Chap. XIII. 
A TYPHOON. 
217 
perty" conveyed it at once to their own houses. No man- 
darin or other government officer interfered to prevent 
this, and the Chinese servants of the English Consul and 
other foreign residents actually brought a considerable 
quantity to the houses of their masters, and seemed 
surprised when reproved for their dishonesty. The 
English of course honourably returned the spoil to its 
owners, much to the surprise of the Chinese. On the 
opposite side of the river we observed great numbers 
engaged in the same lawless occupation. The city walls 
here run parallel with the river, and these rascals were 
coolly hoisting the wood over the walls and ramparts, 
assisted by their friends inside the city : nor was this 
attempted to be checked. 
At about nine o'clock in the morning the wind, 
which commenced from the north, had veered round to 
the east and south, but still raged with fearful power. 
On retracing our steps, which we had some difficulty in 
doing, owing to the flooded state of the country and the 
force of the wind, we encountered a family group in the 
fields surrounding a coffin, which the wind seemed 
inclined to carry off in spite of all their efforts to fasten 
it to the ground. It is customary in this part of the 
country to place the remains of the dead upon the surface 
of the ground, sometimes supporting the coffins on short 
stakes, to raise them a few feet from the earth. In this 
instance the poor people were actually fighting with the 
winds, but were at last able to secure the remains 
of their relative, and allow him to sleep the long sleep of 
death in peace. At this time the barometer stood at 
28° 30', but the wind was still blowing a perfect gale 
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