16^ 
WANDERINGS IN CHINA. 
Chap. X. 
my destination as soon as possible. The wind blew 
rather fresh as we were going down the Ning-po river, 
and when we reached the town of Chinhae, at its 
mouth, evening had set in, and the sky had a threaten- 
ing and stormy appearance. The boatmen pointed this 
out to me, and were anxious to remain where we were 
until daylight. As I was afraid of being too late for a 
passage in an English vessel which was then at anchor 
in the bay of Chusan, I would not consent to this 
prudent proposal, but insisted that they should proceed 
across without further delay. After exhausting all their 
arguments, they at length unwillingly got up the an- 
chor, and we proceeded on our voyage. The land and 
hills on our way from Ning-po to the mouth of the 
river had sheltered us, and prevented me from feeling 
the full force of the wind ; but no sooner had we passed 
the forts, and reached the open sea, than I found I had 
done a very foolish thing in urging the boatmen to take 
me across in such a night, and I would gladly have gone 
back had it been prudent or indeed possible to have 
done so. It was now, however, too late, for with a strong 
spring tide and a heavy head sea it was impossible 
to get back again to Chinhae, and we therefore kept on 
in the direction of Chusan. " Are you not carrying too 
much sail in such a wind as this, and with such a heavy 
rolling sea V said I to the captain of the boat, an old 
weather-beaten man from the province of Fokien. "No 
fear, no fear," he replied in his broken Chusan English, 
"my can manage he." "But I think there is fear, 
Fokei," I replied ; and the words were scarcely said 
when a tremendous gust came down upon us, and at the 
