132 
OPIUM RECEIVIXG-SIIIPS. 
point upon wliicli lie feared being cast by the current : we 
refused the offer with a show of unwilling dignity, but 
subsequently did him tlie service for nothing. He was 
loud in his thanks, and promised we should liearfrom his 
owners wlien he arrived at Liverpool ; but he must eitlier 
have died on the passage or wilfully neglected us, for we 
are still waiting: the name of the ship was the ^Lord 
Warrington/ 
In consequence of advice received from the captain of 
the Hungarian in regard to the tides, we determined to 
visit Foii-cliow with the next flood. This required us to 
get up before daylight, and I make a fe\v extracts from 
the account of onr trip : — 
‘‘AVe found tw'o of the light and buoyant sampans of 
a neighbouring village awaiting us at the gangway, in 
one of which rowed the pilot, who accompanied us as 
guide through the crooked streets to the American con- 
sulate. These two boats seemed to have been made 
express]}' for our party of six, — who now buttoned out 
the cool morning air and got into them, — so closely did 
we fit together along the single thwart-ship seat. Three 
of us there were in each boat; and w'e had a bamboo 
frame overhead, upon which M’as spread a protecting 
mat, and two large men and four very small boys to 
urge us along, — one large man and two small boys in 
each boat. 
“ It \vanted yet an hour of daylight as the driving 
flood-tide swept us by the to^vering pagoda, and the next 
tiling that attracted us was the reveille of an English 
opium-receiving ship, — one of the floating but perma- 
nently-anchored strongholds whose only duty it is to 
