78 EAMBLES OF A NATURALIST. [Oh. V. 



long stratified hill occupied a conspicuous paxt of the land- 

 scape, and this we gradually approached tiU we reached the 

 town of Sik-kow, behiad which it was situated. 



Sik-kow is similar in character to the other towns on the 

 route ; but the streets are wider than those of Mbangka or 

 Hoo-wei. The inhabitants, however, did not give us any 

 notion of their being more simple or primitive on account 

 of their comparative seclusion, but rather the reverse. A 

 noisy crowd followed us through the streets, some members 

 of which appeared to incline to impudence, and one man 

 seemed by his loud talk and gestures to be attempting to 

 incite others against us, while the general greeting of " hwan- 

 ha " (foreigners) was heard no less here than everywhere else 

 on the route. 



Leaving Sik-kow, we proceeded eastward through similar 

 scenery, increasing, however, in its striking character, for 

 some six miles further. A little beyond Sik-kow on the 

 left bank, a bed of large oyster-shells, some of them eight or 

 nine inches in length, and having a close resemblance to, if 

 not identical with, the recent Ostrea canadensis, arrested 

 our attention. They were imbedded in stiff blue clay in 

 the river's bank, and immediately overlieS a thin seam of 

 an inferior coal, which cropped out beneath. The bank 

 (which, as in most other places, was perforated with the in- 

 numerable holes of freshwater crabs), including clay, shells, 

 and coal, was about four feet high above the water's edge, 

 and the bed extended about 100 yards in length. 



"We arrived at the town of Chuy-teng-cha at nightfall; 

 and here, as its name implies, the tide-way ends. As it was 

 dark we did not land, but proceeded a little further, and 

 passed the night in a small bay at the foot of the rapids. 

 Numerous boats upon the beach and many in motion seemed 



