i8o Through the Yang-tse Gorges 



exchanged for the more modest but convenient mansion of 

 Shih-ma Tsao ; and that the Tungs had just sold this their 

 old home to their spiritual fathers, the Catholic mission at 

 Chung-king, by whom it was used as a rural retreat and new 

 mission centre. The place was unoccupied at the time of 

 my visit, save that in one of the numerous " dependencies " 

 a " Chi-fang," or silk-weaving establishment, was in operation. 

 The place was still being worked by the Tungs, who have a 

 shop for the distribution of their productions in the city of 

 Chung-king. The Chi-fang was a lofty brick and tiled 

 " godown," containing some twenty looms, as well as spinning 

 gear. About a hundred men were at work ; they were paid 

 by the piece, and earn about a hundred cash a day, in 

 addition to their rice. The goods produced are of a very fair 

 quality, but their consumption is mainly confined to the 

 province. At the time of the Tai-ping Rebellion, however, 

 when the Hoochow silk country west of Shanghai was being 

 devastated by fire and sword, large quantities of this silk were 

 shipped eastwards, and an active business was done, and 

 large profits were made ; but Szechuan silk cannot compete 

 with that of Hoochow, and the trade is now in a languishing 

 condition. We took dinner with the foreman of the works — 

 a frugal meal of rice, beans, and pork — and then went for a 

 stroll with our guns. My friend Tung was an ardent sports- 

 man, and carried a Kwei-chow gun with a barrel nearly five 

 feet long, a bore about the size of a pea, and firing iron shot. 

 We beat up some of the groves surrounding the scattered 

 farms, and scrambled down the almost perpendicular bank 

 of the Siao river, here about six hundred feet high. The 

 country was lovely, and the waters of the rapid river, at this 

 season clear, and in the pools between the rock barriers 

 almost stagnant, afforded a delightful swim and a grand 

 entertainment to the rustics. Climbing the heights again by 



