124 Through the Yang-tse Gorges 



Wednesday, April i,th. — i8th day from Ichangj 36th from 

 Hankow ; 5 6th from Shanghai. Very hot sun. On waking 

 this morning I found the sun shining straight in on my bed, 

 showing our course to be about due east, though our goal is 

 due west. At seven I landed on a rocky ledge, called " Pai- 

 Chien," at an elbow, where we turned up to the north, and 

 looked out on a vast spread of rocky islands and promon- 

 tories, all flat-topped, and about twenty feet higher than the 

 present level, the remains evidently of a continuous sand- 

 stone stratum, which the river had gradually broken down. 

 I walked inland by a direct path through the poppy-fields, 

 now a mass of white flower, enjoying the balmy air of this 

 bright summer morning. At length I heard a noise ahead 

 which made me ask myself if it were possible a pile-driver 

 had invaded this wild and remote district. I listened 

 attentively ; the thud was clear and unmistakable above the 

 roar of the river, and the intervals corresponded exactly with 

 those of my old Shanghai acquaintance. Walking on, I 

 foimd the sound proceeded from one of the roomy farm- 

 steads which are scattered throughout these valleys. I 

 climbed up the usual long flight of stone steps, and found an 

 extensive, tile-roofed shed, in which the full process of T'ung 

 oil manufacture was being carried on. Opium and T'ung 

 (Elaocacoa, or varnish-tree) oil are the two main staples of 

 Eastern Szechuan. The T'ung nut, which yields the oil, was 

 being ground up in a circular stone trough by iron wheels 

 dragged round by a blindfold ox. The resultant coarse 

 powder is then made into circular cakes with straw, and a 

 horizontal pile is then placed in a very rough but solid 

 wooden press, and long wedges are successively driven in, 

 and the oil expressed. These wedges are iron-capped, and 

 are struck by a huge ram slung from the roof and worked 

 by two men, the taking correct aim being apparently an 



