Page:Ningpo to Shanghai.djvu/78

64 of beech nut, too, oily in the fruit, and as brown as if exposed to the action of fire. But the road is very narrow here, in some places not wider than a man's foot, and generally impassable excepting on dry sunny days.

From Le-san-yow to Toong-haen a large village of 100 families on both sides of a valley, the distance is about five le in a W.N.Wly. direction. There are two taverns at Toong-haen, where travellers can quarter;&mdash;and as there is no monastery, and no priest, so there is no choice, and the best must be made of the miserable accomodations at command. The valley here, running from W. S. W. to E. N.E. is about a quarter of a mile across, and in beautiful cultivation;&mdash;but, unused to the sight of foreigners, and at no great distance from the scene of active operations between the Rebels and Imperialists, the reception accorded to foreigners, at first, is mingled with what appears to be distrust of his intentions.*     * Finding that enquiries regarding the fighting bands were not palateable, they were not persisted in. The information given, too, was most contradictory By one it would be asserted that Ning-kwoh foo was in the hands of the insurgents; by another that it never had been in their possession; by a third that it had, but was evacuated. The last tale was afterwards found to be the true one. An Imperialist Soldier came to Ningpo bringing from Ningkwoh foo certain of the Patriot Books of religious doctrine, and in one of them was found the following ode.&mdash;

