6o Through the Yang-tse Gorges 



by the lifeboat, one of which, as before mentioned, is 

 stationed at the foot of each rapid. 



We moored the boat for the men's breakfast at the 

 entrance of the gorge, in a quiet bay, at the foot of a Taoist 

 temple, called the " Ching Kiang Sze," or Pure Stream 

 temple, from which this gorge enjoys a second name of 

 the " Miao Ho Hsia " (Gorge of the River Temple). On 

 the chart it is called the " Lukan " gorge, a misspelling of 

 Niu-Kan ; it is the entrance to this gorge which forms the 

 frontispiece of Blakiston's famous work. But this drawing 

 gives but a slight idea of the size and grandeur of the 

 original. 



The Taoist temple stands on a steep rise of 150 feet, 

 with a curtain of lofty hills behind, and precipitous mountains 

 opposite, rising to 3000 or 4000 feet. Inside the temple — 

 charmingly situated, like all religious buildings of the Middle 

 Ages, both in the West and in the East — notwithstanding the 

 early hour of seven a.m., school was going on, amidst the 

 usual din, and among the little scholars I noticed one girl, 

 many of whom, in this part of China, I find attending 

 school as well as the boys. One boy was reciting his 

 repetition with his back turned to the master, who at the 

 same time was employed dictating a fresh lesson to another 

 urchin — my presence causing no interruption. A steep 

 glen, with a tiny stream at the bottom, separated the temple 

 from the village of Miao-Ho, composed of a few scattered 

 houses, embosomed in poplars, now in the bright green of 

 the early spring, and peach trees in full blossom. The 

 village rises in successive terraces, built up of boulders and 

 backed by groves of cypress and bamboo, as it creeps 

 up the steep mountain-side. The gorge winds for three 

 miles between sheer cliffs of limestone, 1000 and 2000 feet 

 high, with higher peaks towermg behind, taking a sharp 



