Chap. XVIII. 
SAIL FOR CHUSAN. 
311 
crowded round me, begging me not to leave them, and 
offering to get up their anchor and proceed at once. 
Although my destination was Chusan, I had taken my 
passage for Ning-po, as all the wood-junks were bound 
either for that port or Chapoo ; on their now begging 
me to stay, I told them that, unless they would sail into 
Chusan harbour and leave me there as they passed, 
I would proceed in the small boat, as I was anxious to 
get there as soon as possible, in order to obtain medicine 
and advice. " Oh," said they, " if you will only go with 
us, we will run into Chusan harbour and leave you there 
before we cross over to Ning-po.'' Upon this assurance . 
I agreed to accompany them. 
The captains of the other junks now came to me and 
asked me if I would undertake to protect them all from 
the attacks of the pirates; as, if so, they would get 
under weigh and go with us also. Upon my telling 
them that I could not undertake to do this, they told 
me that they must wait until some arrangement could 
be made with the mandarins, as they were afraid to pro- 
ceed alone. We therefore left them at anchor, and 
proceeded on our voyage. During the day we frequently 
saw suspicious-looking craft, which were pronounced by 
the crew to be Jarirdous ; but none of them were near 
enough to attack us. Late in the afternoon, as we 
approached Keto-point— a promontory of the main land 
near Chusan — we met a large fleet of merchant-junks 
sailing together for mutual protection on their w^ay 
down. Some of them came alongside us, and made 
anxious inquiries regarding the JaTi-douSj and how 
