Page:Illustrations of China and Its People vol. II.pdf/66



THE Min is the great artery down which the produce of the central tea districts of China is conveyed to the Foochow market for exportation. Several rapids are to be found on this river, and of these the one represented in No. 62 is by far the most dangerous, for the channel at this point is interspersed with huge masses of rock, on which many a cargo-boat is wrecked during the year. At all seasons the greatest pluck and dexterity are needed in the steersman to bring his boat in safety down this rapid. When I descended it in December, 1871, there were evidences of recent wrecks strewn over the rocks, and in portions of the cargo that had been saved and piled up along the banks. At one time I thought that our boat would have been dashed to pieces, for it seemed to be flying down the rapid and on to a jagged rock, and the helmsman appeared incapable of bringing her round in time to clear the danger. His appearance, however, was reassuring; calmly and impassively he stood at the helm, and just as I was prepared to make a spring for the rock, he cast his whole weight on to the rudder, and brought the boat round with a swoop within a hair's breadth of the rock, and we escaped with the side of the boat slightly grazed.

THE scene represented in No. 63 was taken about 100 miles above Foochow, and shows the boat in which I ascended the river Min for a distance of about 260 miles from its mouth, as far as the city of Yenping. The boat is strongly built, and is as nearly as possible flat-bottomed. Its frame is of hard wood, planked with pine, a tree which grows in abundance on the hills of this portion of Fukien.