30 Through the Yang-tse Gorges 



10,000 catties (six tons) and up-stream 4000 catties (two 

 and a half tons). It is now laden with about one ton of 

 luggage and stores, including several piculs of rice for the 

 crew, numbering six in all, besides five passengers who form 

 our party — making the draft just fourteen inches ; but the 

 peculiarity of the boat is her lightness of build, resembling 

 in that respect the rapid boats of Japan : built of oak 

 planking, she has no timbers, no flooring, and, except 

 forward, no deck ; but she is held together by five bulk- 

 heads which divide the central portion of the boat into four 

 holds, besides the tapering bow and stern, in the former of 

 which are the crew's quarters and galley, and in the latter 

 reside our cook, with his portable earthenware stove, and 

 the helmsman. We in the centre are thus literally between 

 two fires, and get the benefit of the acrid wood-smoke from 

 whichever side the wind comes. The planking is one inch 

 only, and as the place of the flooring is taken by a sort of 

 light bamboo platform at the bottom of each hold, upon 

 which the cargo rests, the whole has great elasticity, and 

 three men run her along at three to four miles an hour 

 against a two-knot current with the greatest ease ; besides, 

 she is unharmed by the continual bumping to which she is 

 subjected in her longshore voyaging. The forward deck is 

 a foot below the top of the bulkheads which enclose the 

 hold proper, and when the vessel is fully laden is almost 

 awash. Upon this, in reaches where tracking is imprac- 

 ticable, stand the crew, rowing with their faces to the bow, 

 Chinese fashion, when they use their long oars with a quick 

 jerky stroke, keeping strict time. The mast is about twenty 

 feet high, and on it is a small lug-sail, eight feet by fifteen, 

 only used when the wind is dead aft or on the quarter. The 

 only part covered is the central hold in which we live ; the 

 covering is of arched bamboo matting, and being open &t 



