88 
WANDERINGS IN CHINA. 
Chap. V. 
green-tea country, from which I had just come. Rice 
appeared to be the staple production, as it is on all 
low wet lands in this part of China. Tallow-trees were 
abundant, both in the plains and on the lower sides of 
the hills. 
About three o'clock in the afternoon we arrived at the 
town of Tsaou-o. Here we left the Nechow boat, and 
walked about a mile across the country to another small 
town named Pak-wan. This town stands on the banks of 
a river which falls into the bay of Hang-chow. When I 
first saw this river I imagined it to be the one which 
flows down to the city of Ning-po, but I soon found that 
this was not the case. 
Pak-wan is a long straggling town, full of pack-houses, 
eating-houses, and tea-shops, for the accommodation of 
travellers and their goods. I found that several fo- 
reigners had been here before, and consequently the 
inhabitants were well acquainted with their features. I 
was recognised as a foreigner immediately on my enter- 
ing the town, but was most civilly treated, and had no 
difficulty in engaging a boat to take me onwards. For 
this purpose I entered the Hong-lee, or boat-inn, and 
procured a chop, by which the innkeeper bound him- 
self to send me on to Ning-po for the sum of three 
dollars. 
During the night we passed over two embankments, 
which, for small vessels, answer the same purposes as 
the locks on our canals at home. We were drawn over 
the embankment by means of a windlass and an inclined 
plane. This mode of getting from a higher to a lower 
level, or vice versa, is common in China, where locks, 
