Page:A wandering student in the Far East vol.1 - Zetland.djvu/134

88 rapids" that arose "more from ignorance of fact and circumstance than experience," and that the assertion of Sir Robert Douglas that "a passage might easily be cleared" is too airy a generality for acceptance unless accompanied by definite suggestions as to practical methods for its accomplishment, and explanations as to how, even if a passage was cleared at some of the worst rapids, this would overcome the difficulties provided by the fourteen-mile stretch of the Yatse Ho and the tremendous force of the gorges at high water.

During 1906 an oft-suggested scheme for making use of steam haulage at the rapids crystallised on paper in a more or less definite shape, the model adopted being the system in use upon the Rhone. By Article V. of the Mackay Treaty of 1902 the Chinese Government admit that "they are aware of the desirability of improving the navigability of the waterway between Ichang and Ch'ung-k'ing," but set it upon record that "they are also fully aware that such improvement might involve heavy expense"—a conspicuous