A Narrow Escape 69 



At the head of this reach is the Yeh-tan, after the Shin-tan 

 the worst rapid on the river. Here a huge cone of dejection, 

 entirely covered with loose boulders of every size, shape, 

 and colour, juts out from the north bank across three-fourths 

 of the river's bed, narrowing the channel to about 150 yards. 

 Round the point of the cone the current sweeps with a 

 speed of eight to ten knots, a smooth tongue of water in the 

 centre bounded by a sea of broken waves. We had sur- 

 mounted the formidable Shin-tan in safety, but this rapid 

 looked much worse. The saying puts it — • 



Yo Ching wu Yen : 

 Yo Yen wu Ching, 



which being interpreted means : " When the Ching (or 

 Shin-tan) is bad, the Yen rapid is nothing ; " and, " When 

 the Ching is nothing, then fear the Yen." 



Now, we had found the " Ching " fair, and so had reason 

 to dread the " Yen." 



A fleet of big junks — fifty or sixty — being moored under 

 the point on the left bank, waiting their turn to tow up, our 

 Lao-ta selected the right or south bank, and thus hoped to 

 avoid a delay of possibly two days. But the south bank 

 forming the outer edge of the sweep, the current is more 

 violent and the rock-bank is precipitous. A gigantic whirl- 

 pool immediately below the rapid has hollowed out a bay 

 in the rock-bound bank, and, where the eddy meets the 

 downward rush, a sharp point projects, which is a ticklish 

 place for a boat in the hands of trackers to round in safety. 

 Our Lao-ta having decided to take this course, we crossed 

 the river, paddled up the eddy, which was running up almost 

 as fast as the rapid itself was running down, landed our 

 trackers, and drove the boat's nose into the broken torrent 

 while the eddy was still acting on her stern. The rudder 

 ceased to act ; our boat, on entering the down current. 



