ance on our journey from another junk; it was cheerfully given.
Our towrope had chafed through, and we were in a difficulty, attempting
to pass a bad rapid among the rocks, when a large junk was hauled bodily
past us, and, seeing our plight, hooked on to us and towed us with them
out of danger. On this night we anchored under the Sentinel Rock
(Shih-pao-chai), perhaps the most remarkable landmark on the river. From
two hundred to three hundred feet high, and sixty feet wide at the base,
it is a detached rock, cleft vertically from a former cliff. A
nine-storied pagoda has been inset into the south-eastern face, and
temple buildings crown the summit.

It was surprising how well my men lived on board the boat. They had
three good meals a day, always with rice and abundance of vegetables,
and frequently with a little pork. Cooking was done while we were under
way; for the purpose we had two little earthenware stoves, two pans, and
a kettle. All along the river cabbages and turnips are abundant and
cheap. Bumboats, laden to the rail, waylay the boats _en route_, and
offer an armful of fresh vegetables for the equivalent in copper cash of
three-eighths of a penny. Other boats peddle firewood, cut short and
bound in little bundles, and sticks of charcoal. Coal is everywhere
abundant, and there are excellent briquettes for sale, made of a mixture
of clay and coal-dust.

All day long now for the rest of our voyage we sailed through a
beautiful country. From the hill tops to the water's edge the hillsides
are levelled into a succession of terraces; there are cereals and the
universal poppy, pretty hamlets, and thriving little villages; a river
half a mile wide thronged with every kind of river craft, and back in
the distance snow-clad mountains. There are bamboo sheds at every point,
with coils of bamboo towrope, mats, and baskets, and huge Szechuen hats
as wide as an umbrella.

On the morning of March 5th I was awakened by loud screaming and yelling
ahead of us. I squeezed out of my cabin, and saw a huge junk looming
down upon us. In an awkward rapid its towline had parted, and the huge
structure tumbling uncontrolled in the water, was bearing down on us,
broadside on. It seemed as if we should be crushed against the rocks,
and we must have been, but for the marvellous skill with which the
sailors on the junk, just at the critical time, swung their vessel out
of danger. They were yelling with discord, but worked together as o