286 
WANDERINGS IN CHINA. 
Chap. XVIII. 
Having procured a large quantity of tea-seeds and 
young plants, I left the Ning-po districts in the end of 
December for Shanghae. On my arrival there I found 
that some good tea manufacturers and lead-box makers 
had been engaged, and everything had succeeded far 
beyond my most sanguine expectations. A large 
assortment of implements for the manufacture of tea 
had also arrived. Nothing therefore remained for me to 
do except to pack my plants and proceed on my voyage 
to India. 
It was an amusing scene to see these inland Chinamen 
taking leave of their friends and their native country. A 
large boat was engaged, and lay alongside the jetty, 
to take them and their effects from Shanghae down 
to the mouth of the river, where the "Island Queen" 
was at anchor, to start for Hong-kong next morning. 
The landing-place was crowded with the emigrants and 
their friends. When the hour of departure arrived, the 
eight Chinese walked on board, and the boat was imme- 
diately pushed out into the stream. Now the emigrants 
on board, and their friends on shore, with clasped hands, 
bowed to each other many, many times, and the good 
wishes for each other's health and happiness were not 
few, nor apparently insincere. Next morning the "Island 
Queen,'' Captain M'Farlane, got under way, and we 
bade adieu to the north of China. 
