4 A NATURALIST IN WESTERN CHINA 



greatest difficulty is experienced between Hankow and Ichang, 

 and this section is operated by a small fleet of shallow draught 

 steamers specially built for the trade. The regular steamer- 

 fleet plying between Shanghai and Hankow is also specially 

 designed for the service and is luxuriously fitted. Ocean-going 

 steamers of deep draught can ascend as far up as Hankow, 

 except in low-water season. In summer the river overflows 

 and invades much of the low-lying country contiguous to its 

 course, and the chief difficulty in navigation at such times is 

 to keep to the channel. The difference between summer and 

 winter level is very considerable and varies to a large extent, 

 according to the width of the river and the nature of its banks. 

 At Ichang the river is iioo yards from bank to bank, and the 

 average difference between summer and winter levels is about 

 40 feet ; in the gorges which commence some 5 miles west of 

 Ichang, the river is narrowed to a third of its usual breadth and 

 the difference exceeds 100 feet. Above Ichang the river is 

 obstructed by rapids, rocks, and other impedimenta, and is 

 navigated by specially built native boats that range up to 

 80 tons displacement. The difficulties of navigation are 

 more especially confined to the stretch of the river between 

 Ichang and Wan Hsien, a distance of about 200 miles. From 

 Wan Hsien to Pingshan Hsien, some 500 miles farther west, 

 the navigation becomes easier. 



Much has been wTitten on the possibility of opening the 

 Yangtsze River to merchant steamer traffic from Ichang west- 

 wards. So long ago as April 1900, two British river gunboats 

 of shallow draught, small in beam and length, and of a special 

 design, ascended as far as Chungking, the commercial capital 

 of Western China, distant above Ichang some 400 miles. Later 

 these boats ascended as far west as Pingshan Hsien and one of 

 them succeeded in reaching Mei Chou, a city on the Min (Fu) 

 River, about 140 miles above its junction with the Yangtsze at 

 Sui Fu. Since this exploit two larger and more powerful 

 British gunboats have been built for this work and are now 

 stationed at Chungking, which has been made a naval base. 

 France and Germany, following the British lead, have also 

 gunboats stationed at Chungking. During suitable seasons 

 these craft move up and down the river, and regularly every 



