THE HANGCHOW BOIiE 



23/ 



to run rapidly eastward until the arrival of the midnight bore, the 

 water being at its lowest for the two hours preceding that event. 



One of the most surprising features of the whole phenomenon is 

 the sudden change in the aspect of the river. Just now we saw the 

 muddy bottom bare for some distance from the shore to where the 

 mid-river current was swiftly out-flowing, and a few minutes later the 

 whole basin is filled with muddy boiling water, which seems to threaten 

 to wash away even the substantial sea-wall on which we stood. 



After the passage of the bore and during the in-rush of the after- 

 body a number of men, some of them probably the duly appointed 

 patrols, others not, appeared on the sea-wall with very long bamboos, 

 some furnished with hooks at the end or spikes, some with rake-heads 

 and others with loops of rope, all designed to enable their manipu- 

 lators to gather in the driftwood, consisting chiefly of the loosened 

 or broken piles of the outer protecting ledges of the dyke. One fellow 

 was seen marching off in triumph with two whole piles and a half. 



During and just after the passage of the bore a busy scene was also 

 enacted on board the junks resting so securely on the platform along- 



The Same Junk as in the Previous Picture, seen from the Top of the Wall. 



