Chap. II. AN " UNEASY" SHAVE. 



25 



the best he could. The shaving was finished at last ; 

 I then dressed myself in the costume of the country, 

 and the result was pronounced by my servants and 

 boatmen to be very satisfactory. 



The whole country to the westward of Shanghae 

 is intersected with rivers and canals, so that the tra- 

 veller can visit by boat almost all the towns and 

 cities in this part of the province. Some of the 

 canals lead to the large cities of Sung-kiang-foo, Soo- 

 chow-foo, Nanking, and onward by the Grand Canal 

 to the capital itself. Others, again, running to the 

 west and south-west, form the highways to the Tartar 

 city of Chapoo, Hang-chow-foo, and to numerous other 

 cities and towns, which are studded over this large 

 and important plain. 



We proceeded in a south-westerly direction — my 

 destination being the city of Hang-chow-foo. Having 

 a fair wind during the first day, we got as far as the 

 Maou lake, a distance of 120 or 130 le * from 

 Shanghae. Here we stopped for the night, making 

 our boat fast to a post driven into the grassy banks 

 of the lake. Starting early next morning, we reached 

 in the forenoon a town of considerable size, named 

 Kea-hing-yuen, and a little farther on we came to the 

 city of Kea-hing-foo, a large place walled and for- 

 tified. 



This city seems nearly as large as Shanghae, and 

 probably contains about the same number of inha- 



* A le has generally been set down as the third part of an English 

 mile, but if we suppose a fourth, or even a fifth, we shall be nearer the 

 truth. 



