A CRUISE UP THE YANGSTZE IN 1858-59. 217 



river which formed its great highway, that told its 

 own tale, and very significantly too; but still that 

 river formed a noble object, and gave all its import- 

 ance to this valley. Ascending our mast-heads at any 

 point we might happen to be when traversing the 

 above-named distance, it was a panorama unequalled 

 in all its grandeur to look down on the Great Eiver, 

 flowing in fine reaches of ten or fifteen miles in length, 

 and sometimes a mile in width, with a mean depth of 

 forty feet of water ; here and there twisting and re- 

 curving as if in wantonness, yet still striking against 

 the high lands on the southern shore, and chafing at 

 their feet as it rolled its golden tide to the bosom of 

 the Pacific ; then again splitting in the plain, and 

 enclosing within its arms some great island rich with 

 all the fatness of China, and covered with farms, 

 herds, and cultivation, all of which you would be 

 sorry to insure against being swept away some day in 

 one of those frightful inundations, marked high up 

 the rocks, or here and there in sand-covered plains. 

 But now, soon after passing Ngan-king, we find 

 ourselves steering a more southerly course, and enter 

 upon quite a different scene. We leave the province 

 of Ngan-king, and enter that of Kiang-si, at least just 

 skirt its north-east corner. Mountains of vast altitude 

 are seen on the southern hand, some of which must 

 have been at least 15,000 feet high, but they are far 

 off, whilst near the banks of the river they vary from 

 2000 to 600 feet in height. Northward, or on our 



