way off her just as her nose grazed the rocks, and she slid back
undamaged into the swirly bay, only to be waltzed round and tossed to
and fro by the violent whirlpools. However, by good luck and management
she was kept from dashing her brains out on the reefs, and eventually
brought in to a friendly sand patch and safely moored, whilst a wooden
jury rudder was rigged, with which she eventually reached her
destination.


HEH SHÏH T'AN (OR BLACK ROCK RAPID)

Almost at the end of the Wind Box Gorge.


HSIN LONG T'AN (OR NEW DRAGON RAPID)

Twenty-five miles below Wan Hsien. Sometimes styled Glorious Dragon
Rapid, it constitutes the last formidable stepping-stone during low
river onward to Chung-king; was formed by a landslip as recently as
1896, when the whole side of a hill falling into the stream reduced its
breadth to less than a fourth of what it was previously, and produced
this roaring rapid.

This pent-up volume of water, always endeavoring to break away the rocky
bonds which have harnessed it, rushes roaring as a huge, tongue-shaped,
tumbling mass between its confines of rock and reef. Breaking into swift
back-wash and swirls in the bay below, it lashes back in a white fury at
its obstacles. Fortunately for the junk traffic, it improves rapidly
with the advent of the early spring freshets, and at mid-level entirely
disappears. The rapid is at its worst during the months of February and