290 Through the Yang-tse Gorges 



succeeded in tying up below the famous Shin tan, or " New 

 Rapid," by dark, having steamed forty miles, including two 

 rapids, in ten hours. 



The Great Rapid of the Shin tan is at this season an actual 

 waterfall, although when the water rises in May it disappears 

 altogether ; and we careered about in the big waves below 

 until we crossed the river and tied up to the right shore 

 immediately beneath the fall. Two tow-lines were attached, 

 and with one hundred coolies straining at the lines, aided by 

 our own steam, we were up in a few minutes. After waiting 

 a long time in the deep, still water above the fall for our 

 three consorts to be hauled up, we took on our tows again, 

 and steamed through the Ping-shu Gorge with majestic ease ; 

 but in the more open valley at its head we encountered a 

 fierce race over a boulder flat, in which the propellers seemed 

 to get no grip, and we crawled along, making about one 

 mile an hour until, at dusk, we tied up under a steep sand- 

 bank on the left shore, having advanced only ten miles in as 

 many hours. 



On the following morning we entered one of the most con- 

 fused and troublesome reaches of the river — that from the 

 upper end of the Ping-shu Gorge, to past the walled city of 

 Kwei-chow. Here a series of parallel reefs run across the 

 river at right angles to its course. These reefs jut out from 

 either shore a distance of about a hundred yards, in huge 

 hard limestone masses rising about forty feet above the level 

 of the water. These reefs appear to have been cut through 

 by the river, but they still extend under water across its bed, 

 and cause awkward cross currents and eddies which tried 

 the power of our small steamer to the utmost ; we had con- 

 stantly to cross and recross the wide river, taking advantage 

 of the eddies, and avoiding the rocks as best we could. 



