58 
WANDERINGS IN CHINA. 
Chap. III. 
with them, but, being quite contented with the adven- 
tures of the day, I declined the invitation. It was very- 
late before they all came back ; but this did not prevent 
us from getting under way at the usual time next morn- 
ing and proceeding on our journey. 
After we had gone some distance the head boatman 
came round and informed the passengers that it would 
be necessary to engage another boat to take part of his 
cargo, as the river was too shallow to allow him to get 
up so deeply laden as he was. Moreover, he coolly 
proposed that the expenses of the second boat should be 
defrayed by the passengers, giving as his reason that by 
this means they would get sooner to their destination. 
As the sum was not a large one, this was agreed to, and 
a second boat was engaged. 
A circumstance now occurred which astonished me not 
a Httle at the time, although it must be a common thing 
in the country. When the second boat was brought 
alongside, and the floor of our cabin taken up to get at 
the cargo, I found that we had some fellow-passengers 
which I had never calculated upon. Two enormous 
coffins, each containing the body of a Chinaman, had 
been lying directly under my bed for the last three weeks 
without my having the least suspicion of the fact. It 
was, perhaps, just as well that this was the case, for the 
knowledge of the circumstance would not have added to 
my comfort, and might have made me sleep less soundly. 
These coffins were now removed to the other boat, in 
which they were taken onwards to their last resting- 
place. On inquiring, I found that the deceased were 
natives of Hwuy-chow-foo, and had left their native 
