A little further on, another magnificent view of the river is found, where, between high impending mountains, at Pwan-pien-shan (the Split Hill) it is darkly imprisoned. The hills in this neighbourhood are covered with wild tea, and numerous limestone quarries are burrowed along their sides. Wherever the mountains retreat from the river the intervening country is profusely cultivated, and the sloping sides of the hills, covered with a rich and varied semi-tropical foliage, sweep down to the low land. The distant pagodas, marking with their carved and many-storied, time-worn, monumental sculpture, the site of some town or anciently celebrated locality—the occasional village, partly hidden in some half-sequestered spot—the curious but ingenious apparatus of the fisherman on the river's brink, with his reed hut here and there peeping through the rushes of the bank—the peasants toiling and irrigating the paddy-fields—the bright Eastern sun, and clear sapphire sky, above the changeful bosom of the "Son of the Sea," now rushing between massive rocky walls, then bursting into lake-like fulness, studded at intervals with a low and feathery reed-topped or cultivated rice-waving island—and the waters, tipped with the snowy wings of the passing vessels—all these are objects which produce a landscape surpassingly beautiful. China has been termed "a vast and fertile plain;" but, I believe, a trip up the Yang-tze will show as diversified and grand a scenery as almost any part of the world.

But then comes a dark side of nature, for this is truly a land where "all save the spirit of man is divine." Throughout all these beauties of country one must tread with care, for it is a land of enemies; all through the Yang-tze's course we experienced nothing but aggravating annoyance and insult from the Imperialists; wherever they were, landing became not only disagreeable, but dangerous. This was a drawback of serious importance, but one which would have ceased to exist were it not for the policy of the British government, which, by preventing the success of the friendly Ti-pings, and strengthening the Imperialists, has perpetuated the evil.

In order to avoid the strength of the tide, we were obliged to keep close in to the bank, while at the same time we kept a stand of muskets and fowling-pieces well loaded to check our dastardly aggressors.

Although Kew-kiang was bad enough, at Han-kow we found confusion worse confounded. It was simply impossible to pass through the streets except in parties of four or five, well armed. The British consul, Mr. Gingall, had gone out with some of the petty local authorities to mark a ground for the consulate and British concession, but with his marine guard received such a heavy stoning from the braves and populace, that they were compelled to beat a speedy retreat. A placard had been posted by the braves, threatening to massacre all the European residents upon a certain date; this was succeeded by an official proclamation from the Chinese governor, calling upon the soldiers to remain quiet, because the "foreign devils" were to be "hired and used" to fight the Ti-ping rebels, after which his excellency would employ his braves to drive those "barbarians" out of China. At the time, I paid but little attention to this, looking upon it as a piece of the usual Chinese bravado; recent events, however, have led me to think otherwise. One part of the proclamation has been fulfilled, it remains to be seen whether the other will succeed.

While passing through a public street one evening, a brave made a spring at me from a narrow side alley; fortunately, I carried a coat on my arm, and throwing this up, received the blow of his short sword without injury. I was of course armed, and before my assailant could repeat the blow, his arm was arrested by a Colt's revolver ball. Several braves were collecting, but when they saw the fate of their leader, and found me armed, they "skedaddled" pretty sharply.

Some Europeans did not escape so easily, but were brutally murdered. Nearly a year later affairs were but little improved, for a Mr. Little, of Dent & Co.'s, was severely maltreated without having given the slightest provocation; and several of the firm's junks were seized and carried off by the braves. This was avenged by H.M. gunboat Havoc seizing and burning the gunboat whose crew had beaten Mr. Little. The Chinese officials, with their usual policy of exciting the people against Europeans, posted proclamations, and gave out as a fact, that the English had fastened all the braves they caught to the gunboat, and burnt them alive. I explored the country in every direction, within a radius of twenty-five miles around Han-kow, upon shooting excursions, and I invariably found, that wherever the natives were distant from Imperial troops, or officials, they were kind and courteous to Europeans. I entered numerous villages to rest and obtain refreshment, and at many received polite and dignified invitations from some of the people to enter their dwellings. I must say, the Chinese are one of the most polite and well-behaved people I have ever met. Although bursting with curiosity to ascertain my country and business, I never found them guilty of the slightest rudeness, or annoying inquisitiveness; upon the contrary, they would wait until their etiquette of presenting tea, etc., had been observed, and then, pretending to be unconcerned, commence their inquiries indirectly. With all this, I could not fail to notice the half-dubious, half-disliking style of their manner;—the universal result of their government's misrepresentation, and the stringent orders which they received to treat Europeans as barbarians unworthy of civilized (Chinese) treatment or consideration. Can we not remember the sort of treatment foreigners received till lately in China, upon the following Manchoo maxim of intercourse with Europeans?

