When we were all stowed in our separate cages, we were carried down to the side of the canal, and placed in boats, two cages in each boat, attended by a mandarin officer and several soldiers. My companion was a marine, one who had come ashore in the junk with Webb and Wombwell, and was still suffering from the effects of his beating, besides being almost dead with dysentery. We lay alongside the quay till nearly midnight, the soldiers and other people constantly running backwards and forwards on shore, with torches and gongs, shouting and making a great noise. About midnight we shoved off, and started down the canal; but as the junk was covered over, and it was very dark, I could see nothing of the country. We soon appeared to be in a wider stream, as they made sail on the boat, and we went along at a rapid rate. In the morning I found that we had got out of the canal, and were in a river, going down with wind and tide. At any other time I should have enjoyed myself very much, but at present my future prospects were too far from agreeable, to allow of anything approaching to enjoyment. The banks of the river appeared to be well cultivated; here and there some military stations might be seen, distinguished from the other houses by their flag-staffs. Many junks were moored alongside the bank, some very large, one in particular, whose long streamers flew gaily out in the breeze. We stopped at a town on the left bank, where the soldiers got some firewood, and immediately set to work to prepare breakfast; rice, and some compounds of I know not what, for themselves, and sweet cakes and tea for me and my companion; but he was too ill to eat, and was constantly craving for water, which was never denied him. On our arrival at this town, the people crowded into our boat, nearly capsizing her; and to my surprise our guards made no attempt to keep them out, but on the contrary rather encouraged them. They had not long to satisfy their curiosity, for as soon as the soldiers had procured all they wanted, the boat was shoved off, and they hoisted the sail again. We continued our way down the stream till we arrived at another large town on the left bank. Here we stopped again, and I could soon see we were to be disembarked. The people crowded to see us as usual, but one of the soldiers, throwing part of the sail over the tops of our cages, kept watch over us, and would allow no one to molest us.