City of Fu-chow 125 



affair of much nicety. The oil-cake remaining is a valuable 

 manure for the poppy. 



The reach we were now in, at the head of which is situated 

 the city of Fu-chow, runs north-west, and is straight for 

 about four miles, when the river turns to the south-west, and 

 the reach opens up. It is lined throughout with loose rocks, 

 which produce a succession of points and small rapids. The 

 hills are steep, and are, together with the back range, entirely 

 covered with the poppy. Along the left bank, about sixty feet 

 above the present level, runs a fine broad path — " Ta-lu " 

 (i.e. high road), the Chinese call it, and well may it be dignified 

 with such a name, in comparison with the goat-paths which 

 usually pass for roads. It is of dressed stone, solidly built 

 up upon the rocks. As the sun was getting uncomfortably 

 hot, and there was no prospect of being able to descend to 

 the boat as far ahead as I could see, I was congratulating 

 myself on the easy progress, when all at once I found the 

 road broken up by an avalanche of rocks, which were not . 

 overcome without much sweat of brow. In this reach I 

 noticed my boat boarded by a small vessel bearing the Fu- 

 chow " Chih-chow's " (Prefect) flag, with two well-dressed 

 Ting-chai sent to meet me. They returned ahead of us, 

 having made the necessary inquiries and prepared an escort 

 of a Sze-yeh (clerk) and four messengers, who accompanied 

 us, in a separate boat, from Fu-chow on to the next pre- 

 fectural district — Chang-sho. 



Fu-chow stands at the head of a broad reach enclosed by 

 steep hills about a thousand feet high, on one of which is a 

 white, modern, nine-storied pagoda about sixty feet high, 

 on the lower slope of a steep hill which appears to close the 

 reach at its western end. Raised tier above tier, the site 

 of Fu-chow reminded my Chinamen of that of Hong-kong. 

 Though on a smaller scale, the situation of Fu-chow is 



