Chap. IX. A TROUBLESOME BOATWOMAN. 1/3 



che. A dispute now arose between him and the 

 captain's wife about four hundred cash — one shilling 

 and sixpence — which he had agreed to pay for the 

 small boat. According to his ideas of justice the 

 proprietors of the large boat were bound either to 

 take us on to Nan-che themselves, or to pay for our 

 conveyance thither. As they did not do the former, 

 he determined to deduct the charge for the small 

 boat from the amount of the bill which was presented 

 for the food with which they had supplied us on our 

 way up. I saw plainly enough we should have a 

 great disturbance if the money was not paid, and 

 advised him to pay it at once. This, however, he 

 strongly protested against, and began getting our 

 luggage out into the small boat. In the mean time 

 the woman declared she would rather go with us than 

 lose her four hundred cash. As good as her word, 

 she scrambled into the small boat, and called to one 

 of her people to hand in her child, a young thing 

 about a year old. The whole scene, to one not con- 

 cerned, must have been highly amusing. It would 

 have been very inconvenient for me to travel with 

 such baggage, so, to cut the matter short and stop all 

 further proceedings, I ordered Sing-Hoo to pay the 

 money. Our luggage being removed into the small 

 boat, we shoved her off, and by dint of sculling and 

 tracking got up to Nan-che about six o'clock the 

 same evening. 



Nan-che, or, as it is sometimes called in the maps, 

 Lanchee, is about 120 le westward from Yen-chow- 

 foo. It is one of the prettiest Chinese towns which 



