INSPECTION OF BOAT id 



During tlie nii^lit the cries of the unfortunate people 

 whose houses were flooded coukl be heard imploring 

 assistance, but none could be rendered. Hundreds of 

 boats and sampans were dashed to atoms in the roaring 

 flood of the river, and the loss of life was appalling. 

 Large junks broke adrift, and some were not got under 

 control until they had been drifted 800 li down the 

 river. 



Durmg my absence I found that the most extra- 

 ordinary stories had circulated among the natives as to 

 the object of my journey. Some said that I w^as kid- 

 napping children and making medicine out of their 

 eyes for my photographic apparatus. It was impossible, 

 they said, for anybody to take such pictures without. 

 Other reports said that I was catching and killing 

 snakes so large that it required five men to carry them. 

 Then, again, the old story was revived, that I had an 

 infernal machine in the boat, and was only waiting for 

 a favourable opportunity to utterly destroy the city. 

 All these things had been reported to the Tao-tai, but of 

 course he knew far better than to pay any attention to 

 them; still, the rumours were so persistent that he 

 felt bound, as a matter of form, to personally inspect 

 the boat again, after having done which he did all in 

 his power to reassure the people that no evil thing was 

 in the boat, and that no danger was to be apprehended. 



