230 Notes on the River Yang-tse-Kiang. [No. 3, 
who had been collected to be sent in different direction against the 
rebels. 
To the East and South East the country is hilly, to the North 
mountainous ; should this town ever become a trading port, excellent 
situations for houses will be found opposite the town on some low 
hills, and both above and below the town itself on the same side of 
the river is ample room for building, if it should be thought neces- 
sary to have places of business near the native merchants ; the town 
side is not so much raised above the river as that opposite. A mile 
below the town and at the town itself the river is 910 yards wide in 
May and June ; in the month of March we never found less than 
three fathoms and a half in any part of the channel between Shahsz’ 
and Ichang ; the river begins to rise about the beginning of April 
and rises until June ; it remains at about the same level until the 
end of September and is at its lowest in the month of December 
when the water loses its usual red mud colour and becomes clear ; it 
rose last year about twenty feet above its usual level. Coal is plenti- 
ful at no great distance up the river, but does not appear to be of a 
very good quality ; it is small and dull looking, and is made into 
bricks as in the north, before being used as fuel ; still higher up the 
river there is a district from which both coal and coke (which is 
made there) could be brought to Ichang by country boats in eight 
days ; this latter coal seems to be of a superior quality. 
On leaving Ichang our course was for about three miles, rather to 
the East of North, when it turned abruptly to the N. W. ; from 
travelling on a wide stream flowing evenly through a slightly hilly 
country, we suddenly entered a gorge varying in width from 150 to 
200 yards : the current increasing to 5 and G miles an hour with 
many strong eddies telling of rocks below the surface ; our lead line 
of 25 fathoms found no bottom except close to the sides ; the cliffs 
rise perpendicularly from the water’s edge, in some places over-hang- 
ing the river, to a height of from 300 to 500 feet ; cultivation is 
extensively carried on in these hills wherever there is a sufficiently 
level space for soil to rest ; wheat, beans, peas and different sorts 
of fruit trees were in blossom high up on the hill sides. 
Tracking the boats in this part of the river is excessively severe 
work from the broken nature of the ground ; the banks are strewed 
with masses of rock, and men have to be constantly clearing the 
