CHAPTER II

Trip up the Shu-Kiang river--My fellow-passengers and their costumes--A damaged bell--Female peasants on the river-banks--I am caught up and carried off by a laughing virago--Arrival at Canton--Early trading between China and Ceylon and Africa, etc.--The Empress Lui-Tseu teaching the people to rear silk-worms--The treaties of Nanking and Tien-tsin--Bombardment of Canton--Murder of a French sailor and terrible revenge--M. Vaucher and I explore Canton--The _fétes_ in honour of the Divinity of the North and of the Queen of Heaven--General appearance of Canton--An emperor's recipe for making tea--How tea is grown in China--The Fatim garden--A dutiful son--Scene of the murder of the Tai-Ping rebels--The Temple of the five hundred Genii--Suicide of a young engineer--Return of his spirit in the form of a snake 33