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CHAPTER VI 
THROUGH THE GORGES OF THE YANG-TZE 
Captain and crew of boat—Trackers—Stores taken—Start up the river— 
Ta-tung Rapid—Life-boats—Wreck passed—Sin-tan Rapid—An 
anxious night—Me-tan Gorge—K wei—Yeh-tan Rapid—Pa-tung-hsien 
—Wild rose—Absence of birds—Wu-shan Gorge—Fung-sien Gorge— 
Accident in a rapid—Striking seenery—Chinese coffins—Road mak- 
ing—Brine springs—Quei-chow-fu—Examination of passports—Trade 
of the place—Escort—Dog overboard—Bad rapid—Riverside villages 
—Wan-hsien—Opportunity to send letters—Orange trees—St. 
George’s Island—Lung-chau. 
THE boat being now ready, my next consideration was 
to get a captain andcrew. The former I succeeded in 
getting through the Commissioner of Customs, and he 
stayed with me for two years, proving himself to be a 
good man and very capable of taking charge of the 
boat in the most dangerous places. To him I left prin- 
cipally the selection of the crew, which consisted of 
eight boatmen and eight trackers. The last have 
severely hard work going up-river, and dangerous 
work too. Paths, perhaps a hundred feet above the 
water and barely eighteen inches wide, are often all he 
has to work upon, and in such places, if the boat should 
