CiiAr. I. 
SUBURBS OF HANG-CHOW-FOO. 
15 
ing this town. It is generally supposed that, in addition 
to the natural antipathy which they manifest to the 
" outside barbarians/' they have a custom-house here in 
which they levy duties on merchandise imported or ex- 
ported by foreigners, which duties are opposed to the 
terms of the treaty of Nanking. They know well 
enough that, if foreigners were allowed to come here, 
this system of extortion would soon be exposed and 
broken up. 
As I drew nearer the city, everything which came 
under my observation marked it as a place of gTeat im- 
portance. The Grand Canal was deep and wide, and 
bore on its waters many hundreds of boats of different 
sizes, all engaged in an active bustling trade. Many of 
these were sailing in the same direction as ourselves, 
whilst others were leaving the city and hurrying onwards 
in the direction of Soo-chow, Hoo-chow, Kea-hing, and 
other towns. Canals were seen branching off from the 
Grand Canal in all directions, and forming the high roads 
of the country. 
When I reached the end of this part of my journey 
my boatmen drew up and moored the boat amongst 
thousands of the same class, and, it being now nearly 
dark, I determined to rest there for the night. When 
the next morning dawned, and I had time to take a 
survey of our position, I found that we had been moored 
on the edge of a large broad basin of water which termi- 
nates the Grand Canal. As I had nothing to do in the 
city, and merely wanted to pass onwards on my journey 
to the green-tea country, I did not wish to run the risk 
of passing through it. Before leaving Shanghae, when 
