China. It seemed more European than Chinese, and possibly may point to Ricci's Jesuit mission to that part of the province in 1 590. It is, however, said to have once been one of the greatest Buddhist establishments in Cathay. On the way back from this old shrine I passed over classic ground, where the rocks are in- scribed with the praises of Chu-fu-tze, a celebrated Confucian commentator and philosopher who lived in the twelfth century.
The next point at which I touched was Nanking, the ancient capital of China, where there was no foreign settlement, nor any port open for trade. It was dark when, with my boys and baggage and two Chinese officers of the Governor-General's household, I descended from the steamer '^Hirado" into a native boat, and landed on the muddy bank beneath the outer walls of this famous city. We had to spend the night in a small shed which had been provided for the convenience of passengers making use of the river steamers. The place was crowded with an orderly company of natives, who very kindly made room for me to repose myself on a table; but it was in vain that I courted sleep, for the air was obscured by clouds of tobacco-smoke, and conversation was kept up with an incessant clamour all night through. As it happened the talk was of the deepest interest; Tseng-kuo-fan, the Chinese general who had fought side by side with Li-hung-chang and Colonel Gordon in the suppression of the Taiping rebellion, had just expired at his palace in Nanking. Many present said that he had perished by his own hand, or had succumbed to an overdose of gold- leaf; whereas the truth was, as I afterwards discovered, that he had died in a fit of apoplexy, the second with which he had been attacked. His death was a great disappointment to me, as my chief motive in visiting Nanking had been to see the celebrated leader, and, if possible, obtain his likeness for my
