, on the southern shore, round Nest Island; next, Vunglam, on the north-western side, about a mile and a half further up; and lastly, Vungchao, at the end of the basin.