It was on this principle that all the benefits of Chinese law were denied Europeans; so that, even in cases of accidental homicide, they were required to be delivered up, not for trial, but execution.

Sir John Davis, formerly governor of Hong-Kong, wrote:—

Although at the present time British subjects are not delivered up to be executed by Manchoos, and although Europeans are not defamed and attacked so openly as was the case previous to the late wars, the government is every bit as industriously maligning them to its subjects, and striving all in its power to prevent free trade or intercourse. Why are the Manchoos so inveterately embittered against foreigners? is the natural question. Certainly not because they are unable to appreciate the benefit of trade; they love their own interests too well to be averse to the only remaining prop to their rule—trade with foreigners, and consequent help to crush the rebellion. But the truth is, with unmistakeable foresight they see that the free contact of their Chinese subjects with European nations will eventually ruin them; they know their rule is hated and unrighteous, and they know that wherever the people become enlightened and improved, their murderous gripe will be torn from the throat of the nation. While liking our trade, they hate our communion! The latter they have reason to dread, though not if they can always succeed in obtaining our military aid against the effects of our intercourse, as they have done in the case of the Ti-ping rebellion.

At Han-kow I left the steamer, to take command of a new schooner belonging (nominally) to the same owners. As her interior accommodations were not quite finished, I took a small house until such time as she should be completed. While residing ashore, I suffered from an attack of fever—a complaint very prevalent amongst Europeans in China—that at one time seemed almost certain to destroy my life.

One night when convalescent, but still very weak, I was aroused by a strong smell of fire; in a moment almost, thick volumes of smoke rushed into the room, and I heard the loud crackling of burning wood close at hand. Getting from my bed, and hurrying some clothing on as quickly as possible, I got to the door of my house, and found the next one in a complete blaze, and my own just igniting. My servants no sooner opened the back door and attempted to save my property, than a crowd of braves rushed in and commenced to plunder all they could lay hands on. I was too weak to do much, but, taking a sword, endeavoured to drive them off; I followed one a few paces from the door, and thrust at his body, but was too weak to hurt him much, and the point of my weapon glanced on his ribs; the fellow did not even drop his booty, but successfully made off with all the bedding. Fortunately at this juncture assistance from some neighbouring European residents arrived, or I should have lost everything. With their help and that of the coolies, the greater part of my things were saved, but much had been carried off by the "Imps." The origin of the fire was attributable to the incendiary acts of the Imperialist soldiers, who had set fire to the adjoining house, as also to an European dwelling, out of malice, and hatred of the "foreign devils."

For the few days before taking up my quarters on board the schooner, a friend kindly accommodated me. I then engaged a Greek seaman as mate, shipped a Chinese crew, a Malay boatswain, and prepared to leave. Our voyage progressed very favourably until we reached a place a little below the treaty port Kew-kiang, where, although hitherto dropping down with the tide at the rate of three or four miles an hour, my course was abruptly arrested for several days. Between Kew-kiang and the mouth of the Poyang Lake is situated a large island, and instead of taking the usual channel, my stupid Chinese pilot preferred the other side of the island. In consequence of this, when about half-way past, stem on we went, and stuck hard and fast aground. After a tiresome day's work we managed to get afloat again in about six inches more water than the schooner was drawing, and then made fast for the night. In the morning, after sounding in every direction, and finding the only channel very shallow, and as intricate as the maze at Rosherville Gardens, I obtained a fisherman from the shore, who, for the consideration of a few strings of cash, piloted us out; our own pilot being perfectly ignorant of his duties. I have since found it a common thing for Chinamen who have spent all their lives sailing about the Yang-tze river, to be utterly unacquainted with its pilotage.

Through this affair, the vessel's rudder became injured, and we had barely cleared the island, making sail to a fresh breeze, when away it went.

