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TEA DISTKICTS OF CHINA. Chap. XVIII. 



side of the Bohea range. The hills appeared to fall 

 back in all directions, and thus a wide expanse of 

 valley was exposed to view. We were now near the 

 source of the river to which we were bound, and in 

 the evening we arrived at a town named Sha-co, 

 which is built on both sides of its banks. 



We put up for the night at the principal inn of 

 this town. A young lady, apparently the landlord's 

 daughter, amused us during dinner, and for several 

 hours in the evening, by playing upon a stringed 

 instrument, not unlike a guitar, accompanying it 

 with her voice. It was really pretty music, and 

 I believe I enjoyed it as much as the Chinese them- 

 selves did. During the evening the landlord in- 

 formed us that he expected a mandarin of high rank 

 to stay in his house next night. This personage, he 

 said, was on his way from the court of Peking to 

 Foo-chow-foo, and runners had been sent on before to 

 make preparations for his reception. 



The next morning I met the old gentleman and 

 his family at a Buddhist temple on the plain, where 

 they had stopped to refresh themselves. He had 

 several women and children with him, besides several 

 inferior mandarins, and a large number of servants 

 and soldiers. When we met the cavalcade at the 

 temple it completely blocked up the road. We were 

 therefore obliged to wait patiently until they had 

 finished their meal before we could get on. They 

 took the road across the Bohea mountains, over 

 which we had come, and we that to the town of Ching- 

 hoo, which we reached early in the afternoon. It is 



