On reaching the Pagoda anchorage,--which is at the termination of ship navigation on the Min,--we learned that the _Jacob Bell_ would not be ready to sail for two or three weeks, during which time, through the kind hospitality of the house of Messrs. Olyphant & Co., we were entertained at their residence in Fuh-chau.[37] With the exception of Hong Kong and Macao, there are no hotels for the accommodation of foreigners in any of the ports of Southern China. At every place, however, strangers meet with the most agreeable hospitality from the foreign residents, who throw open their houses and welcome them with a delicate heartiness and kind sincerity which no grateful words can overpraise. Their houses are spacious; and as every one travels with a servant who takes charge of his apartment, the guest is quite as much at home as he would be in his own house. We made the sail from the anchorage to the city of Fuh-chau--which is about twelve miles further up the river--in a pleasure-boat belonging to the Imperial Customs. The boat, which was large, and furnished with sails,--although differently constructed from the Canton “matrimonials,”--had a cabin which was fitted up in a similar manner. When leaving the anchorage we not only had the tide with us, but the wind was also favorable, and until we had taken one or two turns in the river,--which brought us under the lee of a considerable mountain,--we sailed with very good speed. We then, however, came to a dead calm; but after our eight stalwart Fuh-chauan boatmen had been for a long time sitting quietly and waiting for a propitious wind, we heard a low, wind-like whistle, and as it became louder discovered that, sailor-like, they were whistling to call to their aid a friendly breeze. How long this would have lasted I cannot say, as here Mr. W---- interposed, ordering the chief man to bid them take to their oars, which they readily did; and while plying them sang in a nasal, and at times in a harsh, guttural tone a monotonous refrain, to which they not only kept time with their oars, but also with their feet. Landing at the hong of Messrs. Olyphant & Co., we were soon comfortably domiciled in their new and spacious mansion, which occupies a beautiful location, upon a fine eminence, on the south bank of the river, where most of the foreigners have their residences.