'
Having said farewell to our kind hostess, we went off in the
house-boat to the steamer. There was a great crowd on the lower
deck--at least 900 Chinamen--to struggle through in order to reach the
European quarters. We found other friends on board, who had come to
see us off.
A few minutes before nine o'clock the bell rang as a signal for our
friends' departure, and we steamed ahead, among such a crowd of
sampans and junks that it was more like moving through a town than
along a river. No accident, however, occurred, though one junk and one
sampan had the very narrowest escape.
The voyage down took much longer than our voyage up, on account of the
tide being against us, and in consequence we did not reach Hongkong
until 3.30 p.m., when the gig with the children was soon alongside. We
got off as soon as we could, for we expected some friends to afternoon
tea on board the yacht. There was just time to dress before the first
visitors arrived, and by half-past six at least two hundred had come.
At one time quite a flotilla of boats lay around us, looking very
pretty with all their flags flying. I think the people enjoyed it very
much as something new, and we only wanted a band to enliven the
proceedings.
_Tuesday, March 6th_.--The little girls and I went ashore at 7.
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