84 
WANDERINGS IN CHINA. 
Chap. VI. 
will enable you to form an idea of the appearance which 
these ice-houses present to the traveller in going up 
the Ning-po river. Ning-jpo, August, 1844." 
Since this letter was published I have had frequent 
opportunities of testing the qualities of the Chinese ice- 
house, both at Ning-po and also at Chusan and Shanghae, 
and I have found that it answers the purpose admirably. 
The winter of 1844-1845 was unusually mild in this part 
of China ; little or no ice was formed on the ponds and 
canals, and of course the ice-houses could not be filled ; but 
many of them contained large quantities which had been 
laid up the year before, and by this means the market 
was suppled with ice which had been in store at least a 
year and a half, and would probably have kept some time 
longer. 
The ice is of great importance to the Cliinese, who 
depend so much for their food upon the fish which is 
caught in their waters. They are enabled by this means 
to keep their fish during the hottest weather for a con- 
siderable time, and transmit them in this way to different 
parts of the country. 
Immense quantities of fish are daily caught in the 
river above the town. Their mode of catching them is 
ingenious and amusing. One day I was going up a con- 
siderable distance in a boat, and set out a little before 
low water, that I might have the full benefit of the flow 
of the tide, and get as far up as possible before it turned. 
On the side of the river, a few miles above Ning-po, I 
observed some hundreds of small boats anchored, each 
containing two or three men ; and, the tide turning just 
as I passed, the whole fleet was instantly in motion, 
