Chap. IX. CHANGE OF COSTUME — YU-YEOU. 161 



When this operation was finished I doubt whether 

 my nearest friends would have known me. Indeed, 

 when I looked into the glass I scarcely recognised 

 myself. "You will do very well," said my servant ; 

 "and when we reach the town of Nan-che I shall 

 buy a summer hat, which will make the dress more 

 perfect." 



The next morning at daylight we found ourselves 

 passing a town of considerable size, named Yu-yeou, 

 which had been visited by our troops during the war. 

 This is a walled city. The walls and ramparts 

 enclose a hill of considerable extent, on whose sum- 

 mit many Buddhist temples have been erected. The 

 suburbs stretch along the banks of the river, and 

 form the principal part of the town. A few miles 

 beyond this the river becomes narrow, and seems to 

 be lost in a network of canals, showing that we were 

 near its source. Soon after this we arrived at the 

 drawbridge, or inclined plane, which I have noticed 

 in a former chapter. 



A curious circumstance happened whilst we, with 

 about fifty other boats, were waiting for our turn of 

 the windlass. Most of these boats had come from 

 Ning-po with the same tide as ourselves, and were 

 going to the little town or village of Pak-wan. We 

 had to wait about an hour until our turn came. 

 During this time a strong noisy fellow of a boatman, 

 evidently a bully, who was astern of us all, began to 

 get impatient, and came pushing past the other boats, 

 thinking to get over before his turn came. Amidst 

 a great deal of clamour and threats he succeeded in 



M 



