NEW YORK, THURSDAY, SEPT. 3, 1874. 



Fo;' term and Stream-. 



THE WHIPPOORWILL. 



THE white fog drills along the meadow, 

 And the gleam 

 Of ihe western sky ia fading 

 From the ripples tliuL were crimson 

 On "the siroain. 



The thousand liny voice? of the Dylan 



Fill the air, 

 And the mn-ic of the woodibrnsh, 

 Floating softly down the monnlain, 



Seems n prayer. 



Wltcivitwlli^hi shadows gtther 'ncatb the cedars 



On the hill- 

 Whets the vohiu lately warbled, 

 Aud ihe sparrow sang his vesper, 



All is still. 



Bm lbs wtrppoonvill complaining In the valley 



Far below, 

 With Ha voice sow Id and real less 

 Walctr.s memories forgotten 



LoDg ago. 



Til', the thoughts of former joy? sua former sorrow* 



Come again. 

 And they fall upon the spirit 

 With the gentle measured cadence 



Of the rain. p. C. B. 



For Fore*' and S'ream. 



I §mj on the g ogHng gake. 



OF all hot place." in China, or elsewhere, this side of 

 Hades, Kiu Kiang, in summer at least, can prob- 

 ably cany off the palm, The foreign settlement, adjoining 

 the" Chinese Cily, is built directly <>-- the bank of the river, 

 md as it faces the west, is fully exposed through three- 

 'ourllis of Ihe flay to the glare of Ihe sun. Even now, in 

 tntumn, the heat is sufficiently intense to make agreeable 

 ihe use of aptinkah over the table at tiffin, and to render 

 inyihing like shooting almost out of ihe question. 



The Yang Tsze at this point POO miles from its mouth, is 

 it least a mile wide, and looking across it, nothing is via- 

 ble but a dreary expanse of flat and marsh, broken only 

 jy an occasional fisherman's hut, or the white walls of a 

 ntmdarin "squeeze" station or district Custom House. 

 But these same flats, for all their wastes of meadow grass 

 md reeds, afford some ^hooting as fine as the most enthu- 

 mistic sportsman could desire. I doubt if another spot 

 lould be named, where in both spring and fall, jack snipe 

 :ould be found fa greater abundance; while in winter the 

 nany canals and pools which intersect them, are the 

 munis of myriads of teal and wild fowl Of every descrip- 

 tor 



For rams weeks tlic Jessie had been riding cptietly at 

 id' buoy in front of the bund, "like a painted alii p upon a 

 laintcd ocean;" the only signs of life on board being the 

 moke which twice a day arose from the laffiall, as the 

 'jiie-ta prepared his rations of rice mid dried flail. But, a 

 hange was at hand. The new monsoon, which had now 

 ommeneed to blow from the N. K, increased in intensity 

 rom day to day as il gathered strength to overcome (be 

 corcbing S. W. winds which had prevailed during the 

 umtner. With each day the thermoii.eter indicated a 

 :>wcr temperature, until wc utmost fancied we felt the 

 rush breezes of old ocean, borne to us on the bosom of bis 

 iiightiest son, and the enervated exiles who were doomed 

 pass this period of their existence in smelling lea, I brew 

 ft their summer garments of while linen and pith helmet?, 

 nd appeared once moru in tweed suits and' wideawakes. 



A party was soon formed to visit the Poyang Lake, 



■hich debouches info the Yang Tsze some eighteen miles 

 ielow Kiu Kiang; for the double purpose of seeing sumo 



f this unexplored classic g'-ound, and i!" possible, killing 

 Dmeof the wild boars which were said to haunt ihe east- 

 rn base of the Lu-shaw MotUlMiflS. Messrs. Kortnum & 

 lason and Crosse & Black well, whose i/idkalaxmiH have 



euel rated even to the antipodes, were put under contribu- 

 ion and the Jessie duly provisioned I'm a fortnight's cruise. 



