208 TRAVEL, ADVENTURE, AND SPORT. 



pleasant watering-places may never be subjected to 

 similar courtesies. The fire of the forts of Nankin 

 was pretty fair until the ships got into action ; and 

 the Eetribution, as leading ship, was subjected to a 

 greater amount of damage than the rest of the squa- 

 dron, and had one man killed and two wounded 

 severely. The fight was, however, soon knocked out 

 of the Taepings, for, commencing at about eight hun- 

 dred yards and closing up to four hundred and fifty 

 yards, we soon gave them such a surfeit as none of 

 the believers in the Heavenly King had ever contem- 

 plated. The action lasted about three-quarters of 

 an hour, and by that time we had fairly dosed the 

 works facing Nankin, and an isolated fort on the 

 northern bank. Night had closed in, and we had 

 reached just above the site of the Porcelain Tower : 

 we therefore anchored for the night, and Captain 

 Barker decided on asking permission of the Ambas- 

 sador to give our Taeping friends a still further 

 dressing on the morrow, for the following reasons : 

 They might fancy that we had availed ourselves of 

 the cover of night to force their fortifications, and it 

 was desirable to remove any erroneous impressions 

 upon our right of way up and down the Yangstze 

 whilst the discussion was still an open one, for no 

 one could tell what accidents might happen up the 

 river to our squadron, and we had no idea of trusting 

 again the mercy of such a set of ruffians : if they 

 could not love us, they might at any rate be made to 