It now became necessary to bring up for repairs: so picking out a creek with a village named Chang-kea-kau at its entrance, I ran the schooner into it, anchored, and sent ashore for carpenters to make a new rudder. In about a week's time, the village blacksmiths and carpenters managed to turn out a contrivance they termed a rudder; but of all the rudders I ever saw it beat them hollow. They could neither make round bolts, nor long bolts: so instead of bolting the rudder together, they fastened the first part to the rudder-post with huge square nails (they could only cut square holes in timber, having no tool to bore large round ones), and the second part to the first, and the outside piece to the second, with huge iron clamps driven on at the sides: the whole concern stuck and plastered together with lumps of iron bands and braces in every direction, in a way that none but a Chinaman could contrive.

With immense exertion of mechanics, I managed to get this monster shipped in its place, after which I was enabled to make sail and proceed.

At the city of Ta-tung, about 150 miles above Nankin, and fifty below Ngan-king, the capital of Ngan-whui province, I anchored for three days. This city is the chief salt mart up river, all the salt from E-ching coming there, previously to being distributed over the country. The scenery about Ta-tung is very fine—lightly wooded hills gradually rising, range after range, far into the interior. I took a ramble ashore with Philip, my mate, to hunt up some game; our way lay over ridges of low hills covered with a forest of dwarf firs, none over six feet high, mingled with specimens of the smallest of all small trees, the dwarf oak. This Lilliputian forest was succeeded by a tangled undergrowth, and fine plantation, which compelled us to pursue the narrow tracks leading through it. During our progress we were often startled with the loud whirr of the pheasant springing from almost under our feet, and although the high cover made it difficult to get a shot, we obtained several brace. At last we came to a more open part of the hills, where the forest was succeeded by wild flowers and shrubs, while small lakes were frequent in the valleys below us. The hills became higher and more rocky, the few trees about them being of large size,—in fact, the tallest I have seen in China. From the rocky nature of the country, and the running appearance of the chain of lakes, I fancied a large spring was somewhere in the neighbourhood, and I was right; for, after following a beautiful and gradually ascending valley some distance, we came to a cold mountain spring of the purest water I ever tasted in China. We threw ourselves upon the grass and drank the pure mountain draught to our heart's content, and, while resting ourselves, inhaled the powerful aromatic odour of the wild magnolia growing in profusion around. The magnolia is the only flower I have found in China possessing fragrance, all others, however beautiful, being without perfume. Whilst rolling on the turf we had observed some birds, apparently of the duck species, fly overhead in the direction of some tall trees through a gorge on the hills; it being the middle of summer, these birds excited our curiosity, and we determined to follow them and if possible get a shot. When we arrived at the foot of the trees, to our surprise we saw many of these duck-like birds flying in and out of nests among the branches; we shot three brace and a half, and found them to be the beautiful and delicious little wood or summer duck. When I returned on board, I instantly sent some of my crew ashore with a small cask to fill at the spring, and ever afterwards I remembered that cool water and its romantic valley.

The few villages about seemed very poor; they had continually been visited by Ti-ping or Imperialist soldiers, and this, of course, had proved disastrous to the inhabitants, for we all know what hungry disciplined troops are in an enemy's country, but few of us realize the effect of undisciplined Chinese. The houses, however, had not been destroyed, and the only mark of the Ti-pings was the remains of a large Budhist temple, each separate brick, as usual, being broken to pieces, so that nothing but heaps of rubbish remained. The people spoke very vengefully about the visits of the Imperialist troops, who, they said, had used their women shamefully, and killed several of the husbands and fathers who had attempted to defend them. The Ti-pings, they informed me, had treated them well, and had only made them contribute provisions for the army; one soldier having used violence to a girl, had been decapitated, and they showed me the place where his head had been exposed. They also spoke very kindly of one leader of the Ti-pings, the Ying-wang, who had allowed nothing to be taken from them without payment for it.

During my voyage in the schooner, I became acquainted with the Chinese game of chess, which, although resembling that of Europe in a few pieces, and the object of the game, is in every other particular totally different. I had several Chinese on board, passengers to Shanghae, and they taught me how to play.

The board, instead of being divided into black and white squares, as with us, is of one colour—generally black—and divided by lines on which the pieces stand, and move as shown in the following rules and annexed diagram:—

I passed close to the Nankin fortifications, but did not anchor, as I saw quite sufficient to guide me in joining the Chung-wang there without stopping; the place being evidently open and easy of access.

