246 Through the Yang-tse Gorges 



and is responsible for the police of the great waterway, and 

 the protection of the numerous travellers on it from its 

 many dangers. Of these, in his well-arranged, illustrated 

 "Yang-tse Pilot," or, as it is literally entitled, "Vade 

 mecum to Szechuan," Admiral Ho enumerates about a 

 thousand, and adds directions how they may best be 

 avoided. The lifeboat service was recently (in 1883) 

 instrumental in rescuing one of our consuls, Mr. Christopher 

 Gardner, who was wrecked in the Ching T'an ; and it is a 

 pity that our Government did not give the indefatigable 

 boatmen there stationed some ofi&cial acknowledgment of 

 their action, as I believe it would have been highly valued. 

 The sailors only receive about sixpence a day wages, but 

 are rewarded by 1000 cash for every life saved, and by 

 800 cash for every corpse — irrespective whether it be male 

 or female — so the lifeboat regulations state. The boats are 

 very strongly built, of great beam, and, with their varnished 

 sides and gaily uniformed crew, are remarkably smart- 

 looking. They are constantly cruising round and round — 

 up the eddies and down the rapids, keenly on the look-out 

 for a disaster. 



Although accidents are not infrequent, yet in proportion 

 to the vast traffic their number can hardly be deemed 

 excessive. Careful inquiries, made during my residence at 

 Ichang, have led me to the conclusion that the loss of junks 

 and merchandise in the rapids between Ichang and Chung- 

 king amounts to about four per cent, of the value of the 

 traffic* This includes the damage by water to goods 

 afterwards salved, which form by far the larger proportion 

 of the losses. The loss of life is not large, as the junks, 

 after striking a rock, generally succeed in safely reaching 



* The new rapid at Yiinyang (formed by a landslip in September, 

 1896) has since doubled this risk. 



