6 
WANDERINGS IN CHINA. 
Chap. I. 
I should discard my English costume and adopt the 
dress of the country. I knew that this was indispen- 
sable if I wished to accomplish the object in view, and 
readily acceded to the terms. 
My servants now procured me a Chinese dress, and 
had the tail which I had worn in former years nicely 
dressed by the barber. Everything was soon in readiness 
except the boat which had to be engaged for the first 
stage of our journey. This was, just then, a difficult 
matter, owing to some boatmen having been severely 
punished by the Chinese authorities for taking three or 
four foreigners some distance inland to see the silk dis- 
tricts. These gentlemen went in the English dress, and 
complaints were consequently made by the officers in 
the districts through which they passed to the mandarins 
in Shanghae. On this account it was impossible to engage 
a boat as a foreigner, and I desired my servant to hire 
it in his own name, and merely state that two other 
persons were to a,ccompany him. He agreed to this 
plan, and soon returned with a " chop,'" or agreement, 
which he had entered into with a man who engaged to 
take us as far as the city of Hang-chow-foo. 
Thus far all was right ; but now my two men began 
to be jealous of each other, each wanting to manage the 
concern, with the view, as it proved ultimately, of getting 
as many dollars out of me as possible. One of them 
had been engaged as a servant and linguist, and the 
other was little better than a common coolie. I there- 
fore intrusted the management of our affairs to the 
former, much to the disgust of the other, who was an 
older man. In an ordinary case I would have sent one 
