386 LEAVE THE MIN DISTRICT. [Cuar. XXI 
up the coast.” “Oh yes, you will,” answered he; 
“we are very likely to be attacked by the Jan-dous, 
who swarm outside amongst the islands.” ‘ Who 
are the Jan-dous?” said I, to my servant, never 
having heard the name before. “Oh! they are 
pirates,” said he, ‘‘ and we are all very much fright- 
ened at them.” ‘“ Nonsense!” I exclaimed: “ no 
pirates will attack us; and if they do, they will 
repent it.” At this time I had no idea that the 
coast was so infested with these lawless characters, 
and I put it all down to the cowardice of my 
informants. 
As soon as I got on board, we hove up the anchor 
and dropped down to the mouth of the Min. We 
here found a large fleet of junks—about one 
hundred and seventy sail — all, like ourselves, 
loaded with wood, and ready to start for the 
northern parts of Ningpo and Chapoo. That 
evening a meeting of the captains was held on 
board of our vessel, and a deputation appointed to 
wait upon the mandarins to request them to send 
a convoy of war junks to protect the fleet from the 
pirates. These negotiations were carried on for 
several days; but the demands of the mandarins 
were so exorbitant, that the junk people would 
not comply with them, and it was at last deter- 
mined to sail without the convoy. Just as they 
came to this decision, the wind changed and blew a 
gale from the north for three days, when it veered 
round to the south, and blew nearly as strong 
from that quarter, and for the same space of time. 
