HOSTILITIES OF STUDENTS 103: 
increasing mob who got out on a spit of shingle and con- 
tinued the stone throwing. The water was very shallow 
and the boat touched several times but was happily 
got off again, for if she had become fixed we should 
possibly all have been either severely hurt or massacred. 
At last we got beyond their reach, and when at a safe 
distance away, the boat was secured. My passport was 
examined and the Tao-tai sent a message requesting me 
not to approach the town, as the triennial examinations. 
were going on, and ten thousand students had come in 
for examination. I also heard that the two resident 
missionaries had left the town, as it was nearly always. 
in a disturbed state at such a time. 
I was, however, a prisoner in my boat until such 
time as the students might disperse, their work being 
over, but I was able to make preparations for the over- 
land journey to Wa-shan, the river no longer being of 
service to me in the direction I wished to proceed, by 
looking over the various things I wished to take, and 
getting them packed into loads for coolies and weighing 
them. In this I was assisted by Messrs. Ririe and Vale 
of the China inland mission, to whom I had sent a coolie 
informing them of my arrival. It is essential that the 
loads should be as nearly equal in weight as possible, 
or there is nearly sure to be discontent among the 
carriers. 
