Page:Ling-Nam; or, Interior views of southern China, including explorations in the hitherto untraversed island of Hainan (IA cu31924023225307).pdf/75

 Through the Delta. 71

job, to pull the boat up by main strength, or make a détowr of ten miles to the south by canal. A heavy stone wall protects the bank from erosion, and facing the rapids stands a temple to the Queen of Heaven, the patron goddess of sailors. The boatmen always offer incense and wax tapers, sometimes fowls and pork, at this shrine to seeure a safe passage,

Emerging from the narrow creeks aud canals of the low-lying delta, the broad West River appears rolling down in stately volume. Its waters rise and fall with the tide, which checks, but cannot overeome, the strong current. Beyond its western bank to the north rise the Ku-lo Hills, covered in places with a heavy growth of camphor trees, which are hewn and shipped to Canton to be made into boxes, chests, and furniture. Large plantations of the fragrant Ku-lo tea, so highly prized by the Chinese, cover the slopes of these hills, at the foot of which lies the town of Ku-lo with its opium- besotted people.

Sailing down the broad stream, a deep sense of peace comes over us as we lie dreaming on the upper deck, under the shadow of the grass-mat sail. Our reverie is broken by the captain asking if we want to buy a fish, and we descend to barter for a fine specimen of sam-lai, or Chinese shad, a fish of most exquisite flavour. A group of large grey cranes ou the sandy heach attract attention as they stand, three or four feet high, lazily searching for shell-fish.

Before us, as we sail, rises the pyramidal form of Chii-t’ow-shan, “ Pig’s-Head Hill,” a rocky island crowned by a small watch tower. A guard boat marks it as a