72 



TEA DISTRICTS OF CHINA. 



Chap. IV. 



were stretched at full length on the floor of the boat. 

 As the other passengers were also sleeping soundly, I 

 had a little time to think quietly over the events of 

 the preceding night, and, being anxious to see the old 

 town by daylight, I stepped out of the cabin, and took 

 my place on the high stern of the boat, near to the 

 old man who stood at the helm. 



The sun was just rising, and its earliest rays were 

 playing upon the old walls and watch-towers of Wae- 

 ping. How different the old place looked in day- 

 light from what it had done in the darkness ! Then 

 the imagination assisted in making it appear like a 

 dungeon, dark and gloomy, and. inhabited by thieves 

 and robbers. Now it seemed an ancient city, watered 

 by a clear and beautiful river, surrounded by hills 

 and romantic scenery, and defended by time-honoured 

 walls. Such is the difference between night and 

 morning, and such the power of imagination. 



When I returned to the cabin I found my servants 

 rubbing their eyes and scarcely awake. " Well," 

 said I, "you see nothing has happened, and we are 

 now under way, and some distance from Wae-ping." 

 " Oh ! that is all very well," said one of them, " but 

 had we not been on our guard we should never have 

 lived to see the morning." 



As the river was now shallow, and in many parts 

 very rapid, I had daily opportunities of rambling over 

 the country, and of inspecting its productions. Soon 

 after leaving Wae-ping one of my guides informed 

 me that we were now on the border of another pro- 

 vince, and that here I had better not go much out of 



