Page:A wandering student in the Far East vol.1 - Zetland.djvu/111

Rh appearance of a man possessed. When the obstacle which has been the innocent cause of all this disturbance is passed, peace descends once more, and the trackers tighten up the tow-rope and proceed as before.

The monotony of travelling thus for days together is broken by the variety of the scenery and the difficulty encountered in surmounting the rapids. At this time of year, when the water has fallen sufficiently to mitigate the force of the current and not enough to uncover the worst reefs, which are largely responsible for the danger of the rapids, all is more or less plain sailing. It is for this reason, perhaps, that those who have only a bowing acquaintance with the river have been led to underrate the difficulties of steam navigation. I encountered only one rapid that presented any difficulty, namely, the Yeh t'an, and even here we were hauled up easily with the aid of a couple of ropes and an extra fifty or sixty men. The state of the Yeh t'an, however, offered fruitful suggestion as to what the rapids can do, and it is worth noting