Page:Ling-Nam; or, Interior views of southern China, including explorations in the hitherto untraversed island of Hainan (IA cu31924023225307).pdf/220

 216 Ling-Nam.

gorge is about twenty yards wide. Its sides are of solid rock-polished granite, and the course of the stream is filled with an astonishing accumulation of boulders, ten, twenty, and some of them thirty feet in diameter, worn smooth as glass by the action of the water. For a short distance all goes well, but soon unlooked-for difficulties arise. We must wade or retreat. We do not long hesitate. With the fall before us, now tem- porarily hidden by heaps of mound-like boulders, all thought of retreat is banished. Discarding shoes, we ereep over the slippery rocks, narrowly escaping many a plunge into deep, cold pools or foaming rapids, wading at times waist deep throngh the rushing torrent, with a stout Chinese coolie acting as support, and in several places making a bridge of his back when other ex- pedients fail. At last the coveted position is reached, and we sit on a great rock under the magnificent cataract, the water falling three hundred feet in one grand plunge, breaking into crystal spray almost from the very top, falling in great folds of feathery whiteness, or like sheets of liquid silver sparkling with the lustre of innumerable diamonds. The sunlight through the scattering spray casts rainbows on the rocky side, some near the foot, others higher up, according to the position of the observer. No thought of food or fatigue can draw us away from such absorbing loveliness. It is only when the descending sun warns us that that fearful gorge must be retraversed before darkness comes on, that we turn our backs upon the fall, and then frequent backward glances hold our willing feet,

The guestion of return is even more difficult than