140 Through the Yang-tse Gorges 



I had a letter of introduction, and who lives in the " Shang 

 Cheng," or Upper City. I went there in a chair, up steps 

 all the way. The streets are broad, busy, and filthy, and 

 might have been those of a hundred similar towns I have 

 visited in China. Dr. Wheeler belongs to the American 

 Methodist Episcopal Mission, and came up here from 

 Kiukiang last winter with his wife and three daughters, 

 none of whom care to walk out of the compound, European 

 women being still a novelty and objects of insuperable 

 curiosity to the Western Chinese. The site is charming, 

 with a magnificent prospect across the Siao Ho (affluent) to 

 " Chiang-peh ting" (" City on the North Bank"). 



Monday, April gtk. — I carried out my promise to Tung 

 Lao-yeh to accompany him to his country seat, to which I 

 set out in a sedan with three bearers. Tung Lao-yeh's 

 dwelling is situated near a gap in the hills, through which 

 passes the main road to Ch^ng-tu S^ng, the capital of the 

 province. This road is the sole " Han-lu " (dry road) out 

 of Chung-king, the city being built on a narrow peninsula 

 formed by the Yang-tse, locally the Tsz' shui Ho, or " Letters' 

 Water River," and the great affluent locally known as the 

 Siao Ho. The Yang-tse here is so-called from the curls, 

 like Chinese characters, which the innumerable eddies form 

 on its smooth, glistening surface. This affluent, the Siao 

 Ho, is about half the size of the main stream, and drains 

 a large area of country to the north and north-west of the 

 great river's main valley. This river has its sources in the 

 boundary ranges of the provinces of Kan-su and Shen-si, 

 and furnishes water communication — obstructed by rapids 

 which are the concomitant of all Szechuan rivers— with the 

 cities of Ho-chow, Pa-chow, Suilin, and Pao-ning-fu. This 

 dry road is one of the best in China, being fully five feet 

 wide, and paved with heavy stone slabs laid crossways. 



