2 KIU-KIANG 



the Yang-tze-kiang, with the intention of penetrating 

 Tibet from its eastern boundary. With this object in 

 view I left England on February 7, 1887, in the 

 s.s. Palinurus, bound for Shanghai, with my wife and 

 family, who I intended should accompany me as far as 

 Ichang, the last treaty port on the river. Nothing of 

 any special interest occurred during the voyage, and as 

 it has been frequently described, and is now so often 

 taken by the ordinary globe-trotter, it will receive no 

 notice in this work. 



I arrived on April 2, and after a stay of a week, 

 left in one of the splendid river steamers for Kiu-kiang 

 on my way to Ichang, which place I purposed to make 

 my head-quarters. 



These boats are most luxuriously furnished, and the 

 comfort of passengers is carefully provided for in every 

 way. At Kiu-kiang my real work commenced. This 

 town is situated on the right bank of the river, and 

 just above the Poyang Lake. It is built as high as 

 possible above the ordinary level of the river, but as 

 violent floods occur during the summer, it suffers, like 

 all the other towns on the flat banks of the river, from 

 inundations, floods being caused by the melting of the 

 snow on the mountains among which the river takes 

 its rise. 



Just before reaching Kiu-kiang one of the most 



