STURGEON . 57 
me. For the third time I was in a crowd of natives, 
who appear to quickly assemble in cases of the sort, 
and after more mud-throwing and insults, my boatman 
got two coolies who eventually carried my things down 
to the boat, where I arrived at 11.30 p.m., after a most 
disagreeable time, and having had nothing to eat all 
day. The farmhouses in the district through which I 
passed appeared to be better and more substantially 
built than usual; but the natives are undoubtedly hos- 
tile to Europeans, and, among other things, they are 
given to assemble on the banks of the river to pelt with 
stones the steamers running between Hankow and 
Ichang. 
On November 20 I commenced my return journey 
-up the stream, and after a few miles found a fisherman 
with a freshly-caught sturgeon still alive. This is the 
fish which, as I have mentioned before, I was unable to 
purchase. It weighed about 200 catties (260 lbs.), and 
was between eight and nine feet long. The captor had 
hauled it up on the bank previous to cutting it up for 
sale. The boat was secured for the night at a village 
called Da-ku, and on trying to proceed the next morn- 
ing I found that the wind was too strong to allow 
tracking up-stream, so the boat was huloed over to the 
other side to try on the more sheltered bank ; but it was 
of no use, and she had to be secured in a creek until 
