16 TRADE OF ICHANG 



much as thirty inches in length, they have when per- 

 fect and poHshed a very handsome appearance. Very 

 powerful bows may be purchased here, and I brought 

 home two, as well as some arrows. They are carried 

 by some of the Chinese soldiery in the district, who are 

 very well skilled in their use. 



As the weather was now much cooler than when I 

 first arrived, I found it more pleasant to explore the 

 city, which is walled, and with, as usual, very narrow 

 streets. It is comparatively clean to some Chinese 

 towns I have been in, and contains about 70,000 in- 

 habitants. 



There is a large guild (called the Sze-chuen guild) on 

 the bank of the river, and this is of considerable import- 

 ance to the town. It is, of course, entirely for the 

 up-river trade, and as the character of the river here 

 changes completely (the banks instead of being flat 

 become precipitous, for the mountainous region is 

 nearly now reached), the navigation becomes much more 

 difl[icult. The Hankow boatmen, indeed, refuse to pro- 

 ceed further, and if the same boat is to continue to 

 ascend she must have another crew. The greater part 

 of the population is engaged in the transport of goods 

 in one way or another, there being a very large export 

 as well as import trade. Of the exports, the principal 

 are medicines brought down from Sze-chuen and Tibet ; 