The old crew, although employed in boat duty, were soon 

 re shipped, and Buffalo in his skin coal, which seemed 

 more than ever like his natural cperdemis, and Monkey, 

 still as active as one of his namesakes, were soou to the 

 fore, and as ready to carry shot and provision bags as of 

 old. Abo, the cook, routed out the Low-ta and look 

 charge of the culinary department himself, and the only dis- 

 contented one of the party was the boy Akow, who, having 

 taken unto himself a wife after the manner of the Celes- 

 tials, was obliged to leave her before the honeymoon was 

 half over. The dogs, Bob and Nellie, although not in as 

 good condition as I should have liked, were shipped in 

 their accustomed comfortable compartment forward. 1 

 doubt if a finer breed of dogs tor such an expedition as 

 ours, than these kangaroo hounds could be found. Nellie 

 was born in Australia and came to me enciente. Bob was 

 th3 only one of the litter I succeeded in raising, but he 

 grew to be double the size of his mother. The latter 

 sbtrwed plainly her mingled stag and greyhound breeding, 

 but Bob, from his immense size and strength, seemed to 

 have some mastiff blood in him. 



The Jessie having no windlass, the tackles are laid along 

 the deck and straps made ready for fluting. Enough of 

 the mainsail is hoisled to give her headway against the cur- 

 real, and the chain rattles in over the bow; with the helm 

 clown she cptickly comes to the wind, the foresail is hoisted 

 and both sails trimmed as flat as Chinese rig will allow. 

 A parting salute is fired from the swivel gun to our 

 friends on the bund aud we start on our first tack down the 

 river. 



The wind, as usual, was blowing up the stream, but the 

 slrong current helped us to fore reach to such an extent, 

 that the second tack carried us clear of the pagoda which 

 stands at the commencement of the wall surrounding Kiu 

 Kiang. This wall being perhaps four or five miles on its 

 river face, would give the impression that Kiu Kiang was 

 a very large city, whereas the contrary is the case, and it is 

 always a mystery to the barbarian, why the Chinese should 

 have gone to the trouble and expense of "fencing in" so 

 much -and, where there is no prospect of its ever being 

 built upon. The only solution is, that these were "rings" 

 in those days as well as ours, and that contractors waxed 

 fat upon the spoils of the people. In walking through the 

 ruined and deserted streets of the city I have frequently 

 flushed pheasants among the desolated gardens, which re- 

 main as monuments of the invasion of the Taeping Rebels. 



Before sunset the Great Orphan, that huge rock standing 

 like a sentinel at the entrance to the lake, was in full view; 

 passing it, w r c saw in under the shelter of the southern 

 bank, and anchored for the night abreast of a group of 

 picturesque Confucian Temples. 



There are undoubtedly yachts with more pretentious 

 cabins and more elegant adornments, but I doubt if for 

 solid and substantial comfort, anything approaching the 

 same size, ever excelled that of the Jessie. At least we 

 four thought so, as in slippers and easy coats we stretched 

 oursclvds on the well-cushioned transoms, and watched the 

 preparations for dinner. A swinging lamp shed a soft 

 light, through the cabin showing the guns hanging in their 

 places overhead, and the two pairs of crossed swords sus- 

 pended against the bulkhead. Akow, having resigned him- 

 self to the inevitable, and recovered his equanimity, was 

 setting the table with his accustomed "neatness and dis- 

 patch." Occasionally the fragrant fumes of the mulliga- 

 tawney were wafted to us, and the huge York ham on the 

 sideboard was destined' to lose its fair proportions at an 

 early stage of the cruise. And after all these good things 

 were disposed of, came the fragrant manillas, not such 

 trash as tire sold with you under that name, but genuine 

 cftnti'idnimlinlKx, You cannot, smoke Havana cigars in this 

 Climate, even if they would stand the voyage, which they 

 will not; they appear to have, some effect upon the nerves 

 which any number of manillas will not. And then the 

 quiet rubber of short whist, with modest "quarter" points, 

 and perhaps a dollar on the odd game, at which no one 

 would ever lose enough to disturb their slumbers. And 

 the refreshing night's rest afterwards, through which the 



only sounds to be heard, are the softened beats of the tom- 

 tom from a distant, temple where some Budhist priest kept 

 watch and ward over his gilded idols. 



