220 TEAVEL, ADVENTUKE, AND SPORT. 



a reach where nothing could be seen but the bull- 

 rushes on either hand, and the raging surface of the 

 Great Eiver, we appeared to be steering suddenly 

 against some vertical cliffs, three hundred feet high. 

 There was, however, no time to do more than wonder ; 

 for whilst the leadsman was calling no soundings at 

 fifteen fathoms of line, we were dashed through a sort 

 of portal which the river had chosen to cut for itself 

 through a projecting point in the mountains of Kiang- 

 si, instead of going off sensibly into the flat country 

 of Hu-pe, and making a channel, of any width it 

 pleased. The piece of the mountain thus detached 

 was called the Little Orphan, and a very appropriate 

 name too, considering how ruthlessly it had been torn 

 from its parent in Kiang-si. 



The next day ( Nov. 29 ) brought a change of 

 weather of a most decisive character ; the frost was 

 so intense at five o'clock that the water froze when 

 we tried to wash decks, and the mountain-tops had 

 sheets of snow on them. The gale had ceased, and 

 the air was pure and bracing, with some of the most 

 beautiful scenery in the world slowly revealing itself 

 as we neared the entrance of the Poyang Lake. By 

 noon we were there. It seemed as if some gigantic 

 hand had cleft a portal through the mountains of 

 Kiang-si to allow the union of the river and the lake, 

 and that the portion removed had been placed a little 

 in advance of the opening to mark the achievement. 

 We had seen some fine scenery in our time, but seldom 



