Shanghai. 159 



miles by ships of any tonnage. After steaming up the 

 Yangtse for nearly forty miles, we came to the bar of the 

 Wangpoo or Shanghai river, where we waited a few hours for 

 the tide. Near at hand, we saw the Red Buoy, the famous 

 point from which the tea clippers used to start for their 

 annual race to the London docks. That was the great sport- 

 ing event of the year ; but is now a thing of the past. Then, 

 the winner got from $ to 6 a ton, with no bill of coals, and 

 no wear and tear to machinery. Steamers, at the time of my 

 visit, were taking tea from Hankow at a pound a ton, which 

 is twelve shillings net, after deducting eight shillings a ton for 

 Suez Canal dues ; that is, at the rate of about a shilling a ton per 

 thousand miles. Hankow, I may explain, is nearly 700 miles 

 up the Yangtse river. It is the great centre of the tea trade, 

 and is the place at which the tea steamers take in their cargoes 

 of leaf. Shanghai is about twelve miles above the bar at 

 Woosung. The chief business part of Shanghai consists of a 

 line of fine buildings nearly three-quarters of a mile long, on 

 the left bank of the Wangpoo. A broad and well-kept road, 

 called the Bund, runs between the line of houses and the 

 river, which is well supplied with jetties and quays. The 

 Bund forms the front of the English settlement, which occu- 

 pies about a square mile of ground. The Soochow Creek, 

 which is about 100 yards broad, is on the left of the Bund, 

 and separates the English and American concessions from 

 each other. The Yang King Pang, which is a broad ditch, 

 performs a like office on the right, for the French and English 

 possessions. One of the principal streets in the Ma Loo 

 (Horse Road), which begins about the centre of the Bund, 

 and which extends to the rear, at right angles to the Bund, 

 for a mile, up to the bridge over the Defence Creek, after 

 crossing which we see the racecourse on our left and a row of 

 detached villas on our right. After passing the entrance to 

 the enclosure of the Grand Stand, 'we find both sides of the 

 road occupied by charmingly-built country houses, with taste- 

 fully laid-out grounds and gardens ; until, on going for about 



