98 Through the Yang-tse Gorges 



some fifty feet wide. This is built on to and below the 

 rock ledges, and diverts the stream into the whirlpool below 

 the rapid. On its face is a fine stone tablet, which has 

 engraved on it the four characters, " Yung ching ngan Ian " 

 — "To tranquillize the waters is a perpetual boon." In 

 smaller characters at the side, we are informed that the 

 tranquillization was effected in the seventh year of Tung-chih, 

 or just thirteen years ago. But, alas ! for the perpetuity 

 of modem Chinese work ! The lower end is already 

 partially washed away; and the centre, instead of being 

 constructed of modern masonry, is filledup with loose rocks, 

 offering a convenient hold for the current to work upon. 

 Masses of white sand everywhere intermingle with, and in 

 many places entirely smooth over, the rugged rocks. The 

 river continues to vary from three to six hundred yards in 

 width. Above the Tung yang tse, or Temple of the 

 Eastern Ocean, the left bank recedes, yielding room for a 

 few green slopes and picturesque, tree-embosomed villages. 

 Shortly afterwards, 1500 feet up on" the right bank, appeared 

 a white pagoda, the portal to the walled city of " Yun-yang 

 hsien," five miles off, higher up. 



Yun-yang hsien, or Clouded Sun City, is situated on the 

 left bank of a picturesque gorge formed- by pyramidal 

 mountains, horizontally stratified, and 1000 to 1500 feet in 

 height. Its walls run along the- river loo feet or more 

 above the present level, and, as usual, extend some distance 

 up the mountain, on the slope of which it is built. The 

 mountain crest itself is crowned by an additional mud wall, 

 and the summit is surrounded by a ruined castle or fort — 

 all of which proved of little value as a defence against the 

 local rebels or Tu-fei, who, in conjunction with a roving 

 band of Tai-pings, devastated all this country in the early 

 sixties. 



