96 PASS LU-CHAU 



belt round him. I called the lowban's attention to it, 

 but he refused to look at the body. The boat was an- 

 chored off a small villaiye at the end of this exciting- 

 day, after having made sixty-four li. 



May 2. — Started at daylight with a slight breeze : 

 soon after I went on shore with Mr. Kricheldorff. The 

 scenery here is very beautiful, there being many of the 

 groves of llamoo trees mentioned before. To-day the 

 city of Lu-chau was passed and was a sad sight, as 

 twenty days ago two-thirds of the city had been burnt, 

 and now presented a dismal spectacle of bare and 

 blackened walls. Official assistance had to be rendered 

 to save many of the inhabitants from starvation. It 

 was a city of perhaps 100,000 inhabitants, situated on 

 the left bank of the Yang-tze, just above the junction of 

 the Choong Eiver. 



May 3. — After proceeding about ten li to-day, a 

 junk was met, with a Mrs Eiley, the widow of a mis- 

 sionary, and her three children on board. She was 

 travelling down from Cheng-tu, and had had some 

 European^ with her as far as Sui-fu, but was now by 

 herself, and on the way to Ichang. It w^as cooler 

 to-day, the thermometer being at 70°, and fifty li 

 were made. 



May 4. — Nothing of note occurred to-day, except 

 that I noticed a large species of bamboo which more 



