164 
WANDERINGS IN CHINA. 
Chap. X. 
archway, an old man, a priest, came out and struck a 
bell three times. Whether this was done in my honour, 
or to propitiate the gods for my safety and success, I 
cannot tell, but it was evident the priest expected some- 
thing for his trouble, and Sing-Hoo, who pretended to be 
a good Buddhist, gave him a few cash as we passed 
under the arch. 
We now entered the town of Yuen-shan. It is about 
60 le distant from Hokow, and stands on the banks of 
the mountain stream. Though not large, it seems a 
flourishing place. It is on the highway from the black- 
tea country of Fokien, and nearly all the teas brought 
thence on the backs of coolies are here put in small 
boats and conveyed to Hokow. Owing to there being a 
water- communication between these towns, I did not 
observe much traffic on the road. I was now, however, 
about to enter upon a crowded and bustling thoroughfare, 
like that between the sources of the two rivers described 
in the last chapter. 
As it was mid-day when we entered Yuen-shan, I 
went to an inn, and had some refreshment, while the 
coolies had their dinner. When we resumed our journey, 
we found many travellers on the road, going and re- 
turning from the tea-country in chairs. All of them 
seemed to be sound asleep. This is a common practice 
amongst the mountain travellers, the chairs being con- 
structed so as to enable them to do so comfortably. 
Coolies were now met in great numbers, loaded with 
tea-chests. Many of them carried only one chest. 
These I was told were the finer teas ; the chest was 
never allowed to touch the ground during the journey, 