At Chin-kiang I heard terrible rumours of pirates, about the Lang-shan crossing and entrance of the river; and the more the deeds of the pirates were talked about, the greater embellishment they received from the imagination of the narrator, so that, at last, bad as they certainly were, the deeds attributed to them would never have been recognized by the perpetrators themselves.

With all the exaggeration, the danger was really too great to be despised, and I made arrangements to sail down to Shanghae in company with two European vessels also bound there, one a fore and-aft-French schooner, the other an American lorcha.

The first night after leaving Chin-kiang, being in advance of my consorts, I observed an English schooner right ahead, with her ensign flying union down. At the time I made her out she was scarcely half a mile distant, and the moon shining brightly upon her, with my glasses I easily distinguished her signal of distress. As we approached each other from opposite directions, in a few minutes we had closed to within speaking distance; so, rounding to, I hailed to know what was the matter. I could only faintly distinguish, in reply, "Come on board; I will anchor."

After passing me by a few hundred yards the strange vessel brought up, and lowering a boat, I proceeded to board her, leaving my Greek mate to bring the schooner a little closer, and then anchor. Before getting alongside I noticed two Europeans on the quarter deck of the schooner, waiting to receive me, and to my surprise saw they were both armed. As this looked suspicious, when under the shadow of the vessel's side I loosened my revolver in its sheath. When I reached the gangway, I observed many of the Chinese crew watching my approach, and all, apparently, in a state of excitement. This put me upon my guard still more, for it was evident something was wrong; and, coupling the appearance of things with the signal of distress, that something was most likely dangerous. I ascended the gangway ladder with caution, and well I did so, for my head had scarcely appeared above the rail when a Chinaman made a rush at me with both hands stretched out, evidently intending to push me overboard. Thanks to my watchfulness and sailor training, I was able to meet this attack successfully, in spite of my awkward situation. Clinging to the side ladder with my knees, I quick as thought ducked my head and shoulders inboard, seized my assailant round the waist before he could take hold of me, and, aided by his own impetus, threw him clean over my head into the river. He uttered one cry as, plunging into the fierce and turbid tide of the Yang-tze, he disappeared for ever. This passed within two seconds, and, drawing my revolver, I sprang on board before several other Chinese rushing to the gangway could reach me. The sudden display of the hollow barrel within a couple of feet, and pointing straight at the head of the foremost, checked them, and at that moment the whizzing of a bullet amongst them, accompanied by the sharp crack of a rifled pistol, and followed by the appearance of the two Europeans at my side, drove them back.

The whole crew, however, seemed springing from every direction, some from the hatchways, some from forward, and some from aft; and with the usual gesticulation of Chinese about to fight, commenced stripping themselves of their outer clothing, and uttering fierce crys and yells to encourage each other.

I had barely a moment to receive the explanation of the schooner's captain, who thrust a spare cutlass into my hand—that a mutiny had taken place, and having secured the ringleader he wished me to carry him down to Shanghae in irons—when the crew were upon us. Jumping and yelling like a legion of fiends let loose, they hurried towards us, brandishing the bamboo spears and the knives they had armed themselves with. For a moment we hesitated to fire upon them, but that moment's delay very nearly cost us our lives. Thinking they possessed no firearms, we believed we could awe them into submission with our revolvers. Suddenly one of them jumped forward and discharged two heavy horse pistols point blank at me and the captain of the schooner. The din of the report, the smoke, and our surprise, combined with an indefinite sort of feeling (upon my part at least) that we were half blown to pieces, caused a moment's inaction almost fatal to us. The whole of the crew, some eighteen or twenty, rushed forward. Fortunately the captain (who I imagined was the mate) of the vessel, being farthest away from the discharge of the pistols, was not in the least startled, but firing at the man who held them, brought him to the deck, and then discharging several shots amongst the crowd, gave me time to recover myself.

