Chap. IV. 



HWUY-CHOW DISTRICT. 



73 



the boat. I found that this advice was good and 

 worth attending to. The river here is considered the 

 highway or passage from the one district to the other, 

 and this pass is well guarded by soldiers. Each pro- 

 vince has its own guard-town. On the Che-kiang 

 side we passed a long, straggling town on the river's 

 banks, chiefly inhabited by troops, who were the 

 guards of the pass, and under the orders of the Hang- 

 chow mandarins. As soon as the boundary-line was 

 crossed we came to another place of like size and 

 appearance, also filled with soldiers, who were under 

 the orders of the authorities of Hwuy-chow-foo, in 

 the province of Kiang-nan. These two parties formed 

 a sort of border guard, and bore each other, I be- 

 lieve, little good-will. They reminded me of our 

 own border clans in ancient feudal times. Boats 

 passing up and down the river were generally boarded, 

 and had their papers examined by one of the officers. 



The boatman who had the dispute with Wang now 

 threatened to have him punished here, at which he 

 was greatly frightened. The man, however, if he 

 ever intended it, did not put his threat into execu- 

 tion, and we passed the dreaded border in safety. 



When we got fairly inside the Hwuy-chow district 

 I was able to ramble about in the country as before. 

 The river became not only shallow, but in many 

 parts so full of rocks and stones that it was next to 

 impossible to pick out a passage for the boat. It still 

 wound through a hilly and mountainous country. 

 The hills, however, became gradually more fertile as 

 we proceeded, and in many parts they were culti- 



