166 



TEA DISTEICTS OF CHINA. 



Chap. IX. 



accomplished the object I had in view it would be 

 necessary to travel upwards of 200 miles by land, 

 and that too over a mountainous country, I had 

 determined upon taking with me as little luggage of 

 any kind as possible. My servant, however, had a 

 strange propensity of accumulating as we went along. 

 If we started with ever so little, his portion was sure 

 to increase to an inconvenient size in a very short 

 time. As he had relations in Yen-chow-foo, I warned 

 him to leave everything with them, except a few 

 necessary clothes and a mat to sleep upon, This he 

 was the more readily inclined to do, as he had been 

 obliged to dispose of, at a loss, a fine new trunk 

 which he had bought in Foo-chow, when he started 

 on his former expedition up the river Min. Having 

 seen him pack up everything, except the indispensable 

 articles already specified, I sent him on shore to 

 leave the package at the house of his relation. 



We got under way early next morning, and about 

 midday arrived at a small town named Ta-yang, 

 situated on the left bank of the river, near one of the 

 rapids, which were now becoming frequent on this 

 part of the river, which is beyond the influence of 

 the tide. By great exertion we succeeded in getting 

 our boat up the rapid, and, as the men were very 

 tired, we decided on remaining at Ta-yang for the 

 remainder of the day. This gave me an opportunity 

 of examining at my leisure the natural productions 

 of this part of the country. 



When I returned from my rambles, I found that 

 our boat had been removed from her station abreast 



