124 
WANDERINGS IN CHINA. 
Chap. VII. 
ing them a siphon, and by emptying one of their troughs 
with it ; but it is difficult to astonish a Chinaman, or 
to convince him that there is anything he does not 
understand ! The man looked on in silence for a second 
or two, and then, with a triumphant smile on his coun- 
tenance, pointed to his bamboo tubes, which are here 
used for conveying water to the priests' houses. " Did 
not the water rise perpendicularly in them, and to any 
height he pleased?'' It did, but not on the siphon 
principle, for the source of the spring which supplied 
these pipes was high up on the hill-side. 
In a day or two I left the temple, in company with 
my two friends, for the lakes of Tung-hoo. Having 
engaged boats, we sailed over the lakes and visited all 
their shores. When it was known that one of my com- 
panions was a medical man, he had many applications 
from "the sick, the maimed, and the blind,'' who fancied 
he could heal all manner of diseases. During an inter- 
view which the Doctor had with one old man, a laughable 
incident occurred. My friend supposed, from what the 
man said, that he wished to tender a fee ; but upon 
inquiry it turned out, on the contrary, that he was trying 
to make the Doctor understand that his advice and 
assistance could only be taken if they were given gratis ! 
I could have lingered much longer in this part of the 
country, but my servants had returned from the Bohea 
mountains, and my holidays, for the present, had termi- 
nated. I therefore returned to Ning-po, and made 
preparations for another and perhaps still more import- 
ant journey. 
