130 Across thé China-Tibet Frontier 
abandoned the long hot ride down the valley, and embarked 
in a coracle for a voyage down the river. This coracle 
was made from three ox-hides sewn together and caulked. 
The framework consisted of four pieces of wood in the 
form of a trapezium, from which the hard semi-globular 
skin was suspended like a bag, expanded below by means 
of a few lianes stretched across like ribs. Its extreme 
length was barely six feet, its breadth three feet, and its 
depth two feet, so that with five men and the luggage on 
board there was not much room to spare, and the gunwale 
was only a foot above the water. It looked the flimsiest 
thing in the world to launch on that great river, but its 
strength and seaworthiness were beyond question. The 
Tibetans navigate many furious rivers in these craft; but 
when they are very drunk it is best not to sail with them, 
for then they fear nothing. 
A single Tibetan formed the crew of our coracle, and 
leaning over the narrow forward end he from time to time 
dug deeply into the water with his paddle, though only for 
the purpose of keeping us well out in the current. Beyond 
that he made no attempt to steer, and we drifted lazily 
down the river, sometimes broadside on, sometimes spin- 
ning slowly round, according to the caprice of conflicting 
currents. When the man put us ashore some fifteen miles 
lower down—it had taken little more than two hours—he 
drew the coracle ashore and picking it up, started off 
homewards with it over his head and shoulders, like a 
gigantic hat. 
It may be worth while to record here a few differences 
I remarked between the Yang-tze at Batang, and its sister 
rivers the Mekong and Salween. A few miles lower down, 
it is true, the Yang-tze is less unlike them, for it also 
flows through a series of terrific gorges; but even there 
it is sufficiently dissimilar in important respects to make 
the following comparison of interest, and this change of 
character itself at once distinguishes the Yang-tze from 
the Mekong and the Salween. 
(i) The Yang-tze is much broader than either of the 
other rivers, probably averaging nearly twice the breadth 
of the Mekong. 
(ii) The mountains rising immediately above the river 
