72 Through the Ydng-tse Gorges 



Distance, ninety li ; say, twenty miles. 



Thursday, March 22nd. — Fifth day in the gorges. At 

 six a.m. we left the bank under the lifeless city of Pa-tung 

 in a heavy shower, with cold head- wind, which blew most 

 uncomfortably through the mat tunnel in which we live. It 

 is impossible to close up the ends of this tunnel, except at 

 night, when the boat is moored, as the helmsman requires a 

 clear view through it to be able to steer. However, in these 

 parts, the sublimity of the view reconciles one to any amount 

 of discomfort. 



The gorge widens out slightly after leaving Pa-tung, giving 

 room for piles of gigantic debris from the neighbouring 

 mountains to obstruct the river and create numerous small 

 rapids, which we surmount in the usual painful manner. 

 The country is wild and desolate-looking in the extreme, 

 and well explains the poverty of the Pa-tung district. The 

 Lao-ta tells me, that since the Feng-shui of the district was 

 " puh "-ed by the pagoda — that we saw building yesterday — 

 an improvement is already noticeable, a graduate (named 

 Shu) having at length arisen in the district, which had been 

 barren of this produce for no less than 200 years previously. 

 I landed, as usual, when the coolies stopped for breakfast, 

 about seven a.m. ; not being so active as they in scrambling 

 over rock debris, I am soon caught up, and have difficulty 

 in keeping pace with them, imtil we reach the next landing, 

 when, the eddy being favourable, we all embark, and take 

 to the oars. 



Not a house or sign of cultivation is visible in this reach. 

 Two huge, flat reefs of rocks, their sheer face fifty feet high, 

 but which are covered in summer, now stretch out from 

 the left bank, occupying two-thirds of the river-channel and 

 causing a race called by the boatmen a " Chi-kou," after 

 which the great Wu-shan Gorge, twenty miles long, opens its 



