62 Through the Yang-tse Gorges 



known, place enormous value upon a well-chosen site for a 

 grave or a house, not so much for -the healthfulness of the 

 position (though this probably is the fundamental conception 

 of Chinese geomancy), as for its influence upon the de- 

 scendants of the corpse in the one, or upon the fortunes of 

 the inhabitants of the other. The lower classes in China 

 seem to have great faith in the superior knowledge of this 

 vital subject possessed by the Chinese-speaking foreigner. 

 At any rate, I have been often consulted on the subject, 

 and having picked up some of the principles of the science, 

 all of which accord with natural conditions, and profiting by 

 the vague latitude allowed to the seer in all ages, I am 

 seldom at a loss when questioned. In the present case, I 

 remarked that one house, from which there extended a 

 magnificent view across the rapids to the gloomy Ping-shu 

 Gorge, seemed to draw in prosperity from the waters rolling 

 towards it, while the other seemed to have its fortune wafted 

 past its door by the up-river wind which here blows steadily 

 all the year round. My companion was delighted, and asked 

 me, to my surprise, to enter with him the latter, pronounced 

 by me the less fortunate, house. I went in, and he then told 

 me this was his home, and that he had led me this way with- 

 out warning me, in order to get my true unbiased opinion. 

 We seated ourselves in the reception-hall, the family and 

 friends delighted at being able to gratify their curiosity in a 

 Chinese-speaking foreigner. The old mother, who served 

 me with the customary tea, was much exercised over the 

 Feng-shui of her home. They then told me that misfortune 

 had followed misfortune ; the father had lost his junk and 

 been drowned in the rapids, and now the eldest son, my 

 companion,was reduced to the hard work and small pay of 

 a Ta-kan-tse-li. Could I suggest anything ? I recommended 

 a brick screen should be built on the edge of the terrace, 



