Mooring- Ground for Junks 227 



gorge are discharged into the next reach. Passing this and 

 the " Yeh lo-tze," or " Wild Mule," we brought up, shortly 

 before sunset, in the " Ue tsui t'o," or " Fish-mouth pool," 

 having made sixty li, or about eighteen miles, in less than 

 four hours' travel. The rise in the river had tamed down 

 the " Wild Mule,'' which was by no means as formidable 

 an obstacle as it was when we came up ; as is always the 

 case, when the river is in flood, the water was of a rich 

 chocolate colour, and in a tumbler looked almost as thick 

 as a bond, fide cup of that inestimable beverage. Millions of 

 tons of Tibetan soil are thus carried down every summer, 

 and go to raise the many yet unfilled depressions of the 

 great Hukwang plain, the finer particles being carried even 

 as far as the open estuary, a distance of two thousand five 

 hundred miles. 



The selecting a mooring-ground for one of these big junks 

 is an important matter. In the first place, the water must be 

 deep enough to ensure that the vessel, which is always tied 

 up close under the bank, will not touch the groimd in the 

 event of a fall of six or eight feet occurring in the night ; 

 then there must be a good current at the spot, in order to 

 keep the water out of the leaks, yet not a current so strong 

 as to risk her breaking adrift. Upon rounding-to, pre- 

 paratory to taking up a berth for the night, the diver plimges 

 on shore with a line, which he makes fast to a stake in the 

 ground, after which one of the massive young fir trees, or 

 " che," is extended from the bows to the bank as a shore, 

 while another is shoved out from the stern, both being 

 firmly lashed to " bitts " on deck, as well as to stakes driven 

 into the bank. Supper is then served to all hands, the crew 

 squatting in groups of eight or ten round the rice-tubs ; and 

 immediately the meal is over, the mats are extended all 

 along the forward deck, and the crew, mostly naked, and 