I did not feel wounded. My next perception was, that I was engaged with half a dozen men pushing fiercely at me with their spears. For some seconds I defended myself desperately with the cutlass, successfully warding all their thrusts, actually forgetful of the revolver I held in my left hand. I was soon reminded of its use by another man coming towards me, pointing a huge pistol like the first two that had so nearly finished me. This entirely recalled my presence of mind, and bringing my revolver into play, I had the satisfaction of seeing him fall in the smoke. At the same instant, however, the slight distraction had nearly proved successful to my spear assailants; one transfixed me, as I thought, though afterwards it appeared I was barely scratched, and the transfixing sensation was caused by the spear tightly pinning my clothes, while before I could parry it, another made a thrust full at my breast. With no time to sweep my cutlass round, I dropped it, and seized the spear-haft within an inch of my body, at the same time using my revolver and shooting the man. Before I could level at another enemy, the man whose spear was fast in my clothes abandoned it and closed with me. Over and over we rolled on the deck. I was unable to use my pistol, and he to use his knife. My left wrist was firmly grasped by his right hand, while my right hand was fully engaged restraining his left, armed with a large dagger.

While struggling on the deck I saw several Chinamen approaching with uplifted spear, to slaughter me in my helpless condition, but each time I had seen the schooner's mate jump over me, exclaiming, as he thrust with his sword, "Lā, lā," and each time I had seen an enemy fall. At last I received a severe blow on the head, and, half-stunned, felt my antagonist releasing his left hand. Just at this moment I was sensible of some one dragging himself along the deck close to me, and ere I could distinguish who or what it was, my revolver was taken from my hand, the Chinaman who had hitherto been holding it abandoned his grip, and knocked my right hand from his left. Instead of feeling his knife pierce me, a pistol was discharged, so close that the flash singed my hair, and the Chinaman fell motionless across me.

From the effect of the blow I had received, and the shock of the near report, I lay for a moment unable to move. I was then aroused by the mate of the schooner dragging the Chinaman off me and assisting me to rise, exclaiming, "Eh, monsieur capitaine, hope I, be gar! vous have no die—Zese sacré—all dead, all run down le fond de calle—de hole, be gar!"

When I recovered my feet, I saw the deck was deserted, except by ourselves and seven or eight Chinamen lying dead or wounded, and the captain of the schooner, who was sitting on the deck with my revolver in his hand—for he it was who had so opportunely rescued me from my antagonist.

Upon examining the captain, we found he had received a severe-looking wound from the first discharge, a ball from one of the horse pistols having struck his breast, and then, glancing, passed through the fleshy part of his left arm.

Of the prostrate Chinese four were dead and four severely wounded. All this happened in far less time than it takes to read it, and just as it was all over my two consorts arrived, and the vessels being anchored close alongside, their owners came on board to ascertain the cause of all the noise and firing.

The Frenchman whom I had taken for the mate of the schooner, proved to be part owner of her. She was from Shanghae, and bound to Chin-kiang with a cargo of sundries and opium. When close to the Lang-shan crossing the crew were observed to be acting very suspiciously, and the lowder (Chinese captain) having altered the course of the vessel, to steer her away to the northern entrance of the river, a favourite haunt of pirates, the captain and owner at once determined to seize and make him a prisoner, rightly suspecting that they had shipped a crew in league with the pirates.

Arming themselves, they went on deck and immediately seized the lowder at the helm, one making him fast while the other threatened him with instant death in case of resistance. Directly the crew saw this they seized up boarding-pikes, hand-spikes, &c., and commenced rushing aft to attack them; but while the captain kept them off with a levelled rifle, the owner, putting his revolver to the lowder's head, swore to blow his brains out if the crew advanced another step.

This had the desired effect, for the lowder quickly called to his colleagues to desist, who at once retired to the fore part of the vessel, leaving their leader in the hands of the Europeans.

After they had been sailing for several hours up the river in this position, they met me; and during their occupation, when I was boarding them, the crew had managed to release the lowder, and made the attack upon us to try and capture the vessel, well knowing the fate which awaited them at Shanghae as pirates.

Had it not been for the prowess and dexterous swordsmanship of the owner, the Chinamen, although with great loss, would undoubtedly have overpowered us. The Frenchman had been maître d'armes in a French regiment, and more than nine killed and wounded were due to his sword, for, besides those left on deck, five or six who had fled below were wounded. Poor fellow! some little time afterwards he was killed by pirates, almost upon the scene of our encounter, when, after bravely defending himself alone on the deck of his vessel against a host of assailants, and killing sixteen with his own hand, the pirates, unable to overcome his splendid swordsmanship, retired to their own vessel and killed him by throwing stink-pots[16] upon him.

