70 NOTES UPON THE GULF OF PECHELI, [Nov. 22, 1858. 



in and out over the bar, but whilst the tide is high enough to cover 

 the mud flats, the direction of the current follows that of the tides 

 in the offing. 



Directly the bar is crossed a deep channel is entered, which, 

 although tortuous, has never less than 12 feet water in it, and in many- 

 places much more, all the way from the entrance to Tientsin. Off some 

 of the salient points where the river takes a sharp turn, projecting 

 spits of mud or sand are sometimes found, but the general character 

 was uniform, namely a muddy stream running through flat country, 

 wonderfully free from all obstructions, and the channel generally 

 steep to the river bank. There are strong indications of vernal and 

 autumnal inundations during the ascent of the first 15 miles, but 

 beyond that distance the river banks as far as Tientsin were nowhere 

 artificial, but rose with a natural abrupt escarp 3 to 6 feet above 

 high-water mark. It would be difficult to account for the sharp 

 bends in this river or its generally tortuous course, seeing that it runs 

 through a plain as level as a table, and has had apparently only to 

 cut its way through stiff blue or yellow clay ; nevertheless, in the 

 short distance of 30 miles which intervenes between the city of 

 Tientsin and Taku, at its mouth, the river turns and twists over 

 not less than 50 miles of ground, very much as laid down in the 

 chart accompanying the account of Lord Macartney's embassy to 

 Pekin in 1793 — which chart, however, is decidedly very incorrect 

 directly Tientsin is passed.* 



Apart from the natural excitement of breaking in on new ground 

 as belligerents, nothing could be less interesting than the first part 

 of the ascent of the Peiho Eiver. On either hand extended a dreary- 

 mud flat, which looked as if it had been only yesterday wrung from 

 the sea. Reeds, rushes, and such plants as love a marshy or saline 

 soil, are seen in patches ; but the major portion is nought but a saline, 

 the glistening product of which, piled in great pyramids by the 

 thrifty Chinese, breaks the uniformity of the scenery. The banks 

 of the river are, however, turned to every possible advantage by a 

 swarming population. Mud-built villages commence within a mile 

 of the entrance : the largest of them, " Taku," has now become well 

 known as the scene of late hostilities — " a crowning mercy " which its 

 imfortunate but strong-smelling inhabitants will long have occasion 

 to remember. Wretched, dirty, and foul-smelling though these 

 villages appear to the eye of an European, they are, in fact, exceeding 

 rich with the hoarded fruits of commercial and agricultural industry, 



* See Admiralty Chart of R. Peiho, by Capt. R. Woodbine Parish, b.a. Pub- 

 lished March 17th, 1857.— Ed. 



