. New China and old : personal recollections and observations of thirty years. by CaptainRoderick Dew. They still hung round the neighbour-hood ; and occasionally the boom of a gun reminded meof the possible proximity of the foe. I could discernindeed in the north-west the outline of the hills nearthe city of Yii-yao, which was at that very time beingbesieged by the English gun-boats and trained Chinesetroops. Two days later I ascended the eastern spur of the hillby moonlight. As I left the monastery at three monks were being summoned to early matins ; andthe sharp echoing blow on the
. New China and old : personal recollections and observations of thirty years. by CaptainRoderick Dew. They still hung round the neighbour-hood ; and occasionally the boom of a gun reminded meof the possible proximity of the foe. I could discernindeed in the north-west the outline of the hills nearthe city of Yii-yao, which was at that very time beingbesieged by the English gun-boats and trained Chinesetroops. Two days later I ascended the eastern spur of the hillby moonlight. As I left the monastery at three monks were being summoned to early matins ; andthe sharp echoing blow on the wooden fish ^ was theonly sound to disturb the deep repose of that summernight, save the call of a roaming deer, and the occasionalclack of the watchers against wild boar, or the creakof the all-night-long revolution of the pumps in therice-fields far below. I reached the summit with thefirst flush of dawn. My object was to see sunrise over 1 A hollow piece of wood in the shape of a fish ; struck toawaken the attention of the god to the prayers and incantationswhich Ill Danger from Civil War. 3 the wide Chusan Archipelago and the sea. The skywas somewhat overcast ; but the view was magnificent,and well repaid the toil of the long climb. And whatthoughts of Chinas possibilities did those two prospectssuggest—the summer afternoon gaze towards the distantTaipings ; and the morning survey of Chusan ! Six weeks later the Taipings suddenly reassembledtheir forces, and swooped down on Ningpo a second time,100,000 strong, vowing vengeance against foreignerswhom they had respected on the occasion of their firstinroad. Some of our native converts, hiding in terrorup to their necks in water amongst the rushes by thecanal side, heard the host pass by ; a long, ceaselesstramp of twelve hours duration. We were fast shut upin Ningpo, and in great danger for some days ; and wewere saved only just in time by a detachment fromthe European trained troops at Shanghai. That greatRebellio
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