34 
WANDERINGS IN CHINA. 
Chap. II. 
fortable. I observed him once or twice in close con- 
versation with one of the boatmen, and it turned out 
afterwards that he told this man, as a great secret of 
course, that I was a foreigner, — one of those Hong-Tnous 
who were so numerous in Shanghae. By-and-by the 
secret began to ooze out, and both boatmen and pas- 
sengers were taking sly peeps at me when they thought 
I did not see them. Suspecting that all was not right, I 
called Wang aside, and asked him how it was that I had 
become all at once such an object of interest. " Oh," he 
said, "that coolie he too much a fool-o ; he have talkie 
all that men you no belong this country; you more 
better sendie he go awajj, suppose you no wantye too 
much bobly.'^ In plain English, he informed me that 
the coolie was a fool, that he had told all the people 
that I was a foreigner, and that I had better send him 
away if I did not wish to have a disturbance. 
It was too true, my secret was such no longer. I 
felt much inclined to punish the coolie for his conduct, 
and he had to thank the peculiar circumstances in which 
I was placed for getting off " scot free.'' I believe the 
poor fellow was sufficiently punished afterwards by his 
own countrymen, who thought they had him, to a 
certain extent, in their power. 
Nothing more occurred worthy of notice until we ar- 
rived at the city of Yen-chow-foo, a large town about 380 
le from Hang-chow, in latitude 29° 37' 12" north, and in 
longitude 119° 32' 47" east. It is walled and fortified in 
the same manner as all Chinese towns ; the walls are fully 
four miles in circumference. It seems an ancient place, 
but, judging from the small number of boats moored in 
