96 Through the Yang-tse Gorges 



and small rapids. In the words of Tennyson (slightly 

 altered), " The rapid runs by every rocky point," and it was 

 a constant succession of jumping out to haul us up by main 

 force round these points, and in again to paddle the boat up 

 the eddies. This work culminated in the fierce rapid of 

 Lao-ma (" Old Horse "), at which we were detained some 

 time, waiting our turn to get through, while the Ting-chai, 

 my official conductor, jumped ashore in his official hat, and 

 pressed extra trackers into our service, not one of whom 

 would have received a cash but for my insistence. 



I delayed the boat nearly an hour to-day through being 

 unable to keep up with the trackers. The shore was a pile 

 of broken rocks of all sizes, over which they with the tow- 

 line hopped like cats, while I toiled painfully along bathed 

 in perspiration, though clad in nothing but a pair of flannel 

 trousers and a shirt. Somehow I lost the beach, and gradu- 

 ally ascended until I struck a mountain-path five or six 

 hundred feet above. I crawled along this imtil in view of 

 the precipice below me, and, the path getting almost too 

 narrow for foothold, I came to a stop. The view from this 

 height was very imposing. George Sand discusses some- 

 where the relative charm of a river gulch viewed from below 

 and from above, and, I think, decides in favour of the 

 former. To me, however, the view from about halfway up 

 is the most striking : the size is then better appreciated. 

 This valley is highly cultivated, and the mountains are as 

 gay with the colours of the different crops as a patched 

 quilt. To conclude : the crew spotted me in my white 

 flannels wandering aloft, and one of them climbed up and 

 put me in the right path, and brought me down in safety. 



Distance, seventy-five li; say, eighteen miles, making 

 total from Ichang, 164 miles. One rnonth out from 

 Hankow. 



