Page:A Residence Among the Chinese.djvu/25

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THE CHINESE:

INLAND, ON THE COAST, AND AT SEA.


CHAPTER I.

Arrival at Shanghae — Kindness of Mr. Beale — An earthquake — Chinese superstitions — Hairs said to come out of the ground — An examination and the result — Reports of a sunken village — Preparations to visit it — Contradictory statements — The truth at last!— The Chinese rebellion — Its rise and progress — Taking of Nanking — Alarm at Shanghae — Means taken for protection — Taoutai's request for foreign aid — Sir George Bonham proceeds to Nanking — Arrogance of the insurgents — War-vessels of America and France visit them — The religion of the insurgents fanaticism — An extraordinary official statement — Future prospects as regards Christianity.

On the 14th of March, 1853, the Peninsular and Oriental steam-ship "Ganges," in which I was a passenger, sailed from Hong-kong for the port of Shanghae — the most northerly of the five at which foreigners are permitted to trade. The wind for the most part of the way was "right a-head," and sometimes it blew almost a gale; but the good ship, being powerful for her size, and well found in everything, ploughed the ocean "like a thing of life," and notwithstanding head winds and heavy seas we anchored in the Shanghae river four daysB

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