226 STORM IN A SMALL BOAT. ([Cuar. XI. 
to Chusan; and, as I was in a hurry at the time, I 
was anxious to reach my destination as soon as 
possible. The wind blew rather fresh as we were 
going down the Ning-po river, and when we reached 
the town of Chinhae, at its mouth, evening had set 
in, and the sky had a threatening and stormy ap- 
pearance. The boatmen pointed this out to me, 
and were anxious to remain where we were until 
daylight. As I was afraid of being too late fora 
passage in an English vessel, which was then at 
anchor in the bay of Chusan, I would not consent 
to this prudent proposal, but insisted that they 
should proceed across without further delay. After 
exhausting all their arguments, they at length 
unwillingly got up the anchor, and we proceeded 
on our voyage. The land and hills on our way 
from Ning-po to the mouth of the river hadsheltered 
us, and prevented me from feeling the full force of 
the wind; but no sooner had we passed the forts, 
and reached the open sea, than I found I had done 
a very foolish thing in urging the boatmen to take 
me across in such a night, and I would gladly 
have gone back had it been prudent or indeed pos- 
sible to have done so, It was now, however, too 
late, for with a strong spring tide and a heavy 
head sea, it was impossible to get back again to 
Chinhae, and we therefore kept on in the direction 
of Chusan. ‘“ Are you not carrying too much sail in 
such a wind as this, and with such a heavy rolling 
sea?” said to the captain of the boat, anold weather- 
beaten man from the province of Fokien. “ No 
