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THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE 



Photograph by Robert F. Fitch 

 'FISH-TAIL" BOATS ON THE YANGTZE AT THE ENTRANCE TO THE UPPERMOST OF 



THE FAMOUS "THREE GORGES 



>» 



For centuries the main artery of commerce for the great province of Sze-chuan. with a 

 population equal to half that of the United States, has been through the gorges of the 

 Yangtze, where the coolie matches his strength against that of the rapids, as he and his kind 

 tow heavily laden vessels from Ichang to Chung-king, a distance of 500 miles, in which tlie 

 river has a fall of 500 feet. 



