164 START UP BIVER 



officers at places where passports are issued to act in 

 compliance with our request. 



' (Signed) Ya, Viceroy of Sze-chuen.' 



The boat was evidently taken for one of foreign 

 build because of her colour, and as to the statements 

 said to have been made by Mr. Kricheldorff and myself 

 that we were purchasing goods as we went along, they 

 were mere fabrications. 



However, the Consul wrote to Sir John Walsham at 

 Pekin, enclosing a copy of the letter, and I also wrote 

 explaining matters. After I had left on a second 

 journey to Kia-ting-fu a reply came, saying that 

 H. B. Majesty's Minister considered that it was a rash 

 proceeding to have gone as far as Chung-king in a boat 

 that might be mistaken for a foreign one. 



I should add that when the boat was varnished all 

 over she attracted no attention whatever. 



Arriving at Ichang on February 8, 1890, I set to 

 work at once preparing for the journey up river again, 

 engaging trackers and crew, and seeing that a large 

 supply of boxes, nets, &c., were got on board, and I 

 left for my second trip up the river on February 18, 

 being determined to get to Ta-tsien-lu in time for the 

 earUest species. 



At Huang-yang-mu, just beyond the Ichang Gorge, 



