A CRUISE UP THE YANGSTZE IN 1858-59. 193 



the farthest point spoken of, could require more than 

 that time to accomplish. 



We will not waste time or space recording all our 

 arrangements ; how wiseacres wrote up from Hong- 

 Kong, recording it as their opinion that we should 

 infallibly come to grief ; how bets were offered that 

 we should never reach beyond the Poyang Lake ; and 

 how wiser men foretold that, even if successful, very 

 little honour or credit should come to us ; and that, 

 if we failed, hanging would be the least of our pun- 

 ishments. We could laugh at all this ; an enterpris- 

 ing Ambassador as our passenger, a single-minded, 

 earnest officer like the worthy Barker for our chief, 

 only left us to set our teeth, trust in Providence, 

 and go at our work, determined to give the lie to 

 all such false prophecies. November came before we 

 could start a matter of some regret, for we calculated 

 that between the 14th and 20th October would have 

 been the best period for our departure, so as to return 

 before the winter had set in with any severity. In 

 the meantime, however, all the escorting squadron 

 dropped out of the Shanghai river into the Yangstze, 

 and the Cruiser, with the Lee and Dove gunboats, 

 proceeded to feel the way for us through the great 

 delta. The 9th of November at last saw us away, 

 and the setting sun shone full in our faces as we 

 steered our first cruise towards the westerly regions, 

 up the great river. Yet it had not been our first 

 visit in that direction. On the 6th July 1842 we 



VOL. III. N 



