458 mr. w. B. ogilvie grant oy [May 8, 



10th. Consulted the American missionaries, who are inclined to 

 throw cold water on my visit to Nodia, their place inland, and can 

 give no information ! Determine not to ask their assistance any 

 more. The Portuguese Padre Baptista promises to help me, and I 

 hope to start in a few days. Mr. Jiidell rides with me to Kiung- 

 chu, a walled city, with narrow streets, stinks, darkness and crowds 

 of people, a terrible-looking place — my first visit to a Chinese 

 town. Pass many lepers on the road begging, minus fingers and 

 toes and at times feet and hands — an awful sight ! 



13th. Left Hoihow for Pak-siang, which is the riverside port of 

 Kiung-chu. I left Hoihow at 1.30, and arrived at the Padre 

 Baptista's house in about an hour, and subsequently we went to meet 

 the boat which, with men and baggage, left Hoihow this morning 

 at 10 a.m. The Chinamen had filled up the boat with rice and 

 flour for their own food, so consequently we bad to move some of it. 

 The Chinese always do their best to score off the European, and 

 as a rule succeed. One hour's walk over a narrow road paved 

 with big stones brought us to Pak-siang. The river runs through 

 a sandy barren country, almost treeless, and no good to the 

 collector, so one must go on. The sides of the river, where they 

 are high, are of red burnt clay of volcanic origin, underneath this 

 clay is sand and here and there a stratum of sea-shells. The river 

 is broad and very shallow, the boats requiring to be pulled along 

 by the men for long distances. 



We have passed a number of bamboo water-wheels for irrigating 

 purposes, and where these occur the river is dammed with a bamboo 

 fence. When this has been passed, navigation once more becomes 

 easy. 



We have seen numerous birds, Ospreys, Kites, Crows, Magpies, 

 a Cormorant, a Grebe, numbers of Waders, more especially 

 Greensbanks, Herons, and black Storks, as well as Kingfishers of 

 two kinds. Our boat is a dirty barge and smells very strong, but 

 one might be worse off. 



The Chinese work naked and are without shame, the greatest 

 savages I have met with. 



15th. Still going up stream with a nice wind, and make good 

 progress, though our mat sail is much destroyed. 



16th. Still going up stream, but slowly. Arrive at Ting-au, a 

 small walled Chinese town. We have got porters for Sieum-tin- 

 san, where the Padre Baptista has a priest, and we remain for the 

 night. 



17th. Left this morning with twenty-eight porters ; could not 

 get off early as the Chinese talked so much, but at 9.30 a.m. they 

 were on their way. The country is almost a sandy desert ; there 

 has been no rain for so long that the rice and potato crop will in 

 all probability be a failure : all the trees have been cut down and 

 burnt, and a more arid place it would be difficult to find. We 

 stopped to-night at Teen-heng-si, in a most horrible squalid house 

 with a foul open drain at the door ; unfortunately we were too 

 late to camp outside. 



