82 Mr. R. Swinhoe on the Ornithology of Hainan. 



Lieutenant of Shuy-wei-sze did not leave me till he had handed 

 me over to the authorities at Tai-ping-sze ; and the fat good- 

 natured Lieutenant of this last place clung to me till I returned 

 to Kiungchow-foo in safety. On my return from the hills, 1 

 passed over a bleak plain to the city of Ting-gan. It was blow- 

 ing cold from the north-east, drizzling with rain, and I was 

 carried into the city in a benumbed state, so great was the change 

 from the heat among the mountains during the pi'evious few 

 days. The chief authority or magistrate at the city of Ting- 

 gan received me into his own house, and I spent a very plea- 

 sant evening with him and his secretary and literary friends. 

 Next morning he provided me with a boat, and I returned to 

 the capital, arriving there on the 1 st March, my cruise in the 

 interior having occupied a fortnight. 



The gunboat was at anchor in Hoihow harbour; and we got 

 away on the 4th March, and anchored outside the Poochiu river 

 the same evening. On the 6th we entered the Chinlan river 

 on the west, in the Wenchang district, where we explored till 

 the 8th. We then left and sailed down the coast. On the 9th, 

 near the shore opposite Tychow island, the gunboat captured 

 and burned a pirate junk, whose crew fired and threw over- 

 board her guns and escaped to land. On the 10th we an- 

 chored off Lingshuy harbour, and spent a pleasant time in its 

 neighbourhood till the afternoon of the 12th. We were in- 

 formed that pirates were in watch for junks outside the har- 

 bour, and, creeping out, we sighted two of their vessels and gave 

 chase. The pirates now tried to escape in a boat, but they 

 were all, thirty-three in number, taken prisoners. The gun- 

 boat anchored with her captives in Yu-lin-kan bay. The shore 

 here is mountainous, jungly, and inhabited by Le men, and the 

 heat was great. We rambled about in this neighbourhood till 

 the 14th, when we left at noon, and anchored at 4 p.m. under 

 West Island. We had a morning stroll the next day over this 

 pretty little island, colonized by Chinese fishermen, and lying 

 about three miles from the wild-looking land opposite. The 

 flat portion of the island was grassy in places, and in places 

 planted with cotton, and protected from the winds by hedges 

 of plants and trees. The hilly portion was covered with wood. 



