we were driven to it, we should find it an easy matter to sweep them out of the city.  They admitted the truth of all he said, offered presents, begged him to go into the city and see their chief (both which proposals he declined); in short, they were contrite and humble.  On his return to the ‘Lee,’ she and her consort lifted their anchors, and we steamed quietly past the city, under the very walls, and within easy gingall shot, for so we were compelled to do by the narrowness of the channel.

[Sidenote:  Nankin.]

December 29th.—­11 A.M.—­We are now approaching Nankin.  I have sent Oliphant, Wade, Lay, and a Mr. W. (a missionary) ahead in the ‘Dove,’ to land, if possible, at the first fort, with the view of going into the town and calling on the authorities.  The ‘Dove’ will then proceed past the other forts to an anchorage on the farther side of the city, to which point the ‘Lee’ and ‘Retribution’ will follow her.  My emissaries will inform the Nankin authorities that I am pleased that they should have apologised for their scandalous conduct towards us on our way up; that we have no intention of meddling with them if they leave us alone; but that we intend to move ships up and down the river, and that they must not be molested.  They have sent me a letter written on a roll of yellow silk, about three fathoms long.  It seems to be a sort of rhapsody, in verse, with a vast infusion of their extraordinary theology.  It is now snowing heavily, so we cannot see far ahead.  It would, I think, be awkward for me to have any intercourse with the Rebel chiefs, so I do not, as at present advised, intend to land.

[Sidenote:  Wildfowl.]

December 30th.—­About 7 P.M., the ‘Dove’ rejoined us with the emissaries.  It appears that they had a long way to go on horseback,—­ some seven or eight miles—­before they reached the Yamun of the chief, who received them.  They do not seem to have learnt much from him.  He professed to be third in the hierarchy of the Rebel Government of Nankin, but was a rather commonplace person.  He said that our bombardment had killed three officers and twenty men, and that they had beheaded the soldiers who fired at us!  Arrangements were made for the free passage of vessels communicating with the ‘Furious.’  They describe their ride through Nankin as if it had been one through a great park,—­trees, and the streets wider than usual in China; but no trade is allowed, and the place seems almost deserted.  There was not quite so much appearance of destruction, but more of desolation, than in any town previously visited by us.  The officer who guided them to the Yamun asked Wade to take him away with us, and on being told that was impossible, applied for opium, saying that he smoked himself, and that about one in three of the force in Nankin did the same.  Whether the original Taiping chief, ‘Hung-Seu-Cheun,’ is still alive or not, we have not been able to