CHAPTER XV. NARRATIVE OF THE VOYAGE. IBARKATION APPREHENSION OF A STORM WATER-SPOUTS- CHINESE IDEAS OF THEM -VOYAGE UP THE YELLOW SEA ARRIVAL AT SHAN-TUNG AND WEI-HAE-FIRST LANDING — VISIT OF THE MANDARINS ON BOARD-SECOND LANDING — DIFFICULTIES IN THE WAYDISCUSSIONS ON THE BEACH — ADJOURNMENT TO THE TEMPLE-EXCURSION INTO THE INTERIOR - AMICABLE CONFERENCE-EAGERNESS FOR BOOKS-RAMBLE OVER THE ISLAND OF LEW-KUNG-TAOU—VISIT TO A PEACEABLE VILLAGE-SECOND DAY'S OPERATIONS-A BURIAL GROUND DESCRIPTION OF THE VILLAGES — AND STATE OF THE COUNTRY CURIOSITY OF THE PEOPLE QUIET DISTRIBUTION OF BOOKS ANXIETY FOR MORE-ATTENTION TO PREACHING SECOND VISIT OF THE MANDARINS ON BOARD-SUMMARY. In presenting the reader with a narrative of the voyage, made by the author up the north-east coast of China, the usual parade of courses and bearings, with other uninteresting appendages, of a nautical expedition, will be omitted; and only such events and circumstances alluded to, as may be likely to throw light on the country and its inhabitants, and to represent the nature of the intercourse which foreigners are enabled to hold with the people of China. The author will be compelled in the narrative, to speak in the first person; and as the description here given is the result of impressions made on the spot, a liveliness of style may sometimes be met with, which it is hoped the reader will kindly excuse. Having shipped our additional hands, and laid in the 370 constru chart o Horsbu time th much t the vo The la Wham laff on and th his co The ve was n bags o tian m assisti visions small men; ; sumpt by the of boc away volum of bo Cantc ready CHAPTER XV. NARRATIVE OF THE VOYAGE. EMBARKATION APPREHENSION OF A STORM 1 WATER-SPOUTS - CHI- IN presenting the reader with a narrative of the voyage, made by the author up the north-east coast of China, the usual parade of courses and bearings, with other uninteresting appendages, of a nautical expedition, will be omitted; and only such events and circumstances alluded to, as may be likely to throw light on the country and its inhabitants, and to represent the nature of the intercourse which foreigners are enabled to hold with the people of China. The author will be compelled in the narrative, to speak in the first person; and as the description here given is the result of impressions made on the spot, a liveliness of style may sometimes be met with, which it is hoped the reader will kindly excuse. Having shipped our additional hands, and laid in the 372 APPREHENSION OF A STORM. stores necessary for the expedition, we set sail on the 26th of August, 1835, from Kap-sing-moon, and dropped gently down the Canton river. Owing to calms and light winds, we made but little progress; while the heat was so intense, that we could hardly endure the suffocation below, or the broiling above. We reached the Lan-taou passage by the evening; and the next day, standing through the channel, we came to an anchor off the mouth of Tae-tam bay; intending, if it should blow a hurricane, which, by the falling of the barometer, we had reason to apprehend, to run into the bay for shelter. This bay affords a convenient retreat for vessels going out to the eastward, being sheltered from all winds except the south; and so secure, even in that direction, that there is little danger of a heavy sea in this quiet harbour. The typhoons or hurricanes, in these latitudes, are tremendous, and when vessels are overtaken by them off shore, without sea room or shelter, their destruction is almost inevitable. Even in the harbour of Kap-sing-moon, where the receiving ships anchor during the stormy season, vessels have been known to drift from their moorings, and have been found high and dry upon the beach, after one of these dreadful gales. An English ship, only a few weeks before we sailed, drove eight miles, with two anchors down, among rocks and islands, and was within a few yards of destruction, when the storm abated. A fine well-built coaster was also dismasted at the same time, in the very passage in which we lay; so that, considering the threatening aspect of the weather, there was every reason for the utmost caution. A lowering calm continued the whole of the next day; but towards evening, a breeze springing up, we |