186 
WANDERINGS IN CHINA. 
Chap. XL 
order that they might have a better opportunity of 
seeing me. When I left my boat for the purpose of 
ascending the hills, my boatmen used to make a good 
deal of money by allowing the people to go in and 
inspect my little cabin. A copy of the 'Pictorial 
Times/ which I happened to have with me, was greatly 
admired, and I was obliged to leave it amongst them. 
It is a remarkable fact, however, that nothing, as far as 
I know, was ever stolen from me at this time, although 
several hundred persons visited my boat in my absence. 
The boatmen must either have been very sharp, or the 
people must have had a superstitious dread of the pro- 
perty of a foreigner : to put it down to their honour is, 
I am afraid, out of the question ! 
Having finished my researches amongst the hills, I left 
this part of the country and returned to Shanghae. The 
Helen Stuart," one of the first vessels which left Shang- 
hae for England direct, was at this time ready for sea, 
and I availed myself of this opportunity to send some 
cases of plants to the Horticultural Society, which, 1 
regret to say, arrived in very bad condition. When I 
had despatched these cases, I determined on another 
journey into the interior. 
Every one who has been in China, or who is at all 
acquainted with Chinese history, has heard of the city 
of Soo-chow-foo. If a stranger enters a shop in Hong- 
kong, in Canton, or in any of the other towns in the 
south, he is sure to be told, when he inquires the 
price of any curiosity out of the common way, that it 
has been brought from this celebrated place ; let him 
order anything superb, and it must be sent for from 