We dressed the captain's wounds as well as we were able, and after throwing the dead overboard, and permitting the Chinese to dress their own wounds, we made them all fast; and, remaining by the schooner all night, we had the satisfaction of seeing her taken in tow for Chin-kiang, by a passing river steamer, in the morning.

After this, in company with my consorts, I weighed anchor and proceeded on my voyage to Shanghae. Towards dusk we came within sight of the Lang-shan hills, and as it would have been dangerous to attempt the crossing at night, especially in the vicinity of pirates, we determined to anchor until daylight.

About midnight, I and the mate were alarmed by the look-out man, who rushed into our cabin, singing out—"Jen-dow-li! Jen-dow-li!" (Pirates coming! Pirates coming!)

Jumping out of our berths we hurried on deck, turning all the crew out to get the schooner under weigh.

Rather more than a quarter of a mile up river we observed two heavy junks, and as we were lying to the ebb tide, they were right straight ahead. As they were so distant, and apparently peaceful, people not so experienced as ourselves would never have taken the slightest alarm, and consequently would have become an easy prey.

I perceived at a glance the modus operandi of the junks ahead—they had anchored exactly abreast of each other, but some distance apart; they had then run out a stout rope from the bow of one to the other, and having waited for a dark and favourable opportunity, had weighed their anchors and were now dropping down upon us with the tide, rapidly and noiselessly, hauling in the rope on board either vessel as might be necessary, intending to let it catch across our bows or cable, and thus be swept alongside instantaneously by the strong tide, when their crowds of men could board and make short work of us. Many a vessel unsuspicious of this cunning device has been easily captured, when otherwise she might have beaten off the pirates, or escaped through superior sailing.

Getting under weigh, I determined to drop down with the tide according to the plan of the pirates, as it was likely by that means my movement would for some little time remain undiscovered and give me an opportunity to close with my consorts, anchored more than a mile below.

The moon having just gone down, and the night become quite dark, my design succeeded admirably, and I lessened the distance between myself and allies by at least three quarters of a mile before the pirates gave any sign that they had discovered they were not closing with me. At last, however, we could dimly discern their spreading foresails through the darkness, as they made sail in chase; I was not slow to follow their example, and Philip and myself having armed, prepared to go on board our consorts, they carrying guns, while our vessel mounted none. The only danger was, that our friends might not be keeping a look-out, and that we should have no time to prepare them for defence, or get the guns ready.

We were soon relieved on this point, for our pursuers had the kindness to open fire upon us, and so effectually arouse the crews of the other vessels.

From the loudness and rapidity of the reports, I knew our antagonists were of the formidable west coast class (Ti-mungs), mounting ten or a dozen 12 to 32-pounders. I had but little fear of the result, however, if once on board our friends' vessels, for I knew they each carried two long nines, which well worked—and two of us were good gunners—would soon put the pirates to flight.

The cannonade had only lasted a few minutes, when I perceived the sails of my two consorts close by. I instantly put the lowder in charge of my vessel, and directing him to steer directly after us, took six of my best men in the boat, and pulling to our allies, left my mate and three of the crew on board one of them, and took the other three on board the second with myself.

According to pre-arrangement, I took charge of the operations. The plan I determined upon was to concentrate our fire upon one of the attacking vessels, and to manœuvre so as to bring her into the centre of a circle, the radius of which would be described by our two vessels and the other pirate ship. If this could be carried out, we would be in a position to keep one of the enemy's vessels in the way of the other,—or that one which might be in the centre of the circle, between the fire of its consort and our vessels. Hailing my schooner, I ordered her to keep away in the opposite course until I should open fire, and then to sail back and follow in my wake. This ruse had the desired effect, for while one Ti-mung bore away to engage the schooner, the other seemed inclined to follow our two fighting ships, and act as a cover to her consort's attack.

In a short time we had the satisfaction to bring the two Ti-mungs nearly in a line; and to prevent my own vessel getting too far away and thus running the risk of being carried by the board before we could come to her assistance, we opened fire immediately. The advantageous position we had obtained soon became evident; our opponent mounting about ten broadside guns could of course only fire five at a time, and as both the vessels under my charge carried swivel guns, we could reply with four; the only chance the pirates possessed to overmatch us, was by engaging each of our armed vessels, when the odds would have been more than double in their favour. This, however, they neglected to do, and while one was chasing my schooner,—that now having tacked was following us round in a circle,—and unable to bring a gun to bear on her, having nothing but broadside guns mounted, we were particularly engaged with our more immediate adversary, and completely sailing round her. The pirates' firing was bad and ineffective, not one shot in twenty striking us. I knew that, generally, vessels of the Chinese could only fire their guns with any aim when directly abeam; therefore the continual change of position I compelled her to observe, sadly interfered with their shooting.

