8o Through the Yang-tse Gorges 



the hill at the back. Here the wall, its top reduced in width 

 to six feet, is now a succession of steep stone steps, and it 

 encloses a large extent of fields and farms, the streets proper 

 being confined to the more level ground near the river. 

 Like many mountain cities, and as typified in the Great Wall 

 itself, the walls follow the crests of the hills, apparently lest 

 the town should be commanded from the neighbouring 

 heights ; but it results in extending the line of defence beyond 

 all reason. 



From this height the Yang-tse, though nowhere less than 

 500 yards wide, looks like a mountain torrent meandering 

 between rocks and sandbanks, the roar of the Hsia-ma rapid, 

 a few miles above the town, being distinctly heard. Wu- 

 shan shares the apparent ruin and decay common to all 

 Chinese towns ; but the houses are more spacious, and the 

 streets wider and cleaner, than in the average of the towns in 

 the eastern provinces. The left portal of the Wu-shan Gorge 

 is a steep, conical mountain of about 1500 feet, on the top 

 of which is a temple, in a grove of evergreens, called the 

 Wen-feng shan, or Temple of Literature ; behind rises a range 

 of 2500 feet. 



For some inscrutable reason — probably to increase the 

 number of its literary graduates — Wu-shan is erecting a brand- 

 new pagoda on this peak, of which our boatmen highly dis- 

 approve. They say the site is ill-omened ; that it dominates 

 the Wu-shan rapid and whirlpool ; and is bound to cause 

 disaster. I here had to send in my passport, with my 

 Chinese card, to the Che-hsien (District Magistrate) ; and 

 I received a fresh pass, together with an escort of two Ting- 

 chai (Ya-men runners), appointed personally to conduct me 

 to the next city. This is a custom peculiar to the West, and 

 exists since the time when the Chinese local authorities were 

 rightly made responsible for the murder of Margary in 



