The Approach to I c hang 35 



had to row with might and main to make any headway 

 against the two-knot current. In summer this gorge cannot 

 be attempted by junks except with a strong fair wind, which, 

 however, by a kind provision of nature, seems to blow here 

 pretty steadily all the year round from noon till sunset. As 

 it was calm when we passed, in the forenoon, we crept 

 through with no little difficulty, taking advantage of the 

 eddies, and brought to a standstill at every projecting point 

 of the rock, round which the current rushed vehemently. 

 Half-way between the gorge and Ichang stands a conspicuous 

 pagoda, enclosed in a walled garden planted with firs, the 

 whole in an unusually good state of preservation. Ichang 

 itself stands on a conglomerate cliff, rising only just above 

 the summer level, and overhanging a long, low, level sand- 

 spit, which in winter occupies nearly one-third of the river's 

 width. Above this sandbank, and opposite the walled city, 

 lies moored a large fleet of Szechuan junks ; below the city 

 is the suburb which stretches along the river-bank, and here 

 is situated the temporary Customs' pontoon moored in the 

 river channel. This suburb is nothing but a long narrow 

 Chinese street, ruinous at its lower end, straggling along, the 

 bank, and composed of third-class native shops. Behind, 

 the country covered with grave-mounds as far as the eye can 

 reach, rises gradually into low brown gravel hills, inter- 

 mingled with boulders, and interspersed with a few small 

 vegetable gardens ; in the bottoms are rows of terraced 

 paddy fields with roomy farmhouses of mud and wattle. 

 The view of the opposite bank facing Ichang is bold and 

 picturesque. Pyramid-shaped hills, with vertical cliffs along 

 the river front, 500 to 600 feet high, backed by ranges of 

 lofty mountains extending to the distant horizon, neat 

 villages and temples in groves of willow and bamboo, form 

 a delightful contrast to the squalid surroundings of the so- 



