This was to be the limit; and the chairen, I was assured, would consider this a generous return for accompanying me 227 miles over one of the most mountainous roads in China.
It was a pleasant walk along the river-bank in the fertile alluvial, where the poppy in white flower and tobacco were growing, and where fields of yellow rape-seed alternated with beds of rushes--the rape-seed yielding the oil, and the rushes the rushlights of Chinese lamps.

Flocks of wild geese were within easy shot on the sandbanks--the "peaceful geese," whose virtues are extolled by every Chinaman.

They live in pairs, and, if one dies, its mate will be for ever faithful to its memory.

Such virtue is worthy of being recorded on the arch which here spans the roadway, whose Chinese characters, _Shen_ (holy), _Chi_ (will), show that it was erected by the holy decree of the Emperor to perpetuate the memory of some widow who never remarried.
As we walked along the missionary gave instructions to my men.

"In my grace I had given them very light loads; hurry and they would be richly rewarded"-- one shilling extra for doing fourteen stages in eleven days.
At an inn, under the branches of a banyan tree, we sat down and had a cup of tea.