ClIAP. VIII. 
A POTENT FLAG. 
129 
Sing-Hoo now came to me with a smile on his coun- 
tenance, and said, " You see the effects which may be 
produced by this little flag." I acknowledged it had 
astonished me, and asked him to tell me more about it. 
He said that some years before he had been in the 
service of a mandarin connected with the imperial 
family, and had travelled with him and his family to 
Shantung and Peking. The flag now in his possession had 
been carried by them in all their travels, and had alw^ays 
protected them from insult. On his return to his own pro- 
vince the old gentleman had made him a present of it — 
so he told me — and he had often used it on occasions like 
the present. He spoke with great pride of serving in the 
imperial family ; he had seen the old emperor Taou- 
kwang, and had worn the yellow livery, which he still 
had in his possession. 
Two ropes, connected with the windlass, were now 
fastened to the stern of our boat, and we were drawn up 
the inclined plane, and launched on the higher canal. 
A few miles farther on we came to another canal still 
higher, and were dra^vn up and launched in the same 
way. The second canal leads to and terminates at the 
small town of Pak-wan, which I have already noticed. 
Leaving our boat here, we walked across to the canal 
which leads to Shaou-hing-foo and Nechow, where we 
engaged another boat, and proceeded on our journey. 
But as I came down this way before, and have fully 
described the route in a former chapter, I need not say 
much regarding it here. 
We arrived at the small town of Nechow on the 
following day. Here we took our passage in a large 
G 3 
