Junks versus Steam 223 



mats which cover in the fore part, when the crew are 

 sleeping on the deck at night, or when the rain is too heavy 

 to proceed, are piled up on these houses, while farther 

 aft everything is covered with the coils of the enormous 

 tow-lines required for the voyage up. Our main motive power 

 consisted of four huge sweeps, each worked by eight men. 

 These were composed of young fir-trees unbarked, the thicker 

 end, over a foot in diameter, being in-board, with a short 

 plank lashed to the head in guise of paddle. Another 

 similar sweep, also some forty feet long, projected directly 

 over the bows, its paddle cutting the water in advance. This, 

 in conjunction with the huge barn-door of a rudder, served 

 to guide the lumbering craft safely through the rocks and 

 rapids of our course. In addition to these, two lateral 

 yuloes (sculls worked by a screw motion), also manned by 

 half a dozen men each, were attached to the sides forward of 

 the oars. These colossal sweeps are called by the Chinese 

 " che," or " wheel," in contradistinction to the usual word for 

 oar, " jao." Our progress through the water was extremely 

 slow, the men pulling the sweeps laboriously though steadily 

 at the rate of eleven strokes to the minute. The junk 

 advanced five to six feet each stroke, giving a speed of 1200 

 yards to the hour. In short, with good local knowledge 

 such as the pilots possess, and by taking the right channel in 

 good time, nothing more is required than to keep steerage- 

 way on the vessel, to enable her to avoid the whirlpools, and 

 to pass down the rapids in safety. The pay of each boatman 

 for the down journey, which, according to the state of the 

 water, occupies from eight to ten days, is 300 cash, besides 

 three meals of rice daily, with eight ounces of pork each, 

 tliree times on the voyage. For the voyage up, which 

 occupies thirty to forty days, the pay is 800 to 1000 cash 

 (about three shillings). Compare this with the pay which the 



