104 Through the Yang-tse Gorges 



rocks, that here juts out from the right bank and obstructs 

 the channel. A large junk, oil laden, had been wrecked 

 here a few days before, and her hull had been towed into 

 shoal-water, where she was floating with the decks gone. 

 The cargo of oil-tubs, made of plaited bamboo lined with 

 bamboo-paper, was stowed on the bank, with the crew 

 comfortably housed alongside to guard it under an awning 

 made from the sail. Landing, I climbed up the steep hill- 

 side, and finding a newly-made grave, with comfortable stone 

 seats, just erected on a prominent knee of the hill, I sat 

 down in the hot sunshine to rest and to enjoy the view. 

 From whichever point you regard the city of Chung-king, 

 the view is one full of interest, each aspect forming a new 

 picture of rock, river, wood, and temple, crenellated battle- 

 ments, and uplifted roofs, crowded with bewildering detail 

 which the photograph carmot do justice to. The view forms 

 one of the most perfect pictures of river and mountain 

 scenery, enlivened by human activity, that the world affords. 

 In Europe, excepting in purely wild scenery, and more 

 especially in America, the delight in gazing on many of the 

 most beautiful scenes is often alloyed by the crude newness 

 of men's work. This is now, unfortunately, the case even 

 in beautiful Japan — the home of aestheticism — since the 

 rage for copying Western architecture and dress fell as a 

 blight on the islands of the rising sun. But here in the 

 far west of China, nothing has intervened to mar the accord 

 between Man and Nature. F^ng-shui, in its best sense, 

 reigns supreme, and Man harmonizes with the soil as a 

 bird with the air and a fish with the water. The buildings 

 are all in keeping with the environment. Mediaeval Italy, 

 before the Renaissance, was much like China in this respect. 

 Man was in perfect harmony with Nature, and Natiure seemed 

 to return Man's love for her. This feeling, the foundation 