In a short time the accuracy of our firing commenced to tell, and our antagonist hauled off to join his consort, making signals to her at the same time. The latter at once abandoned the chase of my schooner, and bore down to assist her companion. I now saw a good opportunity to finish the combat; both vessels were approaching us, and we were steering straight to meet them; I therefore loaded with a double charge of grape and canister, and running down upon them, when within fifty yards, luffed right across their bows, and with our heavily charged guns raked them fore and aft.

It was too dark to see the result of that discharge, but we heard quite enough yelling to convince us it had proved sufficiently destructive to both vessels. The pirates, after a confusion in which it would have been easy to carry them had we had any men to board with, hauled off, and crowded on all sail to escape. This they might not have been permitted to do so easily; but while following them to bestow a few parting shots, the vessel I was on board ran bang ashore. This at once put an end to further pursuit; besides, the Ti-mungs could float in less than half the water we could, by reason of their flat and shallow build. I warned off our other two vessels, and both instantly lowered their sails and anchored while they could. Running a line out to one of them, we soon hove off the bank; as we were getting amongst the Lang-shan shoals, the only thing to be done was to remain at anchor quietly till daylight. We came out of the action with a loss of only one man killed,—his head had been smashed with a round shot,—one wounded by a splinter, one with a grape-shot lodged in his seat of honour, and a pet monkey, belonging to the captain of the vessel I was on board, missing. The loss of the pirates must have been heavy, especially from the salvo of grape and canister at close quarters.

The engagement had barely lasted half an hour, and upon its favourable termination we spent the remainder of the night, or rather morning, in glorification, winding up with a well-spread morning supper. We might fairly have expected we had had enough of pirates for one voyage, yet it was not so, and we were to see more of them before reaching Shanghae.

The morning broke dim and foggy, so thick, in fact, that we were unable to weigh anchor and proceed till late in the day. In consequence of the thick weather, we chose the north channel to pass the Lang-shan crossing, as there we could find good soundings to steer by. We had been following this for some time, and the day had become one of that unsettled changeable kind, leaving us at one moment in the centre of a dense fog, and anon in the midst of a perfectly clear spot surrounded by thick banks, when, during a momentary glimpse of clear weather, a large fleet of Chinese trading junks passed us on their way up the river from Shanghae.

These junks reported that they had been attacked by pirates only a mile or so below, and that two of their number had been captured; the pirates, they said, were in long low boats, imperceptible in the fog until right alongside. This put us upon the qui vive; Philip and myself still remained on board the armed vessels, and sending my schooner on ahead, we followed her, one on each quarter. The fog again closed in upon us, and we had progressed but a very short distance when we heard a tremendous outcry from on board the schooner just ahead: it was so thick, that we were unable to discern anything, but we could plainly hear the Chinamen yelling out that they were attacked by "Jen-dow."

I was just about ordering a gun to be fired to frighten the pirates off, when, before I could give the order, we heard a splashing of oars, and the next minute bang went a gun within half a dozen yards, and a charge of grape or canister hissed and hurtled about our ears. I had barely time to jump off the gun I was sitting upon, depress it to the lowest limit, and fire it off with the cigar in my hand, when the long narrow boat I had laid the gun for—just issuing from the dense fog into the space of a few feet, within which anything could be distinguished—crashed alongside, full of the dead and dying. Every man in that boat seemed stricken, but we had no time for observation, for the instant she touched our side—probably torn to pieces by the grape and langridge—she turned over and sank. From the noise of oars all round us, it appeared as though many boats were rapidly pulling away; only one more came in sight, just sufficiently to receive a dose from the foremost pivot gun, after which she disappeared in the mist. In a few minutes the fog considerably lifted, and there in the distance we saw a squadron of the Imperialist gunboats—of the smallest size—pulling inshore as fast as they could. If instead of employing British gunboats against the Ti-pings, the British authorities had sent them against these, they might have rendered a real service, for many a poor fellow has lost the number of his mess, slaughtered by these murderous wretches, who subsequently became the comrades of British officers and sailors in the waters of both Ningpo and Shanghae. The fog clearing, without further adventure or mishap, we safely reached our destination.

