1 1 8 Through the Yang-tse Gorges 



covered, but the left bank, up which we tracked, was very 

 shallow, and, notwithstanding our light draft, we had to keep 

 out some distance from the shore. It was in this reach, on 

 the right bank of which is situated the market-town of 

 "Kao-chia chen" — the mart of the "Kao" family — that 

 Blakiston found his least depth of two fathoms. A market 

 was in progress, chiefly interesting from the number of cattle 

 — "wet" and "dry," «.^. buffaloes and zebus — and the number 

 of long, blue-coated, white-turbaned Chinamen covering the 

 sand-slopes. The whole long valley was beautifiilly culti- 

 vated exclusively with poppy, the brilliant dark-green of 

 the plant, sprinkled with the white flowers, giving the hills 

 the appearance, in the distance, of being covered with rich 

 pasture, from which the sun had not yet dissipated the 

 morning dews. The picturesque two-storied farmhouses — 

 white, with dark wooden framework showing through, and 

 with large overhanging eaves, situated amidst the trees, now 

 in full leaf in every glen and on every projecting knoll, and 

 looking not unlike Swiss chalets — ^added to the charm of this 

 lotus-eater's home. From noon tiH four, in the hot spring 

 sunshine, our men tracked steadily up this reach, until at 

 its upper end, where a steep cliff on the left bank seems to 

 shut it in, we got entangled in a nest of rocks, and made 

 little progress until our mooring-time of seven p.m. A 

 seven-storied pagoda on the right bank, modern and a sham, 

 having neither windows nor buddhas, but doubtless none 

 the less efficacious in " Pu "-ing the Feng-shui ; and the 

 sacred hill of " Tien tsz' " (" Son of Heaven ") right before 

 us, told of our arrival at the (Chinese) world-renowned city 

 of " Feng-tu." 



In this part the local passage and ferry-boats are roomy, 

 and possess a high, open, steeply-arched mat awning, with a 

 front platform for the rowers, and, in place of rudder, have 



