126 Land Magnetic Observations, 1914-20 



and mud. The country is hilly, but though the slopes are steep, the hills are not high, 

 and the road undulates gently over them. Kienchangfu, a large walled city with a popu- 

 lation of about 30,000 people, was reached from Chikai by small boat on September 28. 

 A massive bridge spans the river, which is about one-fourth mile wide, though the actual 

 channel is considerably restricted by shallows and sandbanks. The city is a shipping 

 place for local products and is famous for its medicines. Oranges and peanuts, and 

 large rafts of timber come from Nanfeng and other places further up river. 



We continued by small boat from Kienchangfu to Fuchow, a busy walled city of 

 60,000 population, 50 miles downstream to the northwest. An unpleasant feature of 

 this stage was a cooking fire that successfully smoked everybody out of the interior of 

 the boat whenever it wis lighted. Compared with the Min River and its branches, the 

 Fu is very uninteresting, flowing through a sandy bed about half a mile wide, with very 

 little current. The country is generally flat and featureless, except for some abrupt 

 red sandstone hills and cliffs near Kienchangfu. The manufacture of dye is a local 

 industry of this district, where the banks of the river are often lined with large tubs in 

 which the indigo plant is soaked and the blue dye extracted. We started in the evening 

 of October 2 for Nanchang by small boat. A strong head wind and wet weather delayed 

 the boat journey to Siapu, a market village and transshipping point about 50 miles down 

 stream, which was not reached till the night of October 4. Thence a wheelbarrow 

 journey of 40 li (14 miles) across an intensely cultivated plain was made to Nanchang, 

 a large city of 750,000, the provincial capital and mart town of Kiangsi. It is connected 

 by rail and by steamer with Kiukiang, a treaty port on the Yangtze, while, in the high- 

 water season, small launches ascend the Kan River to Kanchow. The journey from 

 Yenpingfu to Nanchang lasted from September 18 to October 5, and presented no special 

 difficulties. Mandarin is usually understood, but the boat people and country folk 

 have a dialect quite different. The people are friendly and enlightened, and supplies 

 are obtainable in the majority of towns. Boats should be used as far as possible, as 

 carriers are expensive and unsatisfactory. 



The journey from Nanchang to Hangchow across Kiangsi and Chekiang provinces 

 via Kwangsinfu proved to be a simple undertaking, involving only three days of actual 

 overland travel. The route follows up the Kwangsin River to Yushan and thence 

 crosses a low divide to Changshan, the head of boat nagivation on the Ku Ho. During 

 the high-water season in the spring and summer, a launch can be taken to Anjen and 

 the journey to Kwangsinfu continued up river by small boat via Iyang. Iyang may 

 also be reached from Nanchang by a 5-day overland trip with carriers and wheelbarrows, 

 but I chose a route via Jaochow which gave a better distribution of stations, was just 

 as quick, and involved only 2 days of wheelbarrow travel. 



On October 8 the daily launch was boarded for Jaochow, a large city near the east- 

 ern shores of the Poyang Lake. The passage usually takes about 8 hours, but by 

 evening only half the distance had been covered, as the boat was tied up every few hours 

 alongside the bank in order to draw the fires and cool the engines and boiler. The 

 following morning, soon after entering the lake, the launch ran hard and fast on a sand- 

 bank, and defied all efforts to shift her till the afternoon, when a number of fishermen 

 were signaled to assist. Jaochow was eventually reached October 9, after a delay of 

 25 hours on a trip supposed to last but 8. Jaochow, now a long main-street following 

 the river bank, its old city walls inclosing fields, ruins, and residences, suffered con- 

 siderably during the Taiping Rebellion. 



A start was made the same evening by small boat for Shihchenkai, 70 li to the east 

 up the Nan Kiang, and by all-night travel the little town was reached early the follow- 

 ing morning, October 11, where five wheelbarrows were hired to transport the baggage 

 and Mr. Loh and the cook to Iyang Ki, 50 miles to the southeast, and a carrier engaged 



