A Narrow Escape 1 1 5 



lead up to the villages situated on the greater heights behind. 

 The path led upwards for about 400 feet, through a wood of 

 cypress,, Tung, or wood-oil trees, poplars, and bamboos, until 

 on reaching the first summit, as it passed directly inland, I . 

 had to carefully descend by the way I had passed up. I 

 followed our boat along the shore, walking, as usual, 

 alternately in the loose sand, on boulders, or over jagged 

 rocks, sometimes at the water's edge ; at others, 200 feet 

 above it. Suddenly I heard a great outcry, and could just 

 distinguish the hair of a man in the water ahead of our boat. 

 I ran quickly down to go in after him ; but before I reached 

 the shore our boat came up with him, and dragged him on 

 board half-drowned. It was one of our trackers, who, in 

 fording a shallow between two reefs of rocks, had got out of 

 his depth, and been just saved in time. I still do not 

 understand how he floated so long and quietly, with only 

 just his hair above the surface. 



It is pleasing, in contrast with the carelessness of Shanghai 

 boatmen, to note the careful way in which the voyageurs of 

 this river coil up their enormous plaited bamboo tow-lines, 

 with which the after part of the big junks is entirely covered, 

 two big additional coils being suspended over each quarter, 

 and another on a special raised platform over the steering- 

 house, of which one man has sole charge. As the tow-line 

 is being constantly lengthened and shortened and frequently 

 changed, this entails much work on the dozen men or so 

 left on the junk, and the will and system with which these 

 men handle the bulky coils are refreshing to a yachtsman 

 to witness. They coil alternately in and out. We now 

 recrossed the river below a small rapid, on the rocky banks 

 of which a junk had been recently wrecked, and her cargo 

 was being dried, while the junk herself was careened 

 for repairs. This is the fifth or sixth big junk laden with 



