CHAPTER III - ICHANG AND ITS ENVIRONS

Summary

The foreign community of Ichang comprises a Commissioner of Customs with an indoor assistant, who combines medical with clerical duties, and two outdoor examiners. These, with the missionaries—one Scotch Presbyterian and his wife, and two Roman Catholics—form the whole resident foreign population. The British Consul appointed to the port resided, at the time of my visit, at Hankow. I was much pleased at finding a medico here, as, shortly before landing, while walking along the river-bank, following the boat, a dog had rushed out of the wheat, and bitten me in the calf of the leg through my knickerbocker stocking, and I now let myself be thoroughly cauterized. These dogs in China are the bane of one's existence; they seem to have a mad antipathy to the barbarian, that the longest acquaintance fails to modify; the scent, appearance, or sound of his movements seems to infuriate them to madness; they rush out violently barking, and as a rule stop short of biting, but to any one with sensitive nerves there is no enjoyment in a walk outside the police-guarded roads of the larger “settlements.” In the present instance I was attacked by a dog who did not bark, and I had no stick ready for him; but such instances are rare.

I met with that cordial reception which Englishmen always extend to each other in these distant parts, and took up my quarters for the time, ashore.