BOW SWHEP 69 
has a crooked grain, saying that it is stronger. The 
bow sweep that works on this beam is a spar suitable 
to the size of the boat, with the thick end inboard, 
and on to the thin end are secured by lashings, or bolts, 
or both, two narrow but thick blades. The spar is 
fitted at the inboard end with beckets and heel ropes 
according to its size. Mine was only about thirty feet 
long; but many of the large junks have them of nearly 
sixty feet in length, and manned by about forty men 
or more. ‘They are absolutely indispensable in the 
navigation of the rapids, and are, as far as I am 
aware, only in use in China. By their skilful use boats 
may be turned quickly in the strongest current, and 
although clumsy-looking, are perhaps the most useful 
things in the boat when coming down-stream in a flood. 
Abaft the cabin the boat was again decked to the 
counter, and under the deck were two lockers, one 
for a store and the other for the cooking utensils of 
the crew, which were very simple. The tiller nearly 
touched the cabin door, and my skipper, though a very 
worthy and good man, was so short that I was obliged 
to have a special stool made for him to stand on, to 
enable him to see over the roof of the cabin. On the 
high counter was built the cook-house, where my pro- 
visions were cooked, and in which the cook and my 
boy slept. The whole of the boat was varnished with 
