270 
WANDERINGS IN CHINA. Chap. XVII. 
While these thoughts were passing through my mind 
my people arrived, and, getting into my chair, I pro- 
ceeded across the valley. About a mile below the temple 
I observed a manufactory for making paper out of the 
bamboo. Large water-tanks were constructed in the 
fields for the purpose of steeping the bamboo stems. 
They appeared to be steeped for a length of time in 
some solution of lime. They were then taken out and 
beaten upon stones until they became quite soft, or till 
all the flinty matter which abounds in their stems was 
removed. 
After passing through this rice-valley we ascended 
another hill, from the top of which an excellent view 
was obtained. We were now fairly on the northern side 
of the Bohea range. The hills appeared to fall back in 
all directions, and thus a wide expanse of valley was 
exposed to view. We were now near the source of the 
river to which we were bound, and in the evening we 
arrived at a town named Sha-co, which is built on both 
sides of its banks. 
We put up for the night at the principal inn of this 
town. A young lady, apparently the landlord's daughter, 
amused us during dinner, and for several hours in the 
evening, by playing upon a stringed instrument not 
unlike a guitar, accompanying it with her voice. It was 
really pretty music, and 1 believe I enjoyed it as much 
as the Chinese themselves did. During the evening the 
landlord informed us that he expected a mandarin of 
high rank to stay in his house next night. This per- 
sonage, he said, was on his way from the court of Peking 
