of which are the possession of China, glides into the
gorge known as the Second Defile. There are no
signs here of a vast accumulation of waters similar to
that at the mouth of the defile above. The channel,
broader and less obstructed, offers a more adequate
highway, and the river is less turbulent in its entry.
Yet on all sides there is grim testimony to its power
in the pedestals of the surrounding hills, torn, contorted
into the most fantastic patterns, and swept bare of
every vestige of life to a height of thirty feet. It is
this sense of conflict between vast elemental .forces
which, felt intensely here, makes the Second . Defile
a great spectacle of the.world. Near the northern
entrance a mighty cliff which turns its worn face
to the river, speaks with eloquence of the conflict.
It rises sheer into the sky from the water’s edge, eight
hundred feet from its massive foundations, made smooth
by the constant friction of the speeding^ river, to the
delicate clustering bamboos on its summit. Round its
base graceful creepers climb, and hang in festoons
amid the . branches of noble trees. A pagoda in
miniature, one of the smallest of the myriads, which
taper heavenward in this land of religion, crowns the
top of a-small rock at its feet. Its diminutive size
throws intofrelief the great rock, seared with the stress
of centuries, which towers majestically above it. An
instinctive hush settles down on the ship as we race
under its shadow,; and there is deep silence in the
gorge, broken only by the steady paddle-throbs, which
echo through it like mysterious heart-beats. In this
168
FISHING RAFT AND NETS IN THE SECOND D E F IL E