Chap. VIII. 
A STORM IN A CREEK. 
133 
bour, provided he was only safe himself. Our boat came 
in for a share of ill usage, and got many a bump as the 
others rushed past. 
All the Yen-chow and Nan-che boats are what we 
may call family boats, that is, the captain or proprietor 
carries his wife and family along with him, while the 
Hwuy-chow people, who go up the other branch of this 
river, leave their families at home. The women always 
take a prominent part in the management of the boat, 
sculling and poling as well as the men. If they equal 
their better halves in these laborious duties, they far 
exceed them when any disturbance takes place in which 
the tongue has to play a leading part. In the evening 
in question, as the numerous boats came in to anchor in 
the creek, they drove each other about in great confu- 
sion. The main stream being very rapid, the boats 
coming down it shot into the creek with great velocity. 
The night was very dark, and heavy drops of rain began 
to fall. The thunder-storm, which had been threat- 
ening for some time, came gradually up against the 
wind, and now and then bright flashes of fire lighted up 
the creek, and showed us the motley groups by which 
we were surrounded. The boatmen were shouting in 
angry tones as the different boats came rudely in 
contact ; children were screaming, and the shrill voices 
of the women were heard in all directions, giving orders 
to the men and scolding each other. A person unac- 
quainted with the habits of these people would have 
thought that something very dreadful was about to 
happen. I had seen such scenes too often, however, 
to feel any alarm, and, although the rain came through 
