It was but five o'clock when we left Sü-chow on the morning of the 23rd of May. Proceeding up the Yang-tsze in a south-westerly direction, we passed through a hilly country, the highlands first approaching the river on its right bank; at the large village of Pa-shui-chi they commenced also on the other side, and above this gradually rose in elevation, hemming in the river, which was sensibly narrower than below Sü-chow, in a continuous defile. By evening we reached the open town of An-pien, opposite which the Whankiang, coming from the southward, enters the Yang-tsze; here we halted for the night. Next morning, altering our course to the westward, we passed a very narrow portion of the river, and were soon enclosed on either hand by high cliffs, some of which were 500 feet in height; this was the commencement of a gorge where coal is extensively worked. At the rapid of Ta-tan-pa, which occurs just at the entrance, we were delayed some time by the larger junk being allowed to take a sheer into the current in the act of ascending, and all the endeavours of those on board were of no avail to get her head in the right direction again; the trackers on shore were forced to slip their collars, as the force of the current against her broadside overpowered them, and the old junk went gliding swiftly down the rapid, and very narrowly escaped striking on a couple of rocks, which if she had done she would most assuredly have broken up.