24 



TEA DISTEICTS OF CHINA. 



Chap. II. 



we were some distance from Shanghae, and the boat- 

 man suggested that it was now time to discard the 

 English dress, and adopt that of the country, accord- 

 ing to our agreement. To put on the dress was an 

 easy matter, but I had also to get my head shaved — 

 an operation which required a barber. Wang, who 

 was the most active of my two men, was laid up that 

 morning with fever and ague, so that the duty de- 

 volved upon the coolie. The latter was a large- 

 boned, clumsy fellow, whose only recommendation to 

 me was his being a native of that part of the country 

 to which I was bound. Having procured a pair of 

 scissors, he clipped the hair from the front, back, and 

 sides of my head, leaving only a patch upon the 

 crown. He then washed those parts with hot water, 

 after the manner of the Chinese, and, having done so, 

 he took up a small razor and began to shave my 

 head. I suppose I must have been the first person 

 upon whom he had ever operated, and I am cha- 

 ritable enough to wish most sincerely that I may be 

 the last. He did not shave, he actually scraped my 

 poor head until the tears came running down my 

 cheeks, and I cried out with pain. All he said was, 

 " Hai-yah — very bad, very bad," and continued the 

 operation. To make matters worse, and to try my 

 temper more, the boatmen were peeping into the 

 cabin and evidently enjoying the whole affair, and 

 thinking it capital sport. I really believe I should 

 have made a scene of a less amusing kind had I not 

 been restrained by prudential motives, and by the 

 consideration that the poor coolie was really doing 



