[Illustration: THE TEA HONG.]
The boat coolies were straining on the tow-rope a hundred yards ahead.
Frequently we passed some fisherman sitting in his little mat hut, with
his feet on the windlass that raised his great square net; but never
did we see them catch a fish, although on our return the same men were
working as assiduously as ever. The country presented the same compact
system of farming, the hills in many places being terraced to their
very summits, and planted with waving crops of wheat and millet, beans,
and vegetables of every description. Toward noon we passed the "Ta" and
"Lao Kin Shan" (great and little golden mountain), and by the time
Aling had announced "tiffin" (luncheon), we were abreast of Kin Kow, a
picturesque village in the neighborhood of which I generally found
some excellent shooting. After tiffin we again resumed our camp-stools.
I lighted a cigar, and Akong smoked his hubble-bubble, a small copy of
the nargileh of the Turks. The river was alive with junks, some going
in the same direction as ourselves, and others loaded with tea,
charcoal, vegetable tallow, oil of various kinds, and gypsum, brought,
most of them, from the far western province of Sze Chuen.
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