this morning, I find they are coming the wife and family' dodge (which is indeed more valid in their mouths than in those of people that can leave their families in wealth), and that they are now not willing to go beyond Tan yang. I suspect they are intimidated by the sight of all these troops coming in from Heang yung's army, and of the body and smoking blood of the long-haired man yesterday—all signs of our vicinity to the scene of action. I shall not speak to them myself till we get to Tan yang."

"As we approached Tan yang, just as we were about to pass a bridge, Yung shun came into the cabin to say that Chang was there; and I at the same time heard my cook and head-boatman shouting out his name. Immediately afterwards he entered the boat himself. The first thing he said was that it would be impossible for me to go on." [I found that even before the rebels took Chin keang, the Canal between Tan yang and that place had become impassable from shallowness, except for the smallest fishing-boats having only one or two men in them, and drawing but a few inches of water. Between Tan yang and Chin keang the Grand Canal becomes something like a canal, as we represent that sort of water communication to ourselves. It there in fact enters at some points on the higher ground at the back of the alluvial plain, and is altogether an artificially excavated channel, the periodical clearing of which forms a standing item in the account of Imperial disbursements of the local authorities; who, however, disburse as much of the money as possible into their own pockets. The certainty I arrived at here that the rebels would not move on Soo chow and Shanghae for a month to come; the strange and important information I did get respecting them; and which it was advisable to communicate at once to Sir George Bonham; but, more than all of course, the shallowness of the Canal and the impossibility of proceeding by it even if I could have procured other boatmen willing to take me on, made me resolve on returning to Shanghae and proceeding

from thence, as I had originally proposed, in a sea-going craft by the Great River right up to Chin keang.

"I had a long conversation with my agent Chang. On his reaching Tan yang when he first came up the country, he hired a mule and rode first in the direction of Chin keang and afterwards in that of Nanking, going till within eight or ten miles of the former, and fifteen or twenty of the latter, but what he ascertained from fugitives of the way in which the rebels were pressing men for soldiers deterred him from going nearer. He had got as far as Soo chow on his way back, when one of the letters I had left there came to his hands, showing him that we had crossed each other. He instantly turned again in pursuit. He got a great fright when he was searching for me at Chang chow, and heard that 'a long-haired man with deep-set eyes' had been beheaded, and was only then reassured when further description did not tally with my appearance. Being on foot and without baggage, he got to Tan yang before we did with our head wind and tracking; and was making a second search at the wharfs there for my boat and people, when they, as stated, descried him. His story was a very interesting one; and the reader will not blame me, I think, for quoting the following incident from his narrative of proceedings, which I noted from his mouth at the time. I must first state that this man was no opium-smoker nor drinker, but a prudent moneysaving fellow, a native of the north of China, who, after having failed in business there, regarded a permanent connection with me as his best, if not only, means of re-establishment in worldly affairs; and who knew from experience that far more was to be got out of me by telling truths, agreeable or disagreeable, than by any trickery or humbug, which was sure to be discovered sooner or later. He had knocked about a great deal in different provinces of China; and had, indeed, been twice away in the country for months on my account, entrusted with sums of money, for him considerable.

"From Chang chow to Tan yang he travelled in a passage

boat in which was a beggar and his wife, both of whom had been in the hands of the insurgents some three or four days at Chin keang. The man had been employed tending their horses; and made off after a few days, leaving his wife and two children. The wife had come out after him, and found him at Chang chow, and they were then going back to Chin keang. Chang, after various questions [his business was to get information], asked the beggar what the insurgents wanted with his wife. Upon which all the bystanding passengers said with deprecating smiles: What questions you ask!'" [Chang and myself were, at that period, both puzzled by the proceedings of this couple. How did she, a small-footed woman, hobble away from a walled and strictly guarded city, and why were the two going back to Chin keang? What we learned afterwards of Tae ping conscription solved these questions. The rebels had sent her out to bring back her husband, the children being detained as the string which was to pull both back.]

"At about nightfall he reached Tan yang. He had been accompanied all the way from Soo chow by a man calling himself Wang, who said he was going toward Nanking to seek his younger brother, a soldier in the Imperial camp. My agent, under his assumed name of Chang, described himself as a Shantung clerk to a dealer in fruits and other Shantung edibles, who had been at Shanghae in the way of business; was unable to return by sea, as the pirates were beating the sea craft back; and was now here to ascertain the best route for himself and his master and another clerk homewards. These two, Chang and Wang, went to the same tea-house [equivalent to our so-called coffee-house] at Tan yang; where they arranged with the people for passing the night, neither of them being acquainted with any inn in the place. The doors had been closed and the two men were sleeping on the tea-tables, &c. placed together, when they were roused by a knocking at the door, which being opened by the tea-house people, a yay mun [mandarin's follower]

entered with a posse of volunteers, armed with three-pronged spears, pikes, &c.

Yay mun (shouting.) Hoigh! You two! Who are you? Chang. We are travellers.

Yay mun. Travellers! Where are you going to?

Chang. To Shantung.

Yay mun. Shantung! Don't you know the passage across the river is barred?

Chang (assuming the indifferent and careless.) If it is I must just see about it, that's all.

Yay mun. What is your name?

Chang. Chang [as common as our Smith].

Yay mun. And yours?

The other Traveller. Wang [as common as our Brown]. Yay mun. Oh! ah! Quite right! Chang, Wang, Le, Chaou! [Equivalent to Smith, Brown, Jones, and Robinson]. Chang (sneering and indifferent). Yes! Chang, Wang, Le, Chaou. We're all one family.

(Here Chang heard one of the posse saying to the others that the two should be taken to the Yamun.)

Chang. To the Yamun! I have no fear of going to the Yamun.

[They then all went off to the Yamun (District Magistracy) where they were examined preliminarily by the Mun shang (who is the principal follower of the Magistrate, and next to him the most influential person in the establishment). He repeated the questions as to name and business.]

Chang (with an air of perfect candour, which he spontaneously reproduced for my benefit in telling his story). To be frank, I am an agent of the Shanghae Intendant, sent out here to collect news.

Mun shang (who knew something of the Intendant and his establishment). Where does the Intendant come from? Chang. From Kwang tung.

Mun shang. How long have you been with him?

Chang. I came from Peking with the former Intendant,

Lin, and was by him recommended to the Intendant, Woo.

Mun shang. Are there any other northern men there? Chang. Yes. A Chih le man named Woo, also recommended by the Intendant, Lin.

Mun shang. What business have you charge of at Shanghae? Chang. I am in the Great Custom-house [that at which foreign duties are paid.]

Mun shang. Who else is there?

Chang. There is a person named Lew who speaks the barbarian language.

Mun shang. (Apologetically, being now fully convinced of Mr. Chang's veracity, from knowing himself the people named). You must not be angry with them [the night watch]. You know Chin keang is taken, and that it is necessary to keep strict watch over all strangers. You (addressing the posse which was beginning to melt away) you see you have made a mistake. You had better go.

[In consequence of Chang's victory, the other man was merely asked a question or two.]

Mun shang. I am ashamed that you should have been troubled. But it was their duty to bring you here.

Chang. Our coming here is of itself of no great consequence. But now they've brought us here, what are we to do for a night's lodging?

(On this cool question being put, the Mun shang told a policeman to give Messrs. Chang and Wang a room in the Magistracy for the night; and after a comfortable sleep they left unquestioned in the morning).

The above was, the reader will remember, narrated to me at the very city where the arrest and release took place, and only a week after the event. It struck me as so characteristic an incident of Chinese life that, while I merely made an abstract of most other parts of Chang's account of his mission, I made him re-narrate the above conversation and