TELEGBAril LINE 161 



sent my bocat bcack to Ichang, I went up with Mr. 

 Kriclielclorff in the steamer Kiang-tung . During my 

 stay at Hankow, being rather undecided as to whether I 

 should proceed again to Ta-tsien4u, I sent some collec- 

 tors, both entomological and botanical, there overland ; 

 but having decided before leaving to go there myself in 

 the boat, I was able to stop them by telegraph at Ichang. 

 The telegraph line is laid from Hankow to Ichang, then, 

 still following the river, to Chung-king, from which 

 place it goes direct to Cheng-tu. The local mandarins 

 are responsible for the safety of the line, and repairs 

 are done by workmen who are stationed at intervals. 

 Messages are sent in English, Chinese not being, I believe, 

 adapted to the purpose. 



When describing my boat in a former chapter, I 

 mentioned that I had the cabin and topsides painted 

 white with the object of keeping the cabin as cool as 

 possible. The native boats and junks are varnished all 

 over with the vegetable varnish, and present a light- 

 brown colour. My boat was therefore a very con- 

 spicuous object, and, being so uncommon, very likely 

 to attract attention. This I found she did, and I think 

 that her colour was the principal cause of the attack 

 made at Kia-ting-fu ; and, as mentioned before, she 

 was scraped and varnished while waiting there. 

 During my stay here, however, the following letter 



M 