CHAPTER VI.

Upon the 19th of March, 1853, after a short siege of only eleven days, Nankin, the ancient capital of China, fell into the hands of the Ti-pings. Considering the importance of the city, and the strong garrison it contained, its capture was effected very easily. It was attacked from the river, upon the northern side, and while one division sprang a mine under the north-east angle of the wall, another blew down the I-Fung gate, both storming together and carrying the city with but little resistance. The Chinese troops in garrison are stated to have numbered about 15,000, though, considering the unusually large proportion of Tartar troops, it is probable their strength must have been greater. They made scarcely a show of opposition to the stormers, many taking to flight and escaping through the south and west gates, or surrendering and joining the Ti-pings. The Manchoo troops of the Eight Banners are estimated to have mustered at least 8,000, and including their families, not less than 20,000. Yet these men, who had already, in the wars with Great Britain, shown they could fight well and bravely, and who were now in a position to offer a stubborn defence, were killed with hardly an effort to defend themselves. It might naturally have been expected that, for the honour of their nation, for their emperor, for their wives' and their children's, and their own lives, in fact, for everything dear to them, they would at least have made a determined resistance. They well knew from the insurgents' proclamations, and their previous acts, that they would meet with little mercy, but seemed to have been completely paralyzed, and neither able to fight nor flee, throwing themselves on the ground before the victorious Ti-pings and crying "Oh Prince, Prince, spare us! spare us!"

Two days after the capture of Nankin, the Tien-wang announced by proclamation that he had established his court and seat of government there.

It is believed the Ti-pings were materially assisted in the capture of the city by confederates within the walls, who lighted signal fires and created confusion; while the fact of their finding confederates everywhere, even in the Imperialist camps, to post their proclamations with impunity, proves the wide-spread popularity of the movement at that time. With remarkable celerity, within twelve days after the capture of Nankin, the principal adjoining cities were taken and garrisoned. Chin-kiang, Yang-chow, and Kwa-chow fell into the hands of the Ti-pings without opposition, the garrisons having fled with precipitation on their approach.

The capture of these important cities was even of more moment than that of Nankin; for Chin-kiang being situated at the southern entrance of the Grand Canal into the Yang-tze, and Kwa-chow at the northern, gave them entire command of the canal itself, the great medium of communication between the southern provinces and the capital, and the route by which all the grain supplies were conveyed to the north. Immense booty was captured at these places, and conveyed to Nankin. At the latter city the military chest that fell into their hands alone contained about £120,000 sterling; while the stores of rice and provisions were enormous. At Kwa-chow they captured more than a thousand junks laden with tribute grain on its way to Pekin by the Grand Canal.

The singular panic of the Manchoos was probably caused by their fear of a retributive Providence having overtaken them for the indiscriminate slaughter of the Chinese by their ancestors; for in no other way is it easy to account for the helplessness with which they resigned themselves to their fate at Nankin.

The Chinese people at this time seemed to look upon the success of the rebellion as certain. Distant cities commenced to send tribute to the Tien-wang, and a deputation from Hang-chow was directed by the Ti-ping authorities to return, as they were not in want of money, and did not wish the people of Hang-chow to become compromised; thus displaying a praiseworthy consideration for their countrymen, whose fate they well knew would be sealed if they fell into the power of the Manchoos after offering allegiance to themselves.

Exaggerated reports of the Ti-ping successes had reached Shanghae, and it was rumoured they were on the point of attacking that city. In consequence of this, and to undeceive the Ti-pings with regard to the Manchoo proclamations which were diligently circulated, stating the foreign "barbarians" were about to send their war ships against the insurgents at Nankin, Sir George Bonham, H.M.'s plenipotentiary in China, decided to pay a visit to Nankin, partly to explain the British intention of perfect neutrality, and partly to ascertain the extent, creed, and objects of the revolutionists.

Before leaving Shanghae a meeting was held at the British Consulate, to consider the course of policy to be adopted in the event of an attack by the insurgents. Captain Fishbourne, R.N., senior naval officer upon the station, reports:—