IV

The day after our return to Canton from Upper P'oon-yu (6th inst.) the wife of "Eastern-Brave" found us out. She came to Fati with her younger brother, and I was glad to hand her the money and letter from her husband. She has had a hard time of it, but her brother has been very kind. [It is a very rare thing for a man to send money to his wife while his father is still living. It was well for this poor woman that E.B. sent money to her as well as to his father, though by so doing he slighted hoary custom.—A. D.]

I must now begin the account of our trip to the Tsang-Shing district. We started up the East River at an early hour on Wednesday, January 8. The Shek-loong (Stone-dragon) passage boat by which we travelled lay across the river near Honan, so we took a sampan across. After some scrambling we got half a cabin and stowed ourselves and goods therein. About 7 o'clock the steam launch that towed us started and made splendid speed. Some of the pagodas seen on the shore are very high and picturesque—one of nine stories has a large mandarin-orange tree growing on top.

These passage-boats are very noisy places. Above our cabin a man was expounding "The Sacred Edict" with great force and at great length. It was interesting to see page 25 how passengers boarded our vessel at different places en route. The launch slackened speed a little, and as the small boat came alongside the larger the passenger was unceremoniously bundled aboard and his baggaage after him. I was told that sometimes this feat is accomplished without slackening speed when travelling down with the current. I should be glad to know that I could swim before I indulged in such gymnastics.

On arrival at San-t'ong (New-pond) we got a small boat to take us ashore, and then got our baggage stowed in a rice-shop kept by friends of Willie and Mark Chan. Then we visited John Chan's uncle and handed him the money and letter from his nephew. He asked after your welfare. We visited the chapel of the United Brethren, which is splendidly situated right on the main street. It is comfortably arranged and on market-days there should be very good opportunities. We next passed into a kind of suburb, where I visited the house of Coloured-Ripple and handed over the three sovereigns from his brother at Dunedin. As it was about 1 p.m. we found a restaurant, and had a meal of strange concoctions, some of which were very nice.

We had some difficulty in getting a boat to take us up to San-Kaai (New-street) village, the boat-people objecting that they could not return that night and there were robbers about. However, an old woman and her daughter took us and we had a very pleasant sail up the river. At Kau-yu page 26 we landed and walked over the fields to San-Kaai. There I was taken into Wm. Chan's house and shown the prophet's chamber upstairs. I had hardly got settled when "Gathering-flowers" called to know if I brought a letter from his brother. I handed it over with the money. That night he was back again with some friends to see me. He was very anxious to take me to see his newly-wedded wife, but I thought better spare her the shock. Other visitors there were—one a man returned from Wanganui, where he used to help the teachers of the Chinese Class by interpreting, seeing that the pupils attended, and so on. He says he promised that he will be baptised when he returns to New Zealand by the end of this year. He does not believe in idols, yet he argued that he owes it to his parents to attend to idolatrous rites: to which I replied that it is never right to do wrong. I saw a good deal of him and like him; with a true conception of what it is to be a Christian he will make a good man.

That night I was waited upon by a deputation of New-street rats, that inquired loudly as to the nature of the eatables in my hamper. Their tastes are so depraved that they actually tackled some Chinese cakes that were on the table, and left my things alone. Next morning (Thursday) my hands were all swollen with mosquito bites received the night before we left Canton. Willie counted 60 bites on one hand. They say that mosquito-bites bring malaria—I page break

P'Ong-Woo (Mussrl-Lake) High School, P'oon-Yu. (See page 11.) Crop of ripe barley in foreground.

must have had so many that one half antidoted the other.

After breakfast we walked to Sha-t'au (Sand-bank) village and asked first for Joseph's mother. We were invited to enter one of the large public halls and there treated to cakes and tea. Presently the old lady, who is like her son, came. She asked about his business and wished to know when he is coming home. A returned Walker street man, "Autumn-Child," tried his best to make me feel at home. We met another Dunedin man, who had a garden at Anderson's Bay, and another, and yet another. One said he had wished to attend the services regularly, but the larrikins hindered him. We called on Wong K'au-Foon, who had had an encounter with a thief two days earlier and got his foot hurt. Then we found the father of Lai-Ts'oi, of Stafford street, who had just received a letter saying that we were to be expected.

On our way to Paak-shek (Whitestone) market-town, we passed "Coming-Prosperity" working his plot of ground. Mr Chan says that when he was at Anderson's Bay he used to attend your services regularly; but he came to none of the White-stone meetings last summer. In Whitestone Mart it was soon evident that Mr Chan is well-known and respected. Everywhere he was greeted with "Seen-shang" (teacher). We saw the outside of the building that he held the meetings in, but could not get in as the landlord was away. There was great excitement in the town owing to the rob- page 30 bery of the pawn-shop two days before. After visiting several of the shops we walked across to T'ong-mei (Pond-end) village, where a foreigner is a rare sight. A big fellow whom we passed at the gate came running alongside saying quite excitedly: "I have not seen one before." A little child fled in great alarm, and soon its mother came requesting that the child might be allowed to taste of my spittle so as to prevent bad effects of the fright. [Dr Henry, once when inland from Canton, had to cut off a piece of his clothing with which to make a drink for a child that had been scared by his appearance. On the same principle as "Take a hair of the dog that bit you "—homoeopathy in embryo. By the way, in this very district a remedy used when a child has been greatly terrified by a dog is to find and catch that dog, pull a tuft of hair from its skin, wrap these together in a small package and fasten this to the child's clothing.—A. D.] We very soon found the house where lives the wife of "Deep-Forest," and I was glad to unburden myself of 22 sovereigns. The gladness was by no means all on my side. His wife, his younger sister, and in fact the whole street, rejoiced with me. I was able to tell them where the younger brother is working in Otago. We had a fine time there, and had to drink syrup and eat cakes, while the women-folk made up a package of yam-flour. Their kindness did not end here, for on the Sunday the sister came to New-street with a letter for "Deep-

Forest," also a basket filled with yam-flour and oranges. Leaving this village, we saw a scene that seemed to call for a camera, but it would have needed a snapshot. The water had been drained off the village pond, leaving several feet of mud. In this mud the village boys and men were disporting themselves and trying to catch eels, which did not seem to be very plentiful. Just outside the village, on the Whitestone side, a large temple is being built. We returned to New-street through Understone village, lying under the shadow of Toad Hill, familier already to me by your photograph. After dinner we went to the Wanganui man's house for the afternoon, winding up with a great Chinese meal.