Chap. X. 



TEAVELLING-CHAIKS. 



183 



On the morning after our arrival we bade adieu 

 to our boat and our obliging boatmen, and proceeded 

 on foot to one of the inns in the city, in order to hire 

 chairs for the next stage of our journey. We did 

 not attract the slightest notice as we passed along the 

 streets, and, as popularity in my present circumstances 

 was not desirable, I confess I felt much pleased at 

 this. When we reached the inn the landlord received 

 us with great politeness, asked us to be seated, and 

 brought us some tea. In reply to our inquiries 

 respecting a chair, he said that those he had were 

 uncovered, and pointed to some of them which were 

 standing in the entrance-hall. I observed that they 

 were exactly like those mountain-chairs which I had 

 frequently used amongst the hills near Ning-po, and 

 informed him that one of them would answer my 

 purpose. This chair is a most simple contrivance, 

 and consists of two long poles of bamboo, with an 

 open seat in the middle and a small crossbar slung 

 from the poles on which the feet can rest. The 

 coverlet on which I slept was thrown over the seat, 

 and my primitive carriage was ready for the journey. 



After breakfast the chair-bearers arrived, and we 

 started. A number of other travellers were going 

 and returning by the same road as ourselves. Some 

 of them had chairs like mine, while others had a 

 light framework of bamboo erected over the seat, and 

 covered with oil-paper, to afford some protection from 

 the sun and rain. I found when too late that it 

 would have been much better for me to have had 

 one of these chairs instead of the one I was in. It 



