perpetuated in a popular rhyme which reflects severely on the morals
of its inhabitants. Shielded by the sea, and near enough to the
land to strike with ease at any point of the neighbouring coast,
the British forces found here a secure camping-ground in their
first war.

To the eastward lies the sacred Isle of Putu, the Iona of the China
coast. With a noble landscape, and so little land as to offer no
temptation to the worldly, it was inevitable that the Buddhists
should fix on it as a natural cloister. For many centuries it has been
famous for its monasteries, some of which are built of timbers taken
from imperial palaces. Formerly the missionaries from neighbouring
seaports found at Putu refuge from the summer heat, but it is now
abandoned, since it afforded no shelter from the petty piracy at
all times so rife in these waters.

In 1855 Mr. (afterward Bishop) Russell and myself were captured by
pirates while on our way to Putu. The most gentlemanly freebooters
I ever heard of, they invited us to share their breakfast on the
deck of our own junk; but they took possession of all our provisions
and our junk too, sending us to our destination in a small boat,
and promising to pay us a friendly visit on the island. 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,
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