40 Through the Yang-tse Gorges 



it be that from the Kushan monastery in Foochow, which 

 it in some respects resembles. On the right and at our 

 feet was the placid Yang-tse with the spreading city and 

 suburb of Ichang, its crenelated walls winding over the 

 undulating ground, which rises into a low range of hills 

 at its rear, 200 to 250 feet in height. Before us, to the 

 west and north, rise range upon range of steep mountains, 

 from 1000 to 6000 feet, amidst which the great river dis- 

 appears immediately beyond the city. On our left and 

 behind, to the south and east, rise cone upon cone of 

 pyramid-shaped hills, from 600 to 2500 feet high, through 

 which winds a clear stream, seven-eighths of its sandy bed 

 now dry. 



Saturday, Mai'ch I'jth. — I rose early — a lovely summer's 

 morning — sat under an orange tree in the garden and read 

 the China Express of the 19th January, containing Hosie's 

 reports of the trade of Chung-king, and of the feasibility of 

 running steamers through the gorges and rapids to connect 

 Ichang with that port, and so open up its trade by direct 

 communication. I also read Consul Spence's report, and 

 that of the Commissioner, my host. These are all most 

 interesting, and I have now to go and form my own 

 opinion. After tiffin, walked to a temple built on the crest 

 of the hills in rear of the town, to which the Chinese are 

 erecting an addition in the shape of a pavilion of three 

 stories, to be seventy feet high, and to cost 30,000 taels 

 (;^S,ooo). This most conspicuous structure is to face and 

 to counteract the pyramidal hill on the opposite side of 

 the river, to the evil influence of which is due the ill-success 

 of the Ichang candidates at the triennial examinations. The 

 native trading community likewise suffers from its tendency 

 to throw the profits of the business into the hands of strangers 

 to the place. This unfortunate pyramid is situated due 



