272 Through the Yang-tse Gorges 



CHAPTER XIII. 



THE NEW "glorious" RAPID. 



The great landslide — Earthquake phenomena — Steps taken to modify 

 the rapid — Need of Admiralty survey. 



The New Rapid above Yun-yang. — This, the latest freak of 

 the Great River, is one of the most remarkable natural 

 phenomena that I have ever had occasion to investigate. 

 In appearance like the effect of a great earthquake, the 

 phenomenon is really due solely to the action of water. 

 When I first visited the spot, two months after the occurrence, 

 the lines of disturbance were still as fresh as on the day they 

 were formed, and I had a fine opportunity of examining the 

 hills and clefts as nature had left them. On a subsequent 

 visit, a year later, the industrious agriculturists were hard at 

 work levelling the land, rebuilding their farms, and generally 

 obliterating the early landmarks. Still, even then the traces 

 of the great landslide were distinctly visible, especially in 

 the sundering of the roads traversing the displaced land, 

 which were all broken short off where they touched the 

 chasm formed between the landslip and the unmoved 

 ground, the sundered portions still running in their original 

 directions, but some hundred yards lower down the valley. 



