Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 10.djvu/498

* ICE YACHTING. 436 I-CHANO. a pnttern that was at once seen to give advan- tuise over the previous method. From this the Hudson River boats were gradually developed, tile side bars forming with the body a bridge or runner plank (at right angles with the body of the yacht) projecting on each side, and carrying at each end one runner or skate. The mast was stepped at the junction of the runner plank with the main beam : and they had low sails with large jibs, short non-peakeil galfs, and booms extending many feet out from the stern. This style reached its limit in ISti!) in tlic old Jciclc. The stepping of the mast over the runner plank placed the centre of ell'ort so far aft that the boats would run away with their occupants, and throw them out, sometimes to their great peril. In 1879 this class was practically superseded by the Robert Scot I type of a single backbone, with an elliptical steering-box. Then the mast was step|>ed forward of the intersecting runner-plank, and the jibs and boom shortened. Improvements have continued, but mainly in construction, which has aimed at strength combined with light- ness in backlxme and masts, and springiness in the cross or runner plank: a very desirable con- aition, for if a runner under an ice yacht weigh- ing 2000 poimds, and going at 4.5 miles an hour, strikes a hummock of ice, and has no give or spring in it. the consequence may be a shock that will reduce the craft to pieces. In the year 18G(i the lateen sail was adopted, both on the Hudson and Shrewsbury rivers. .S'ci/rf. with the largest lateen ever rigged, was sent from the Shrewsbury to Poughkeejwie on the Hudson, and entered fur the pennant several years. She, a.s well as Ariel and Blizzard, were exceedingly fast, but, without apparent reason, they would spin round on their heels like tops, or bolt, and in spite of its admittedly many good qualities, and undoubted speed, the rig lost sup- porters. Theoretically any sailing craft should do its best with all its canvas in one piece. Fhiing Scud modified the lateen by spreading its 615 feet of sail, or cat-boat fashion, by supple- menting it with a small jib, and Vixen and Ranger had other developments of the lateen. The lateen sail has still some stanch friends. The lieorfiie of the Shrew.sburj" River fleet, and Colonel Higgin.son's Cold Wore, with the Mo- hegnn cat-rig, are two examples of it. The latest design in runners is that of H.- Percy Ashley, knowTi as the rocker type. These have a cun'e fore and aft. They are especially useful on rough ice. The elongated tiller, too, is of the utmost importance on occasions, because it allows the sailor to lie head forward in the steering-box and guide the yacht with his feet while yet tending sheet with his hands. The usual course in races is a triangle of one mile on each leg. of which only one can he before the wind, and five times around the triangle con- stitutes a heat. This necessitates ten sharp turns. The time made by boat.s over such a course necessarily varies ver>' much on each leg, and still more from day to day, according to the condition of the ice, and the force and direction of the wind. The fastest time made in the pen- nant championship over the regulation course was by Icirle in 1807 in 46 minutes 10 seconds. JIuch faster time has been made on a straight- away course in a favorable wind: if is not an uncommon incident under those circumstances for a boat to pick a race alongside the railroad on the Hudson's banks, and outsail an express train. The principal original locations for ice yacht- ing were the ilud.son River above i'oughkeepsie, Newburgh, and Orange J-ake, N. V., and the Shrewsbury River in New .Jersey. From these the sport spread westward in the sixties to Lake .Minnetonka, Minn., where it wiis introduced by Theodore Wetniore, and much line sport has been had by yachtsmen from Saint Paul and Minne- apolis. Lake Winnebago, Wis., has also a half- dozen clubs on its borders, l-ake Pepin, about 40 miles south of Saint Paul, is the centre for the boats of several towns. At Bar Harbor Lake in Maine there is excellent sport, a.s well as at Bur- lington, Vt., on Lake (^hamplain. In Canada ice yachting is very popular, and on Lake Ontario there is much racing of boats from clubs, both in the Canadian and American port,s. So there is in the Bay of t^uinto, and on the Saint Lawrence River. o favorable conditions are allowed to pass cither at Montreal or Quebec, and on many other of the large inland lakes followers of the sport test their skill. There are many prizes annually com|)etcd for; but as ice yachts are by their nature diflicult to move from watershed to watershed, they are mostly local. ICHABOD, ik'ii-hod. A poem by Whittier, in- tendcil ;is a rebuke to Daniel Webster for his change of attitude toward the question of slaverj-. I-CHANG, e'chnng', E CHANG. A fit or de- partmental citj' of the Province of Hu-peh, China, situated on the left biink of the river Vang-t-se. about 1100 miles from the sea, and about miles below the entrance to the great Yang-fse Oorges (Map: China, D 5). It stands in tile centre of a hilly country rich in rice, cot- ton, wheat, barley, and wood-oil trees (the T'tnifi-shu or Aleurites cordata), and many kinds of fruit grown in the sheltered valleys near by. The climate is drj% with warm summers and pleas- ant winters. The place is of great commercial importance. It is for the present the limit of up-stream steam navigation, the few attempts that have been made to mount the rapids of the I'pper Yang-tse having resulted in disa.ster. Hence all cargoes destined up-stream are here trans-shipped to craft specially constructed for the navigation of the river above 1-Chang, and most of the down- stream cargoes from Sze-chucn are also trans- shipped. The city is one of four opened in 1877 to foreign residence and trade, in accordance with the convention signed at C!!hi-fu in 1876, and a few foreign business houses have agents here. Great godowns or warehouses have been built to accommodate this transit trade, and a foreign settlement has been laid out just below the native city. Tn 1000 the total trade of the port amounted to 2.T.14.S.fil7 Haikwan or custom- house taels. The total imports of foreign goods amounted to 10,00.5.27.'5 tads, and of Ihis goods to the value of 10.470. l.'iO taels were reshipped by native craft to Chung-king in Sze-chuen. The value of the Sze-chuen produce reshipped to ports down-stream was 7.1.'J4.070 taels. I-Chang has no direct trade with foreign countries. The steamer traffic is entirely in the hands of the British and the Chinese. About 1.5.000 na- tive craft of all sizes (the largest probably about 60 tons) pa.ss this port or call at it, in