CHAPTER XIV.

THE FOUR VALLEYS.'

AFTER having determined the Taiping Gate to be in latitude 29° 33′ 50′′ N., and longitude 107° 2′ E. of Greenwich, ascertained the variation of the compass to be 2° 26' E., and gained all the information possible about the city, the neighbouring country, and on that all-absorbing topic the rebels, we left Chung-king on the afternoon of the 3rd day of May. The son of the Mussulman high priest, whose acquaintance our Seikhs had made, accompanied us the short distance we went before halting for the night; and he departed much delighted with some devices which we had put on a new fan he had brought to us for the purpose; the names of our whole party, Mussulmans included, were upon it. The fitting of our junk had been somewhat altered; both the large bow-sweep and the sail had been done away with, and the mast was now only used for tracking, the line running through a ring which traversed up and down, so that it might be accommodated to any height. The skipper had also hired a small boat or sampan to accompany us, which was found very useful in putting ashore and bringing on board the trackers, when the depth of the water did not allow of the junk approaching the land; it was manned by three men, one of whom steered by a large sweep-oar at the stern—a method which we observed very general in this upper portion of the river. Some of the boatmen of the junk were fresh hands,

* This is the meaning of the word “Sz'chuan."

and it was some days before they got over their inquisitiveness respecting our appearance and habits. One of the things which always interested the Chinese very much was our mode of eating; they were besides very curious to see us write; and I often had half a dozen round me when I was taking bearings, and sketching in the course of the river and adjacent country; but our regularly washing in the cold water of the river, and persisting daily in bathing in it, seemed marvellous to them. Not that they never washed themselves, for they frequently, when we halted during the day, got into the river to cool themselves, but they could not understand why we, who were travelling as men of rank and education, should do so; for as a rule the Chinese wash, or rather sponge themselves, with warm water, which after hard work is, I believe, very refreshing. Then our walking on shore seemed to puzzle them, for they could not comprehend why people should walk when they paid for being carried. No doubt they thought us droll beings; and, if they ever reflected upon the subject, must have considered England a very curious place.

During the 4th and 5th we made thirty miles, reaching Kiang-tsze (hien), the first place of any size above Chungking, on the evening of the latter; having passed in the forenoon of that day the mouth of the Chi Kiang, a tributary which joins the Yang-tsze from the southward, and is delineated on the maps of the country as coming from the province of Kwei-chow. It is only one among the numerous tributary rivers in this province, which, bringing their waters from the mountainous regions lying both to the north and south, tend to swell the flood of the Great River, and add to those vast deposits of sand and alluvium which cause such difficulty to navigation at its mouth; and it seems wonderful, when we think of it, that shoals, islands, and even large tracts of country in the province of Kiang-su, now inhabited, and adding their quota of grain to feed the teeming population,

have been made up of the soil of the mountains of Tibet and Western China. The range of hills which has been already mentioned as lying to the eastward, and on the opposite side of the river to Chung-king, approaches the river near a village and creek, of which we failed to get the name, some thirteen miles above; while another range lies parallel, at a distance of about six miles to the west, and through this the river breaks by what has been called the "Limestone Pass," after which the country is more open. At this pass there is a village on either hand, the one on the right bank containing a pagoda. The names of the two places (Lo-whanchi and Pa-sha-do) indicate the existence of coal and lime"black earth" and "white earth"-both of which we observed worked on the hill-sides, the former being carried by bullocks, here used as pack-animals, and on the backs of men and women porters. After this range is crossed, the same sandstone of which I have spoken resumes its position at the surface. These hills are for a great part uncultivated, and covered with stunted scrub.

Just before coming to this place we passed an island in the river called Kin-tin-tsze. It is nearest to the left bank, and, partaking of its rocky nature, seems as if it had been. cut off by the wearing force of the current; and now stands alone, prettily wooded and crowned by a temple and small pagoda. It was early morning when we passed it; and as the trackers made their way along the rocky shore, below a large group of cypress-trees, Dr. Barton took a sketch of the place. A large Sz'chuan junk was floating down at the time; two or three specimens of a beautiful species of tern or sea-swallow, with black crown and red legs and bill, skimmed about near the surface of the water; and the whole scene was one most characteristic of the upper waters of the Yang-tsze Kiang.

Coke was seen exposed for sale a few miles below Kiangtsze, and on the same day the first mosquitoes were observed.