Chap. VI. 



RAPID TIDE. 



109 



play cards ; and in this way they amused themselves 

 until the afternoon, when the weather had moderated, 

 and we proceeded on our voyage. 



In three days we arrived at the city of Yen-chow- 

 foo — a journey which occupied twelve days in going 

 ' up ; and in three days more, that is on the sixth day 

 after leaving Tun-che, we arrived at the town of 

 Nechow. 



Nechow is a small but busy town, a few miles 

 higher up the river than the city of Hang-chow-foo. 

 It is a place of some importance, as it stands on the 

 main road between Hwuy-chow and Ning-po. Large 

 numbers of river boats were at anchor abreast of the 

 town, some from Hwuy-chow, Yen-chow, and the 

 other towns up the river, and many from the city of 

 Hang-chow. I suppose the population of the town 

 and boats may amount to twenty or thirty thousand. 

 I had frequently heard of the rapidity of the tides 



; in the river, but had never seen anything remarkable 

 about them until this evening. We were all seated 

 at dinner, or rather supper, for it was the third and 

 last meal of the day, when I heard a rush of water 

 and a great noise amongst the boats with which 

 we were moored. " Jan-shui ! jan-shui ! " (the flood- 

 tide ! the flood-tide ! ) exclaimed a hundred voices ; 

 and two or three of our men jumped up, and ran out 

 to guide the boat. I went out also to see what was 

 going on, and observed a large wave coming rolling 



I up towards us. Taking boat after boat in its progress, 

 it whirled it round in an instant, until the whole fleet 

 were " riding to the flood." I can only compare the 



