- +12,000 cantars would be more than 500 tons, and this is
justified by the burthen of Chinese vessels on the river; we see it is
more than doubled by that of some British or American steamers thereon. In
the passage referred to under Note 1, Admiral Collinson speaks of the
salt-junks at I-ching as "very remarkable, being built nearly in the form
of a crescent, the stern rising in some of them nearly 30 feet and the
prow 20, whilst the mast is 90 feet high." These dimensions imply large
capacity. Oliphant speaks of the old rice-junks for the canal traffic as
transporting 200 and 300 tons (I. 197).
NOTE 5. - The tow-line in river-boats is usually made (as here described)
of strips of bamboo twisted. Hawsers are also made of bamboo. Ramusio, in
this passage, says the boats are tracked by horses, ten or twelve to each
vessel. I do not find this mentioned anywhere else, nor has any traveller
in China that I have consulted heard of such a thing.
NOTE 6. - Such eminences as are here alluded to are the Little Orphan Rock,
Silver Island, and the Golden Island, which is mentioned in the following
chapter. We give on the preceding page illustrations of those three
picturesque islands; the Orphan Rock at the top, Golden Island in the
middle, Silver Island below.
[1] See Gaubil, p. 93, note 4; Biot, p. 275 [and Playfair's Dict.,
p. 393].
CHAPTER LXXII.