.28 
IOWA ACADEMY OF SCIENCE Voi. XXIV, 1917 
For the first six hundred miles as one journeys up the Yangtze 
the monotony of the marshes and level stretches is relieved only 
by an occasional outlier. At some points there are levees be- 
hind which for many miles the land is waste, save for huge 
cane-brakes which, at low water, are cut for fuel. 
Thus far, the lands constitute the delta portion of China’s 
greatest river. The character of the next 400 miles gradually 
Fig. 3. An inter-gorge area in which the tributary valleys lie one hundred 
or two hundred feet above the main valley. The tops of these hills are 
at the same elevation. 
changes until at Ichang there are elevations of 1,000 feet flank- 
ing the stream. About five miles beyond, there is a sudden 
transition. The river narrows abruptly to a channel three or 
four hundred yards in width, its rock walls rising sheer for 
hundreds of feet. These are the gorges of the Yangtze, famed 
for their wild grandeur. For a hundred miles or more the river 
has carved its course through solid rock. It is no longer the calm, 
