December 12th.—­Eleven A.M.—­We are on our way back to Shanghae.  I am very glad of it, because we have accomplished all the good we could possibly expect to effect at Hankow, and I am becoming very tired of the length of time which our expedition has lasted.  It is a feat to have reached this point with these big ships at this season of the year, and I think the effect of our visit will be considerable.  The people evidently have no objection to us, and the resistance opposed by the authorities can always be overcome by tact and firmness.

December 13th.—­Nine A.M.—­At about eight we heaved anchor, having carefully buoyed this very awkward passage.  The current ran about four miles an hour, and at some points where the leadsmen were calling out sixteen and seventeen feet, the channel was not much greater than the width of the ship, and we draw about fifteen and a half feet of water, so it was a nervous matter to get through.  To make the vessel answer the helm it was necessary to go faster than the current, and difficult to do this without proceeding at such a rapid rate as would, if we had chanced to take the ground, have stuck us upon it immovably.  We skirted our several buoys in a most masterly manner, and are now anchored till they have been picked up.... Six P.M.—­’Where we had eighteen feet as we came up, we cannot find fourteen now,’ are the ominous words which Captain Osborn has just addressed to me as he reached the deck from a surveying expedition....  It looks a little serious, for I fear there is a worse place beyond.

[Sidenote:  Peasantry.]

     December 14th.—­Six P.M.—­I went on shore this morning when there
    was no prospect of moving....  We took a long walk, conversing with the
    peasants who live in a row of cottages with their well-cultivated
    lands in front and rear of their dwellings; the lands are generally
    their own, and of not more than three or four acres in extent I should
    think, but it is difficult to get accurate information from them on
    such points.  We found one rather superior sort of man, who said he was
    a tenant, and that he paid four out of ten parts of the produce of his
    farm to the landlord.  They gave me the impression of being a well-to-
    do peasantry.  Afterwards I walked through the country town of Paho,
    which is built of stone, and seemingly prosperous.  The Rebels had
    destroyed all the temples.

December 15th.—­Four P.M.—­At about one we had passed the village of Hwang-shih-kiang, and were entering that part of the river I described as a fine site for a Highland deer forest, when the ‘Lee’ hoisted the ‘negative’ (the signal to stop).  She had got on a rock, where, on our way up, we had found no bottom at ten fathoms.  I landed immediately, and found the people engaged in quarrying and manufacturing lime from the hills