96 PASS LU-CHAU 
belt round him. I called the lowban’s attention to it, 
but he refused to look at the body. The boat was an- 
chored off a small village at the end of this exciting 
day, after having made sixty-four li. 
May 2.—Started at daylight with a slight breeze : 
soon after I went on shore with Mr. Kricheldorff. The 
scenery here is very beautiful, there being many of the 
groves of llamoo trees mentioned before. To-day the 
city of Lu-chau was passed and was a sad sight, as 
twenty days ago two-thirds of the city had been burnt, 
and now presented a dismal spectacle of bare and 
blackened walls. Official assistance had to be rendered 
to save many of the inhabitants from starvation. It 
was a city of perhaps 100,000 inhabitants, situated on 
the left bank of the Yang-tze, just above the junction of 
the Choong River. 
May 3.—After proceeding about ten li to-day, a 
junk was met, with a Mrs. Riley, the widow of a mis- 
sionary, and her three children on board. She was 
travelling down from Cheng-tu, and had had some 
Europeans with her as far as Sui-fu, but was now by 
herself, and on the way to Ichang. It was cooler 
to-day, the thermometer being at 70°, and fifty li 
were made. 
May 4.—Nothing of note occurred to-day, except 
that I noticed a large species of bamboo which more 
