The Hankow Bitnd 17 



which is faced by a magnificent stone embankment. UnHke 

 Shanghai, however, except during the short tea season in 

 early summer, no carriages and but a few pedestrians are 

 seen, and the concession has the Hfeless depressing aspect 

 of a seaside watering-place in the off season. The busy 

 crowded quarter in which the Chinese live is entirely cut 

 off from the concession, and the Chinese only resort thither 

 when they have actual business to transact with the few 

 residents who remain in Hankow throughout the winter. 

 After landing from the steamer and ascending the long and 

 wide stone stairs that lead up from the river, I traversed the 

 deserted bund, and making my way to the dirty crowded 

 Chinese city, set about making the necessary preparations 

 for my four months' voyage into the interior. At length, 

 on Saturday, the 24th February, everything was ready for 

 the start, and from this time on, my daily journal, written 

 up each night on the road, tells exactly what I saw, and will 

 not fail, I trust, to convey to the reader, beyond a descrip- 

 tion of the country traversed, some hitherto undescribed 

 phases of the interesting stationary civilization with which 

 I came in contact. 



Sunday, February 2.^th. — Two boats having been engaged, 

 and all my things sent on board, I hoped, after the endless 

 delays and postponements which had kept me now a week 

 in Hankow, that dinner-time would see me well under way 

 on the mysterious river. To my disgust, my companion, a 

 Shansi merchant, was not forthcoming at the appointed time, 

 but later in the day informed me we should positively start 

 on the following day at ten. o'clock. I availed myself of the 

 hospitality of my kind friend, the manager of the Hong-kong 

 and Shanghai Bank, for another night, and on Monday Mr. 

 Chang duly appeared, and we set off together in a sampan 

 from the steps of the bund, a descent of fifty feet from the 



C 



