INTERNAL  TRADE  3°9
and  at  times,  especially  during  the  summer  floods,  and  in
places,  this  speed  rises  to  twelve  knots  and  even  more.
The  swift  current  drives  the  boatmen  to  tracking  on  their
upward  journey,  and  the  trackers  find  but  scanty  foothold
on  the  steep  hill  sides,  and  in  many  places  are  driven  to
follow  paths  which  are  little  more  than  goat  tracks,  traced
on  the  sides  of  the  cliffs,  up  to  a  hundred  feet  or  more  above
the  level  of  the  water.  This  is  the  least  of  their  difficulties.
From  the  upper  end  of  the  Ichang  Gorge  toFengtu,  a  distance
of  300  miles,  the  river  is  strewn  with  rapids,  full  forty  being
considered  worthy  of  enumeration  in  that  distance,  not
including  mere  whirlpools  and  races.  Of  the  difficulties
apart  from  the  rapids  the  following  episode,  occurring  before
the  lowest  rapid  was  reached,  furnishes  an  illustration.
“  October  6th.  The  boats  under  way  6  a.m.,  tracking
up  the  right  bank.  At  8.30  a.m.  the  tracking-line  of
No.  i  boat  broke,  and  in  less  than  fifteen  minutes  we
had  drifted  back  nearly  to  last  night’s  anchorage.”  *
The  tracking-lines  are  made  of  long  strips  of  bamboo
plaited  together  into  a  cable  as  thick  as  a  man’s  arm.  Of
the  ascent  of  the  rapids  Mr.  Hobson  says—
“  More  dangerous  navigation  it  is  impossible
to  conceive  ;  double  tracking-lines  having  been  paid
out,  extra  breastlines  provided,  and  extra  trackers
engaged,  we  started  from  under  the  lee  of  the  rocks,
outside  which  the  mighty  torrent  poured.  Inch  by
inch  only  did  the  boats  advance,  until  by  nightfall
we  reached  the  shelter  of  a  small  bay  beyond.”
At  several  rapids  he  records  that  the  trackers  of  three  boats
were  put  on  to  haul  one.  From  Mr.  Little’s  account  t  we
gather  some  illuminating  sentences  describing  the  difficulty.
“  We  had  a  tough  job  to  get  round  the  point  which
forms  the  western  limit  of  the  gorge,  the  boatmen
clinging  on  to  the  crevices  in  the  rock,  with  long
bamboos  armed  with  small  steel  hooks.  .  .  .  Half
*  “  Ichang  to  Chungking,”  1890,  by  H.  E.  Hobson,
t  “  Through  the  Yangtze  Gorges,”  by  Archibald  J.  Little.