THE HANGCHOW BORE 241 



miles farther in could not last long, and shortly after mdnight the 

 strain broke down and the bore started somewhere between Eambler 

 Island and Kanpu, and rushed up the river in a wall of water twelve 

 feet high. Following the bore came the after-rush which carried the 

 level up eight feet more. It is on this that the junks are swept up- 

 stream as already noted. At 1 :30 the after-rush ceased, but the water 

 was still somewhat higher at Eambler than at Haining, and a gentle 

 current continued up-stream. The water then began to fall at 

 Rambler, while it continued to raise at Haining up to three o'clock, 

 when the ebb set in. On the south bank, at any rate, for four or five 

 miles inside the mouth of the river, the stream commences to run out 

 strongly an hour before high water at Haining. The fall of the water 

 in the ebbing tide is not particularly interesting, for there is no bore 

 down-stream, although at one time there is an exceedingly swift current. 



According to the reports of others, the height, speed and char- 

 acteristic appearance of the bore's front are maintained for fifteen 

 miles above Haining, after which the height decreases; and the wave 

 passes Hangchow city about an hour and a quarter after passing 

 Haining, soon after which it breaks up and gradually disappears, 

 though an effect is reported to be felt at times at Yenchow, some forty 

 miles farther up the river. At Hangchow the rise and fall does not 

 exceed six or seven feet. At Haining, as we have seen, the flood usually 

 lasts three hours ; the ebb, nine. At Hangchow the flood continues for 

 only one and a quarter hours and is nearly all in the bore proper. 



When the moon is at the point in its orbit nearest the earth at the 

 same time that it is full or new, or when there are strong northerly 

 or easterly winds in the Chusan Archipelago, the bore generally arrives 

 early off Haining, travels at a greater speed than usual, and is also 

 higher. Natives have reported tidal waves at Haining with a height 

 of over thirty feet. As we have already noted, the highest bore is 

 generally expected on the eighteenth of the eighth moon of the Chinese 

 calendar. 



Chinese Fancies concerning the Bore 



An account of Chinese fancies concerning the tides in general fur- 

 nished by Professor Giles, may be found in Professor Darwin's book 

 already referred to, and Captain Moore in his report notes a curious 

 legend which ascribes the origin of the bore to the revengeful workings 

 of the spirit of a certain popular general who was assassinated by the 

 Emperor through jealousy of his growing power, and whose body was 

 thrown into the Ch'ien-tang Kiang. Later the Emperor sought to 

 check the devastation of the country which arose from this source by 

 making appeasing sacrifices on the sea-wall; but without effect, and 



VOL. lxxii. — 16. 



