CHAPTER III. 



PASSAGE OF THE YELLOW RIVER — MARCH TO YU-LIN FU. 



^^N October 29th we proceeded to cross the river, an undertaking which 

 required some little management owing to the recent heavy rains. 

 Several large ferry-boats were brought over from Huang-ho-yeh, and into 

 these the mules and baggage were all bundled without further ceremony ; 

 though anyone who knows the Chinese boatman, and the Chinese muleteer 

 and mule, will realise that the operations were conducted without any very 

 elaborate regard to silence. Each ferry-boat was divided into three compart- 

 ments, of which two were occupied by the animals, and the third by their 

 loads. The crossing — effected by keeping the nose of the boat pointed at an 

 angle up and across the stream — was a perilous undertaking. As each of the 

 unwieldy craft approached the western shore it was caught in a swirling eddy, 

 and seemed bound to capsize, but at this juncture, the ferrymen, bending 

 vigorously to their oars, forced it slowly to the land. These oars are effective 

 but very primitive in pattern, usually split tree-trunks, one end pared down to 

 form a handle, and each is manned by two or three men. The mules showed 

 no reluctance to leave the ferry-boats, which, by the end of a passage, 

 contained several inches of water. It took five hours to get the whole caravan 

 across, and we were fortunate in that no losses were sustained. The current 

 was running like a mill-race, and, had one of the oars broken under the strain 

 to which it was subjected, the result would have been disaster. 



At last, when all had been landed safely, the pack-train, preceded by the 

 Staff on their ponies, entered the mouth of a deep gorge leading westward. 

 The walls of this caiion rose sheer for over a hundred feet and the floor was 

 very rough, strewn with boulders and square masses of rock. A comparatively 

 large stream flowed through the cafion, and the strata, which were of sand- 

 stone, exhibited surfaces honeycombed in a peculiar manner. The remains of 

 a well-paved road were in places recognisable, and seemed to suggest that this 

 had been at one time an important highway. For some distance the canon 

 continued rugged and bare, but at one place, where it narrowed, a small stone 

 fort guarded the passage. At last the loess began to show on the sides, and 

 we noticed the first village, or sign of cultivation, since leaving Huang-ho-yeh. 

 A steep ascent was made and camp was pitched near a village named 



16 



