Page:A wandering student in the Far East vol.1 - Zetland.djvu/136

90 the river at Ch'ung-k'ing had risen to 108 feet. "Houses, coffins, corpses, and living freight on various supports, were all making their way down river at a rapid rate, and the city walls were lined by natives watching the scene."

When the river rises 90 or 100 feet, what becomes of the hauling apparatus? If in the first instance it is set up at a sufficient height in the mountain-side to allow for such rises, what provision is to be made for handling the colossal weight of the enormously long steel hawser which it is proposed to use? Finally, by what means is the necessary steering-power to be obtained to counteract both the force of the current and the eddies and the huge weight of the hauling-line? These are questions to which I have never succeeded in obtaining a satisfactory answer.

On a small scale, approximating as nearly as possible to the present junks in shape and size, a tug and lighter scheme appears to be the only one at present practicable,