PREFACE TO THE THIRD EDITION 



Notwithstanding that ten years have elapsed 

 since the last edition of this book was published, the 

 description of the grand Gorges of the Yang-tse 

 remains as true and as fresh as on the day it 

 was written, and little apology is needed for again 

 bringing the scene before the public eye. The out- 

 side trade of Szechuan, estimated roughly at about 

 five millions sterling, is still carried on by a fleet of 

 eight to ten thousand junks, whose crews animate the 

 rocks and precipices of the wild scenery, their shouts 

 re-echoing from cliff to cliff as they toil over the 

 broken ground. But during these ten years much 

 has happened in China. The great unwieldy empire 

 has been rudely shaken by the French war in 1885, 

 and by the Japanese war in 1895, which brought 

 about, the latter especially, a cruel exposure of 

 China's weakness. This weakness was well known 

 to residents on the spot, and should have been better 

 appreciated and prepared for by our leading poli- 

 ticians at home. In the following pages of my Diary, 



