Chap. XVII. 
CHING-HOO. 
271 
to Foo-chow-foo, and runners had been sent on before to 
make preparations for his reception. 
The next morning I met the old gentleman and his 
family at a Buddhist temple on the plain, where 
they had stopped to refresh themselves. He had several 
women and children with him, besides several inferior 
mandarins, and a large number of servants and soldiers. 
When we met the cavalcade at the temple it completely 
blocked up the road. We were therefore obliged to 
wait patiently until they had finished their meal before 
we could get on. They took the road across the Bohea 
mountains, over which we had come, and we that to the 
town of Ching-hoo, which we reached early in the after- 
noon. It is a small bustling town, and a place of 
considerable importance, being at the head of one of the 
branches of the river which flows into the bay of Hang- 
chow. All the traffic carried on between the towns near 
the sea, such as Hang-chow-foo, Shanghae, &c., and 
those on the eastern Bohea mountains, as Pouching-hien, 
must pass through Ching-hoo. All the basket-teas 
manufactured in the Pouching districts are brought 
here on their way to the fertile and populous countries 
in the north-east. 
As soon as we arrived we went to an inn to dine and 
make inquiries regarding a boat. In this instance I took 
care to pay the chairbearers and coolie myself, not wish- 
ing to have another scene like that at Pouching-hien- 
The men had behaved very well during the journey, so 
I paid them, in addition to their wages, a small sum for 
the accident that had happened to the chair ; I also gave 
