as you please,' was the answer given. Of
course, the difficulties immediately vanished. Considerable
indignation was expressed at the fact that some of our officers had
been prevented from entering the town of Ouchang yesterday. A hope was
expressed that nobody would land on the Ouchang side to-day; all would
be arranged by to-morrow to our satisfaction, &c. &c. So, after an
interview, in which there was the necessary admixture of the bitter
and the sweet, the officer was sent back to his master. Supplies are
coming off in abundance to the ships. In short, the people are most
desirous to buy and sell, if the authorities will only leave them
alone. _Six P.M._--I have had a long walk on the same side of the
river as yesterday. We first went through the whole depth of Hankow,
on a line parallel with the river Han. We estimated our walk in this
direction at about two miles, but a good deal of it was along a single
street flanked on both sides by ruins. We then embarked in a sanpan
and came down the Han, passing through a multitude of junks of great
variety in shape and cargo. We landed near its mouth on the Han-yang
side, and walked to that town, which is a Foo or prefectoral city, and
walled. It contains the remains of some buildings of pretension,
triumphal arches, &c., which, imply that it must have been a place of
some distinction, but it has been sadly maltreated by the Rebels.

_December 9th.--Four P.M._--The day is rainy, and the purser complains
of difficulty in making his purchases yesterday, and that coal is not
coming off to us as promised, &c.; so I thought it expedient to do a
little in the bullying line to keep all straight. When the Governor-
General therefore sent off this morning to say that he was ready to
receive me, I despatched Wade and Lay to inform him in reply that the
day was too bad for me to land, and that I had to complain of the
difficulties put in my way about money, &c. He received them in
person, and was very gracious; said that he had been at Canton; that
he understood all about us; that if he had been there, Yeh would never
have behaved as he did; that in former days the Chinese Government had
bullied us; that we had bullied them of late years; that it was much
better that henceforward we should settle matters reasonably; that he
was desirous to show me every