328 RESEARCH IN CHINA. 
Canyon of the Han.—From Shi-ts’tian-hién to Hing-an-fu, a distance 
of 105 miles, 168 kilometers, the canyon of the Han exceeds in beauty 
many world-famed gorges. ‘There are stretches of the lower Danube which 
might compare with it, but fall far short in grandeur; in the Highlands 
of the Hudson there are features of massive gray crags and foliage which 
one sees repeated on the Han, but the vista of great mountains is lacking. 
The Han, a stream of great volume rarely more than 200 meters wide, 
flows in long quiet reaches or dashes in rapids over gravel bars and rock 
ledges. It is usually confined by cliffs near the water’s edge, and these 
sometimes rise boldly to heights of a thousand feet or more, but more 
generally the higher slopes of the canyon are wooded or cultivated. The 
view is often limited to the immediate hills, but when the boat sweeps 
round a turn and opens a distant reach, there rise before one the forms 
of splendid mountains, from 4,000 to 6,000 feet, 1,200 to 1,800 meters, 
above the stream and impressively near. 
Near Shi-ts’tian-hién there is a wide valley belonging to a small stream, 
which comes from the northwest. The Han enters from a canyon, and 
after flowing for 3 miles, 5 kilometers, in the wider valley, leaves it to 
strike across ledges of limestone and granite. At Lién-hua-shi (Lily Flower 
Rock) white surfaces of granite rise directly from dark eddies, and the 
canyon narrows; thence it widens and narrows alternately as the river 
flows through schists or limestone. Fig. B, Plate XLIV, illustrates the 
milder forms, and the view on atlas sheet b 4 a more rugged phase. 
At one point only was it practicable for us to leave our boats long 
enough to climb to the hilltops adjacent to the river. Near Siau-tau-ho 
I ascended about goo feet to a spur on the right bank. From that point 
the view up the Han showed an old valley level, 1,200 feet above the river, 
extending widely to the mountain slopes which in that vicinity rise 1,000 
to 2,000 feet, 300 to 600 meters, above it. The spur on which I stood 
corresponded to a later valley, 300 feet, 90 meters, below the general sur- 
face, and the lowest developed on the comparatively hard slates of this 
section. Elsewhere, at least two stages of canyon widening had been 
noted at lower levels. It is probable that we may consider the higher 
surface as the representative of the Ts’in-ling stage, of which it has the 
characteristic features, and that the old valley floors at lower levels are 
records of intermittence in the upward movement. 
Basin of Hing-an-fu.—The Han-kiang below Siau-tau-ho enters a 
zone of soft phyllites. The hills decline and recede from the river, and 
the basin of Hing-an-fu opens to the north and south. ‘The river flows 
across it and leaves it on the western side to enter among the high moun- 
tains, which wall in its lower canyon. 
