Chap. IX. 



A POTENT FLAG. 



163 



conduct, and sat quietly down on the stern of his 

 boat to wait his turn like the rest, while the different 

 boats' crews, who had witnessed the circumstance, 

 had a good laugh at his expense. 



Sing-Hoo now came to me with a smile on his 

 countenance, and said, "You see the effects which 

 may be produced by this little flag." I acknow- 

 ledged it had astonished me, and asked him to tell 

 me more about it. He said that some years before 

 he had been in the service of a mandarin connected 

 with the imperial family, and had travelled with him 

 and his family to Shantung and Peking. The fl g 

 now in his possession had been carried by them in all 

 their travels, and had always protected them from 

 insult. On his return to his own province the old 

 gentleman had made him a present of it — so he told 

 me — and he had often used it on occasions like the 

 present. He spoke with great pride of serving in the 

 imperial family ; he had seen the old emperor Taou- 

 kwang, and had worn the yellow livery, which he still 

 had in his possession. 



Two ropes, connected with the windlass, were now 

 fastened to the stern of our boat, and we were drawn 

 up the inclined plane, and launched on the higher 

 canal. A few miles further on we came to another 

 canal still higher, and were drawn up and launched 

 in the same way. The second canal leads to and 

 terminates at the small town of Pak-wan, which I 

 have already noticed. Leaving our boat here, we 

 walked across to the canal which leads to Shaou- 

 hing-foo and Nechow, where we engaged another 



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