54 Through the Yang-tse Gorges 



embowered in miniature groves of the tung or varnish tree, 

 the tallow tree, and bamboo. The upper end of the gorge 

 narrows like its mouth, a harder limestone having succeeded 

 marvellously in resisting the constant erosion of the sand- 

 laden water. Here to the left is a striking range of per- 

 pendicular white pinnacle rocks and cliffs, 3000 feet high, 

 which rise out of a talus extending about halfway up their 

 sides. These cliffs reminded me of the pictures of the 

 dolomite mountains of Styria, and are probably composed of 

 the same material. On the right bank the black-blue limestone 

 continues ; at the narrowest spot an isolated pinnacle, 

 smooth rock below, but wooded on its cone-shaped top, rising 

 1800 feet from the river bed, and called by the Chinese 

 the Pillar of Heaven, is strikingly picturesque. 



Following the boat by an easy path some 200 feet above the 

 water's edge, I felt fairly intoxicated with the magnificence 

 of the ever-changing views, combined with the fresh spring 

 morning air. At the end of the gorge an affluent enters 

 through a lovely valley on the left bank at a place called 

 Nan-To. A conspicuous rock at the junction is covered 

 with sentences in large characters, written in whitewash, 

 probably by travellers delayed in boats moored at its foot. 

 Had I been in the vulgar West, I should have taken them 

 for quack advertisements j but in the aesthetic East these 

 notices were short poetical exclamations at the beauty of 

 the scenery — not very profound, such as " Kiang t'ien yi 

 sai," " The river and the sky are one colour ; " — " Shan 

 shui ching yin," " The hills are bright and the waters dark," 

 etc. This stream forms the boundary between the limestone 

 and the district of Plutonic rocks we are now entering. Here, 

 the river, instead of cutting out a perpendicular chasm, has 

 succeeded in disintegrating the apparently far more refractory 

 gneiss and granite, with the result of a total change and 



