One day, on our return journey to the boat, the lawdah, thinking to take a nearer way, went by a path through some fields ; and leading the way at one point, looked back to me, and, significantly holding his nose, turned off the path to one side. I followed him, and with good reason. There was a coffin laid right beside the path, and left there uncovered in the heat I ! By this time—the middle of June—the heat was get ting very great. The thermometer in my cabin averaged 94° and 95°. The reader can easily imagine what this meant in the open air, with only a white sketching um brella for shelter. My clothing was as simple as possible, yet any clothing seemed too much ; and the nights were perfectly unendurable through mosquitoes, which I did my best to exclude by covering the windows of my cabin with netting. At night one felt the benefit of the electric fan, which served to make a little breeze ; but even this failed me at last, and I had a bad time. By day there was a little breeze, but at night it usually died away.
The advance of civilisation, as Western people under stand it, may be guessed when I say that during my stay in this district I had a large box of ice three times a week from Shanghai-15o miles—sent by steam-launch, landed at the Custom-House, there put in a small boat and sent on to me. And what a boon it was ! It meant that I could always have a cool drink, and that my food was kept fit to eat. I have the care of my friends in Shanghai to thank for that comfort.
My last night in this delightful neighbourhood I spent in the of a friend at Hangchow, where I arranged that my boat should wait for me at the Custom House Quay, and so save the tedious journey down small creeks to the Grand Canal.
Entering the gate of the city at dusk, we still had a considerable distance to go before reaching my host's hospitable dwelling. Before our journey's end it was quite dark. In front of our chairs ran a coolie with a paper lantern, which was necessary in the dark streets. All the shops were shut, as the people retire to bed very early, artificial light being dear and dangerous. Our bearers swung along through the dark shadows, and, so far as my knowledge of the way went, they might have taken me anywhere ; but, with the faith I always had in the Chinaman, I felt as secure as in the streets of London. It was a weird experience, and more like a journey through a city of the dead than of the living, until at last we turned into the courtyard of my friend's house.
In the morning I bade adieu to my hospitable friend, and went off by chair to meet my boat at the Custom House, which is on the British Settlement by the Grand Canal four miles away. Leaving the city gate I found that, as is usual in the prosperous Chinese cities, the space within the walls had in recent times proved too small, and that the city extended far outside, reaching in this direction to the canal. Busy streets they were which I passed through. I found that I could not leave till night, so I spent the day wandering about the native street built on the British Settlement and under British rule. I was with my friend, the Chief of Police, when
we spied some smoke issuing from a corner house near by. A crowd was gathering, and it was obvious that there was a fire. My friend was quickly off across the street, and was able with a few buckets of water to stop what would have been a serious fire. There was a strong wind blowing, and those slightly built houses, with so much timber, would have burnt like a matchbox. He said when he reached an upper room he found the place full of smoke, and at one side a native woman doing joss. She it was who, with her lighted joss-stick, had set fire to some paper round the image, and was now praying to the fire god to put it out. The fire god came in the form of a big burly Britisher, with a bucket of water, who very quickly put out both her and the fire.
Towards night the train of boats was formed and mine was tied on, and, with adieus to my kind friends, I reluctantly said good-bye to Hangchow. The direct route by water from Hangchow to Shanghai is interesting, the country being flat, very fertile and highly cultivated. On the Grand Canal one may see the great care lavished in by-gone years on the most important of the great water thoroughfares of China, now so much neglected, the fine stone walls, or bunds, of the canal being sadly broken away and the parapets of the bridges gone. One wonders if the Chinese will ever wake up to the fact that they must save their fine canals, if cheap transit by water is to be preserved. At the moment railways are the chief object of their ambition ; but, great as the advantage of these would be, China can never afford to lose the older means of transit.
I was out on deck soon after sunrise next morning. It proved a beautiful day—one of those days which seem to be sent to us now and again, just to show us how beautiful the world can be : glorious skies overhead, with great masses of cumuli-cloud, gleaming white, and with the blue of wonderful colour breaking through—a day on which it was a joy for a man to be alive and able to see all the beauty round him.
Any landscape viewed under such conditions is fine, and to sail along this grand old waterway under such conditions was delightful. The flat landscape was streaked with brilliant lights and dark shadows, and there were stretches of vivid yellow and green clumps of trees round a temple. We were constantly meeting or passing great tall square matting-sailed junks, carry ing all sorts of produce. These junks have a very stately look about them, and always impress me with a sense of solemnity as they glide slowly and quietly along, their dark hulls and tall sails reflected in the gleaming waters.
Towards afternoon I could see in the distance the tall Loongwha Pagoda, which told me I was nearing the end of my journey and approaching Shanghai ; and glad as I was to land there and receive the welcome of my friends, and enjoy once more their hospitality, it was with regret that I said good-bye to the houseboat Scout, on which I had spent a most delightful time.