WE FAIL TO “REACH PEKIN BY WATER.” 145 
way of some twenty feet wide between the two tiers, and, 
upon their attempting to go through it, they were assailed 
by crowds of Chinese armed with spears and match- 
locks, and found themselves under the necessity of re- 
treating quietly or shedding blood. They chose the 
former, as the latter might have put a stop to all com- 
munication. Besides, the officers had no orders, and 
did not feel themselves empowered to “declare war.” 
We found the Chinese of that region a powerful and 
athletic set of men, very different from those of more 
southern latitudes: the women we did not see. Lieu- 
tenant Raper, R.N., locates the mouth of this river in 
lat. 38° 58' N- and long. 117° 47' E., and we found ten 
feet of water on its bar at high-tide and twelve or four- 
teen fathoms inside. From all that we could see, there 
w'as no reason why an ordinary river-steamer might not 
ascend it to within a few miles of Pekin, this city being 
situated some distance from the bank. 
Our commissioners had one or two grand “powwows” 
on the beach inside of the river, which we all attended 
in full uniform, after which they steamed away in dis- 
gust, leaving the “ old John” and the Cooper to con- 
tinue the survey toward the Great Wall of China, now 
only some hundred miles to the northward and eastward 
of us. As far as I have been able to learn, our “attempt 
to reach Pekin by water” was followed by no results; 
but this failure must not be placed at the door of Mr. 
McLean and Sir John Bowering: it was entirely owing 
to the determination of the Chinese to keep all foreigners 
out of the centre of their empire. 
We now spent several days working up to the Great 
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