42 DESCRIPTION OF HOUSE 
and his duties are to keep his men up to their work, 
and make all arrangements for their feeding, &c. It 
is always usual to give a cumshaw or present at the 
end of a journey if the men have behaved themselves 
well. The hongs where coolies are to be engaged are 
licensed by the local government. 
My passport for the province of Hu-peh having been 
already obtained at Hankow, and all being ready for a 
start, I left Ichang on April 16, accompanied by Dr. 
Henry as far as the barrier, he having obtained three 
months’ leave, which he intended to spend in a botani- 
cal and exploring trip all round Ichane. 
The journey to Chang-yang has been described 
before, and the only difference between this and the 
former journey was, that it occupied four days instead 
of three, I arriving at my destination on April 20. 
Here I found that the house had been cleared out 
and cleaned for my reception. It was about 30 feet by 
20 feet, with mud walls about 12 feet high, and had an 
earthen floor and a thatched roof, but no internal divi- 
sions. This was inconvenient, and as soon as possible I 
got a rough native carpenter in, and made him build a 
partition right across from the ridge to the floor. In 
the partition I had a door fitted with a lock, so that my 
collections, money, and other valuables might be kept 
in reasonable security; and as this private room of 
