Chap. II. 
WATER-MILLS. 
37 
you a dollar," said he, " and you said that was bad ; I 
changed it, and gave you copper cash, and you return 
them ; pray what do you want T' The passengers now 
gathered round them, and there was every prospect of a 
serious riot. After a great deal of noise, however, the poor 
fellow pocketed his cash, protesting, at the same time, 
that he had been badly used, and threatening to have 
his revenge on Wang at some future time. 
At the end of two days, the additional men having 
been engaged, and all the purchases completed, we 
passed up the river, and left the town of Yen-chow be- 
hind us. Our course was now in a north-westerly direc- 
tion. The stream was very rapid in many parts, so 
much so that it is used for turning the water-wheels 
which grind and husk rice and other kinds of grain. The 
first of these machines which I observed was a few miles 
above Yen-chow-foo. At the first glance I thought it 
was a steamboat, and was greatly surprised. I really 
thought the Chinese had been telling the truth when 
they used to inform our countrymen in the south that 
steamboats were common in the interior. As I got 
nearer I found that the "steamboat" was a machine of 
the following description. A large barge or boat was 
firmly moored by stem and stern near the side of the 
river, in a part where the stream ran most rapidly. Two 
wheels, not unlike the paddles of a steamer, were placed 
at the sides of the boat, and connected with an axle 
which passed through it. On this axle were fixed a 
number of short cogs, each of which, as it came round, 
pressed up a heavy mallet to a certain height, and then 
allowed it to fall down upon the grain placed in a basin 
