46 
WANDERINGS IN CHINA. 
Chap. II. 
strange prejudices and opinions about this place. They 
told me that the spirits of men after death often chose 
to dwell amidst this wild and beautiful scenery ; and 
they said it was they that now repeated these sounds, 
and echoed them from hill to hill. 
As the day wore on we came to one of those rapids 
which were so difficult to pass, and observed a great 
number of small boats waiting for and visiting all the 
larger ones as they came up. These were river beggars. 
Each of them had a very old man or woman on board, 
whose hair in most instances was whitened with age, and 
who was evidently in a state of imbecility and second 
childhood. They all expected alms from the boatmen 
who arrived from the rich towns of the east near the sea. 
The Chinese, to their honour, revere and love old age. 
It was said that a celebrated English admiral was once 
in danger of an attack from the Canton mob, but the 
moment he lifted his hat and showed his gray hairs they 
drew back and allowed him to pass on unmolested. Be 
this as it may, it iS certain that they revere and love old 
age and gray hairs. 
It was a custom with the boatmen every morning to set 
aside a small portion of rice in a bamboo cup to give to 
the poor. Hence the beggars were generally successful 
in their applications ; indeed it was a most difficult matter 
to get rid of them otherwise, for they were most impor- 
tunate and even troublesome. We were visited by so 
many that the boatman often complained of his inability 
to give more thai^an ounce or two of rice to each, and 
appealed to them on the subject. But unless the 
whole of the contents of the bamboo cup was emptied 
