TIGER-HUNTING IN CHINA 247 



calm seas with flying-fish racing over them, and glo- 

 rious sunrises and sunsets turning them to red and 

 burnished gold, no more Southern Cross, nor tropic 

 nights of unimagined brilliancy; all these I was 

 leaving behind with the tropics; and whether the 

 exhilaration of a brisker atmosphere could make up 

 for them all, I doubted. At daylight on the 24th 

 we reached the harbor of Woosung, gay with an 

 assemblage of four big Pacific mail-steamers ; and 

 at nine o'clock started in a fast launch to cover the 

 thirteen miles to Shanghai, which lies well back 

 from the navigable sea, reaching the Bund at eleven, 

 and passing the day in that interesting city. 



Early on the morning of the 26th we steamed into 

 the harbor of Nagasaki, the sun just showing above 

 the little wooded hills which hem it in, and raising 

 the mist from the dull gray roofs of the town. On 

 anchoring, we were surrounded by coal-scows, and 

 began coaling by the method for which Nagasaki is 

 noted : wooden staging is placed up the vessel's sides, 

 and standing on this, little Japanese girls pass up 

 the coal in small baskets with such speed that sev- 

 eral thousands of tons of coal are loaded in a few 

 hours. Their dexterity and team-work are indeed 

 most interesting to watch. 



Rowing ashore after breakfast, we took a long 

 rickshaw ride across the hills, to a tiny fishing vil- 



