One of
them, who had taken my friend's watch, came to the owner to ask him
how to wind it. The Rev. Walter Lowrie, founder of the Presbyterian
Mission at Ningpo, was not so fortunate. Attacked by pirates nearly
on the same spot, he was thrown into the sea and drowned.
Passing these islands we come to the Ningpo River, with Chinhai,
a small city, at its mouth, and Ningpo,
[Page 19]
a great emporium, some twelve miles inland. This curious arrangement,
so different from what one would expect, confronts one in China with
the regularity of a natural law: Canton, Shanghai, Foochow, and
Tientsin, all conform to it. The small city stands at the anchorage
for heavy shipping; but the great city, renouncing this advantage,
is located some distance inland, to be safe from sea-robbers and
foreign foes.
As we ascend the river we are struck with more than one peculiar
mode of taking fish. We see a number of cormorants perched on the
sides of a boat. Now and then a bird dives into the water and comes
up with a fish in its beak. If the fish be a small one, the bird
swallows it as a reward for its services; but a fish of considerable
size is hindered in its descent by a ring around the bird's neck
and becomes the booty of the fisherman. The birds appear to be
well-trained; and their sharp eyes penetrate the depths of the
water. Another novelty in fishing is a contrivance by which fish are
made to catch themselves--not by running into a net or by swallowing
a hook, but by leaping over a white board and falling into a boat.
Pages:
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34