Chap. XI. 
START FOR THE HILLS. 
181 
my researches into the interior, particularly as far as some 
hills which were said to be about thirty miles distant in 
a westerly direction. It was extremely difficult to gain 
any information on this subject from the Chinese, who 
were particularly jealous of foreigners going any distance 
inland. Their suspicious feelings had also been much 
increased at this time by the indiscretion of some of our 
own countrymen, who had hired a boat and gone a con- 
siderable distance up one of the rivers, taking soundings 
with bamboo poles, in the manner of the Chinese. The 
authorities suspected that they had some particular ob- 
ject in view in ascertaining the depth of the river, and 
immediately complained to Captain Balfour, the English 
consul, who was consequently obliged to notice the cir- 
cumstance. 
Being determined, however, to make an effort to 
accomplish the object I had in view, I procured a pony 
and a pocket compass, and started off one morning 
early on a voyage of discovery. The hills were said to 
lie westerly, and in that direction I rode for eight or ten 
miles without seeing anything higher than a mound of 
earth. The compass was my only guide both in going 
and also in finding my way back again ; the roads were 
generally not more than four or six feet wide ; but still 
the country had its highways and byways, and for a 
length of time I was fortunate enough to keep on the 
former ; as long as I did so, I got easily over the 
numerous canals which intersect the country in all 
directions, because, wherever these are crossed by the 
main road, good substantial stone bridges are erected. 
At last I got a glimpse of the hills in the distance, and 