Awakening early on the following morning, while break- 

 fast was being prepared, we landed and made the acquaint- 

 ance of the priests who were domiciled in the monastery 

 on the heights, and found them, as is almost invariably ihe 

 case, very sociable and jolly. Their establishment, being 

 devoted to the worship of Confucius, was without any of 

 the immense gilded statues of the three-faced Budha; and 

 in their place the walls were hung with inscriptions taken 

 from the writings of their favorite philosopher and sage. 

 Nevertheless in many little shrines' or altars, before which 

 burned candles or incense slicks, were minature representa- 

 tions of domestic josses, whose presence were supposed to 

 counteract the evil influences of bad spirits, and I doubt 

 not that after our departure additional offerings were made 

 to propitiate these tutelary saints. 



In Ihe last of the series of buildings, which were con- 

 nected by well kept gardens, we found ourselves on the 

 very edge of the overhanging rock and obtained a magnifi- 

 cent view of both rivei and lake. In front rose the Orphan 

 with its curved temple roofs peering from amongst the 

 dense foliage with which its summit was crowned. Di- 

 rectly beneath us lay the Jessie, quietly at her anchor, her 

 white sides glistening in ihe first rays of the morning sun. 

 And we could see Alton bending onto the signal halyards 

 the flag that was to announce that breakfast was ready. A 

 brisk walk down the hill, a few strokes of the oar, and the 

 dingy was once more alongside, and giving the Lon-ta 

 orders to get under way, we sat down to the matutinal re- 

 past of freshly caught fish and curry. 



A nice breeze carried us back over a portion of the 

 ground we had travelled in the evening, but, before reach- 

 ing the western shore, we jibed over and hauling on ihe 

 wind stood up ihe main channel of the lake. When 

 abreast of the Orphan we found Ihe ba=e of it quite dry, 

 something of very rare occurrence and to be attributed only 

 to the unusually low stage of water in ihe Yang Tsze, 

 which had drained the Poyang of a greater portion of its 

 volume. Such an oppoitunity of exploring ibis wonderful 

 freak of nature was not to be lost, so the Jessie was rounded 

 to, leeboards hauled up, and the boat allowed to drift 

 against the steep bank of sand which formed Ibis side of 

 the channel. Jumping ashore, a few minutes walk brought 

 us to the rock, but all our efforts to find a place Iry which 

 to ascend its precipitous sides were unavailing. That it 

 was inhabited the temples which we had seen from the 

 main land as well as the noise of the tom-tom's heard dur- 

 ing the niglit before, testified; but. bow the inhabitants of 

 this solitary rock ever escaped 'from it, was beyond ottr 

 ken. The rock was five hundred yards or more in length 

 by about half that, width, and its height we judged to be 

 about two hundred and fifty feet. Looking up its perpen- 

 dicular aud moss grown sides, wc could see branches of 

 trees projecting over Ihe top, and hundreds of cormorants, 

 disturbed by the noise of our guns Hied to produce an echo, 

 wheeled and circled high over head. By the water marks 

 on Ihe rock we could see: that the spot where we s'.ood 

 must have been twenly-hve or Ihirly feet under water dur- 

 ing the spring freshets, when the snows of the far western 

 mountains in Sze-Chuen and Thibet bad swollen the 

 grand old Yang Tsze to its summer height. Now wc 

 found the base of this lonely orphan perforated aud honey- 

 combed by the action of the water, and in places worn into 

 little caverns conneei. rng with each Other, in which were 

 piles of delicate and minute sea shells, and carpets of the 

 softest, while sand. They seemed to be fit abodes for mer- 

 men and maidens and in the oppressing solitude of the 

 place we almost expected to come across sonic fair one 

 with looking glass and comb. 



Returning to the Jessie we were soon under way again, 

 but before passing the rock wc gave it a parting saline from 

 the swivel gun, and sent Ihe screaming cormorants cmco 

 more from their lofty eyries. But even all the noise pro 

 duced no other sign of life. As the distance increased the, 



