Chap. IV. 



A FRIEND IN NEED. 



85 



were drinking tea, others smoking, and the remainder 

 stretched upon chairs or tables sound asleep. Seeing 

 strangers arrive, some of the more restless were rather 

 inquisitive, and began to put a number of questions 

 to us. My man Wang was a native of this district, 

 and of course understood the dialect perfectly, but he 

 evidently wanted to have as little to say as possible. 

 As for myself, I told them I did not understand what 

 they said. One fellow in particular, who probably 

 was sharp enough to detect something unusual in my 

 appearance, was determined not to be put off in this 

 way, and kept asking me a variety of questions. At 

 length the old innkeeper came up and said with the 

 utmost gravity, "It is of no use your talking to this 

 person, he understands the Kwan-hwa (or Court dia- 

 lect) only ; you do not speak that, and of course he 

 cannot understand you, nor you him." This seemed 

 to be perfectly satisfactory to all parties, and I was 

 left unmolested. 



Our chairs being ready, we got into them, and, 

 passing through the town, crossed the river and took 

 the road for Sung-lo and Hieu-ning. We reached 

 our destination a little before dark, and I had the 

 first view of the far-famed Sung-lo-shan^ the hill where 

 green tea is said to have been first discovered. 



