treaty-port of Chungking, which is four hundred miles
higher up, lie the celebrated Yangtse Gorges.

Ichang is, for all practical purposes, the present terminus of
steamship traffic, for although a few small steamers have passed
through the Gorges and reached Chungking, there have been many
failures, and one German vessel, the ss. _Shuihsiang_, built
expressly for the run, was dashed on the rocks and sank when on her
maiden trip.

The scenery of the Gorges is the grandest I have ever seen, and made a
greater impression on me than even that of the Rocky Mountains.

My trip there was in the month of November, when the river was low and
the current slack, albeit it raced by at five or six miles an hour.

Having hired a suitable boat at Ichang we set sail before a strong
up-river breeze, and by carefully following all indentations of the
river bank managed to keep in fairly slack water, until we reached a
point where the Gorges actually commence. Here a tow-line was got out,
and by the frantic efforts of half-a-dozen trackers, in addition to
the sail, we slowly forged ahead but at not more than two miles an
hour, although the foam breaking over our bows and a broad wake astern
showed that we were passing through the water at the rate of eight or
nine.

The Gorges are where the mighty river has forced a passage through a
lofty range of mountains, which barred its progress to the sea.

Seated on my tiny craft, and gazing up at the towering cliffs which
rise almost perpendicularly for hundreds and sometimes thousands of
feet on either side, I could see caves, terraces and strata, which
indicate with a marvellous distinctness the different levels of the
river, as during untold ages it has eaten its way through solid rock
and stone to its present bed. This manifestation of the irresistible
forces of nature produces a singularly sobering effect on the mind by
making one keenly feel how utterly insignificant we mortals really
are. Along ledges on the beetling cliffs the ubiquitous Chinaman has
built his home and planted orange groves, so that far overhead rich
clusters of golden fruit lend an effective touch of colour to the
beauty and majesty of the scene.

All junks in use between Chungking and Ichang are built with a view to
navigating the numerous rapids occurring in the Gorges, and are
chiefly remarkable for their abnormally high sterns, which, in the
event of grounding on a sandbank while descending with a ten-knot