Chap. II. 
BEGGARS. 
47 
into the basket held out, the mendicants made a great 
noise, and complained that they had been deprived of 
their due. 
Sometimes the river was so shallow and so full of 
stones that the only passage for boats was close in shore. 
The land beggars knew these places well, and always 
took their stations there. Each was provided with a 
basket suspended from the point of a bamboo pole, 
which he held out to the boatmen and asked for alms. 
These landsmen were quite as importunate as their bre- 
thren in the boats, and were generally as successful in 
their applications. 
I was not aware until now that the lower orders in 
China — such as these boatmen — were so charitable. 
Few of the beggars — and " their name was legion'' — 
were sent away without " an alms." It might be that, 
ignorant and idolatrous as these boatmen were, they had 
yet some idea that a blessing would result from " cast- 
ing their bread upon the waters.'' 
