350 



ENTER HOO^CHOW-FOO. 



Chap. XVIT. 



CHAPTEE XVIL 



Enter tire city of Hoo-chow-foo — Method of managing Chinese crowds 



— Description of the city — Eichness of the shops — Fans and silks 



— Rich dresses of the people — Raw silk and hongs — Flowered 

 crapes — Chinese play and audience — How I perform my part ! — 

 Leave the city — Charming scenes in the country — Thrown silk — 

 Silk villages and their inhabitants — Temple of Wan-shew-si and 

 its priests — Taou-chang-shan pagoda — Glorious views from the 

 pagoda hill. 



On the 17th of June I reached the city of Hoo- 

 chow-foo — the City of the Lakes and the capital 

 of the principal silk-country of China. According 

 to Chinese accounts, this city is about six miles in 

 circumference, and contains about a hundred thou- 

 sand families. Both of these statements are pro- 

 bably exaggerated, as the walls did not appear to 

 me to be more than three, or at most four, miles 

 round. As I was anxious to see something of the 

 interior of the city, I sent one of my men to pro- 

 cure a sedan-chair, for the day was excessively 

 warm. The chairmen soon made their appearance, 

 but as their demands for hire were so exorbitant, 

 I refused to comply with them and determined to 

 walk — a proceeding which, although not so com- 

 fortable, would enable me to see more of the shojos 

 and people. 



Entering at the south gate, I proceeded in a 

 northerly direction, and examined all the principal 



