ANCIENT DWELLING-PLACES 99 
about six birds. I went on shore during the day and 
saw some particularly interesting caves cut in the red 
sandstone. In many of these Chinese coffins had been 
deposited, and in one, where the coffin had been placed 
near the mouth, it was nearly covered with the roots of 
a tree which were as large round as a man’s body. 
These caves were made for dwellings by a race which 
inhabited the country before the Chinese drove them 
out, and are probably very ancient. Some are of con- 
siderable extent, and the marks of the gouge or tool 
with which the inside was finished may still be seen 
in most of them. Many are on the faces of precipices 
some distance up, and could only be reached by 
ladders laid up to landing-places. They appear to be 
dry and have couches or bed places, still to be seen, 
cut in the sandstone. 
May 9.—The waters still very strong, and plenty 
of trackers required. After travelling ninety li the 
boat was made fast off a village where there was an 
iron-foundry for casting pans or boilers for use at the 
brine wells further up the river. 
May 10.—-Hard work for the trackers against the 
strong current. The sail is never used in these upper 
parts of the river though the mast is kept stepped, as it 
is often necessary to have the towing rope from the mast- 
head. The vegetation is much varied here, and in the 
H2 
