294 



TEA DISTKICTS OF CHINA. 



Chap. XVII. 



with it and with those who were here last night. I 

 will carry the luggage myself until we have done 

 this, and then we can easily engage a chair and 

 coolies as before." This seemed the most feasible 

 plan to adopt, and indeed the only one likely to 

 succeed under the circumstances in which we were 

 placed. I therefore desired him to go and purchase 

 a bamboo and some rope by which he could carry 

 the luggage on his shoulders. In the mean time I 

 busied myself in packing up my plants and other 

 things in as small bulk as possible. 



When Sing-Hoo returned with the ropes and bam- 

 boo, he got the luggage on his shoulders, and we left 

 the inn, in which we had spent a most uncomfortable 

 night. 



It had been raining heavily for many hours, and 

 it was now pouring in torrents. The streets were 

 completely flooded, and almost impassable. We 

 plunged along, however, and were soon clear of the 

 city, and on the great north road whieh leads to the 

 passes across the Bohea mountains. When about a 

 mile from the city walls, the bamboo with which 

 Sing-Hoo was carrying our luggage suddenly snapped 

 in two, and the whole of our effects were deposited in 

 the mud and water with which the road was flooded. 

 This part of the road was in the midst of a rice-field ; 

 no houses w r ere near into which w^e could go for 

 shelter, or where it was possible to purchase another 

 bamboo. 



I confess I felt a strong inclination to lose my 

 temper, and to give utterance to some ill-natured re- 



