Excursions in the South of China 347 



mostly occupied in junk building and boat making, and very 

 good boats they can build, too — if they only have a copy they can 

 equal it in every respect. ''^^ 



Passing the suburbs, the houses gradually became less nume- 

 rous, and soon paddy fields and lychee trees (Euphorbia litchi) 

 intervened. A good towing path led along the entire route on each 

 side, and our crew, who had hitherto been poling the faitan along, 

 now stripped naked, passed broad belts across their shoulders, 

 attached to a towing rope of twisted rattan, which was made 

 fast to our mast, and, jumping ashore, they pulled us along at a 

 considerable pace. The whole of the country is here quite flat, 

 and at this time of the year, before the rice is planted, quite dry. 

 Here and there were a. few bushes at the water's edge, and a clump 

 of bamboos. The rustic natives were mostly employed in plough- 

 ing up the ground, using the uncouth water buffalo (Bubalus 

 buffelus) for draught. Here and there a sampan appeared, with 

 its occupants fishing or collecting the spawn for sale in the Fatshan 

 market. It w^as a hot lazy spring afternoon, and after the bustle 

 and noise of the western suburbs, the quiet rural scenery presented 

 a pleasant contrast. In the distance were two or three little white 

 villages, peeping from their overshadowing banyans, nearly all of 

 them marked by small pagodas or towers. On turning a sudden 

 corner to the south, we saw a collection of vessels at anchor be- 

 tween two villages, Ng-Kai-How and Yun-kin-Chung. The waving of 

 numerous flaunting banners, and the show of gaily-painted wicker 

 shields and long pikes or spears, together with the clanging of the 

 brazen gongs and the rattle of tom-toms, gave sufficient notice to 

 us that this was a fleet of braves on their way west to subdue the 

 Tsepings, who were devastating the country above Shao-K'ing. On 

 account of the presence of these noisy swashbucklers, our crew 

 would not land as they had intended, but, afraid of " squeeze 

 pigeon," if not of downright robbery, from the military mandarins, 

 made all haste to pass by such unscrupulous neighbours. The 

 Mongol soldiery appeared to be closely packed on board the junks, 

 but if one judged rightly, the amount of flags displayed was greatly 

 in excess of the number of combatant warriors. There were twenty 

 vessels in the fleet, each holding from sixty to seventy braves — in 

 all, they were about twelve hundred men of all ranks, besides 



* We had a capital four-oared " funny " built for us by one of these builders 

 on an English model, equal to one of Searle's best. 



