A Woman's Journey Round The World, From Vienna To Brazil, Chili, Tahiti, China, Hindostan, Persia, And Asia Minor By Ida Pfeiffer
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The Chickens Are Hatched, As They Are In
Egypt, By Artificial Heat.
On our return from the village to the pagoda, we saw two schampans
run in shore, and a number of swarthy, half-naked, and mostly armed
men jump out, and hasten through the fields of rice directly to
where we were.
We set them down as pirates, and awaited the upshot
with a considerable degree of uneasiness. We knew that, if we were
right in our supposition, we were lost without hope; for, at the
distance we were from Canton, and entirely surrounded by Chinese,
who would have been but too ready to lend them assistance, it would
have been doubly easy for pirates to dispatch us. All idea of
escape or rescue was out of the question.
While these thoughts were flashing across our minds, the men kept
approaching us, and at length their leader introduced himself as the
captain of a Siamese man-of-war. He informed us, in broken English,
that he had not long arrived with the Governor of Bangkok, who was
proceeding for the rest of the way to Pekin by land. Our fears were
gradually dispelled, and we even accepted the friendly invitation of
the captain to run alongside his ship and view it, on our return.
He came in the boat with us, and took us on board, where he showed
us everything himself: the sight, however, was not a particularly
attractive one. The crew looked very rough and wild; they were all
dressed in a most slovenly and dirty manner, so that it was utterly
impossible to distinguish the officers from the common men.
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