by a precipice of 600 feet, and looked quite inaccessible at its altitude of more than 1,200 feet above the stream. But after all, to scale this stony height and to rear a shrine amid the clouds, although a wonderful achievement in its way, sinks into insignificance when compared with the task of self-subjection daily set before each inmate of the cloister, who, even in such a retreat as this, removed as far as it well can be from the haunts of men, finds the lusts of the flesh and the pride of life too strong to be effectually subdued. Many of the Buddhist monastic establishments in China, as we have already seen, are planted in most romantic and lovely spots ; and in the one now before us we found no exception to the rule.
On the same day, at noon or a little after, we anchored at Ichang. This city is one of considerable commercial importance, and as it stands at the entrance of the Gorges, it is the highest point to which steam navigation can be carried until these rocky defiles, which extend for upwards of 100 miles beyond it, shall have been thoroughly surveyed, and some obstacles removed, which render the navigation there by far the most dangerous on the rivers of China. Ichang is now open to foreign trade, and is the present limit of steam navigation on the river. I must here refer the reader to the Imperial Maritime Customs' Reports for 1895, for information regarding the trade of Ichang. At present, foreign goods are distributed from this port through the surrounding provinces, while the rich plains of Hupeh, besides the usual cereal crops— beans, millet, rice and rape — produce yellow silk, tung-oil and opium; the latter in small quantities, although it is raised more plentifully in Szechuan and Yunnan.
The town of Ichang sweeps in a crescent-shape round a bend on the left bank of the river, and is divided into two halves by a canal. The one half occupies high land, while the other is on
