1869.] Proceedings of the Asiatic Society. 147 



from this, a few days' journey brings him to Pah-tung, the last 

 town in Hoopeh, famous for its potatoes ; and here for the first 

 time he sees coal of an inferior quality, deficient in bitumen and very 

 slaty. Passing on from this through the Lukan gorge in a few days 

 he reaches Quifoo, the principal customs station in the province of 

 Szchuan and meets perhaps his first annoyance in the insolence and 

 extortion of the custom house satellites whom he is obliged to fee pret- 

 ty heavily before he can get away. This city, from its importance, as 

 a customs station, and the monopoly of a large salt trade takes fore- 

 most rank amongst the cities on the Yangtzu between Hankow and 

 Chung Ching, and from the good coal procured in great quantities in 

 its neighbourhood deserves the attention of Western nations as a Port 

 of call for steamers. 



Having got rid of the customs officials here, the traveller continues 

 on through the Mitan gorge and then beyond, for the first time, sees 

 in the river banks a specimen of the beauty and fertility of the gar- 

 den-like Szchuan. The banks where they slope down to the water 

 are covered with rich crops of sugar and higher up in the back 

 ground snug little whitewashed cottage-like houses, nestled among the 

 hills, throw round the country a home-like air j and in early spring 

 the country inland is white with the poppy flower. Amidst country 

 like this, varied occasionally by the solemn grandeur of gorges, the 

 traveller in about 40 days, after leaving Hankow, arrives at Chung 

 Ching, the great trade emporium of Western China. 



To all lovers of travel, the journey up the Yangtzu to Chung Ching 

 affords a pleasant field for observation and excitement - r its dangerous 

 rapids, whirls and eddies, and magnificent awe-inspiring gorges, lend 

 to it that charm which enchants the enthusiastic traveller, and serves 

 to enliven what would otherwise be a tedious voyage. And then 

 to the geologist, the field for observation is most extensive, especially 

 along the gorges, where the perpendicular rocks, forming their sides, 

 show to perfection the geological formation of the country ; in many 

 of the gorges will be seen a reddish grey sandstone with its exposed 

 surface glazed, as though it had been polished with black lead. This 

 sandstone attracted the special attention of Captain Blakiston, the 

 first explorer of the Yangtzu, and he speaks of it as one of the great- 

 est geological curiosities he met with during his expedition, and 



