320 



THE EAGRE, OR BORE. 



Chap. XV. 



plienomenon in question does not appear to be 



known at all. It is not, therefore, where tides 



attain their greatest rapidity, or maximum rise 



and fall, that the wave is met with, but where 



a river and its estuary both present a peculiar 



configuration. 



***** 



" A very short period elapsed between the pas- 

 sage of the Eagre and the resumption of traffic ; 

 the vessels were soon attached to the shore again, 

 and women and children were occupied in gather- 

 ing articles which the careless or unskilful had 

 lost in the aquatic melee. The streets were 

 drenched with spray, and a considerable volume 

 of water splashed over the banks into the head 

 of the grand canal, a few feet distant." * 



Such is the appearance which is presented, and 

 some of the effects which are produced by this 

 tidal phenomenon. By the superstitious and igno- 

 rant among the natives it is accounted for in the 

 following manner. One Wu-Tsz'-si, who lived 

 about five hundred years before our era, had the 

 misfortune to offend his sovereign, who politely 

 made him a present of a sword, by which he 

 understood he was to remove himself from the 

 presence and from the world at the same time. 

 When this object was accomplished his body was 

 thrown into the Tsien-tang river, and afterwards 

 became the god of the Eagre. His indignation 

 and rage for such treatment while on earth is now 



* Transactions of the China branch of the Royal Asiatic Society. 



