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The Chinsbakiang has not yet been completely explored. In the region near Likiang (one day distant from the right bank) the trend of the river is S., but it is uncertain whether in turning from this direction the stream flows N. or E. Garnier, Hosie, Gill, and others have represented it as bending E. and then N.E. Hosie crossed what he believed to be the Chinsha at Chin- chiangkai, a point 3 days N. of Tali, and connected therewith by a road that appears to have offered no great difficulties. According to M. Bonin, a recent French explorer, the river, below the angle it makes near Likiang, takes a wide sweep to the N., so as to avoid a great mountain mass, goes to within a day's journey of Yungning-tu-Fu, and then turns S. through Yungpei, S. of which it again flows E., after receiving the Paishuikiang on its right bank. M. Grenard has stated, on the authority of letters from M. Bonin, that the Chincha receives the Yalung iu lat. 28° instead of lat. 26° 35", as is generally supposed. Bonin regards the stream which Hosie supposed to be the Chinshia as only a small tributary, though Hosie says it is about 300 yards broad. Garnier found that the natives gave the name Paishui to the Yalung, and also to a part of the Chinsha, and it is possible that Bonin has been misled by names. Dr. Anderson, a missionary who struck the Chinsha in 1891 a few li above its conflunce with the Yalung, speaks of it as making an immense curve to the S. before joining the Yalung, in order to avoid a large rocky mountain. Mr. Hosie, on inquiry of the ferrymen at Chinchiangkai (a name suggesting that the river he saw is the Chinsha), was informed that the stream is not navigable. So far as can be ascertained, the Chinsha below Chinchiangkai flows through profound and precipitous gorges, and is troubled with a strong current, and with numerous and dangerous rapids. According to Garnier the river between Likiang and Mengku is utilised only for the transport of pieces of wood cut in the forests near Likiang, and it is necessary to take the rafts to pieces to get over the rapids. Garnier thought that from Machang to Hougponso, and even a little below, boat traffic would be easy, except for one considerable rapid which is almost a fall. The stream is here sinuous, and encased by perpendicular cliffs which reach a great altitude near Machang. The Yalung, which is unnavigable, joins the Chinsha about 9 miles W.N.W. of Hongpouso, and its mouth is "a sort of accidental hiatus in the belt of hills which border the Chinsha." Garnier did not follow the river in its great S. bend between Hongpouso and Mengku, but traversed very mountainous country and passed through the important commercial and mining centre of Huilichou, situated in a beautiful valley. At Mengku he learned that the rapids above and below the town stopped navigation at a short distance. Near Mengku the sugar cane flourishes, as in many other parts of the Chiusha valley. Below Mengku, says Garnier, there are real difficulties of navigation, rapids being caused down to Sui-Fu by the falling in of the rocky cliffs which enclose the river, under the action of torrents formed during the rainy season. It is said that the Chinese Government formerly spent considerable sums in order to get rid of the rapids..
The immense depths of the gorges through which the Chinsha has cut its way in N. Yunnan and W. Ssuchuan, and the extraordinary freaks played by its tributaries on the right bank, have prevented the course of the river below the Yalung from being thoroughly ascertained. Garnier speaks of the rivers in this limestone country as passing over one another, splitting in two, and changing from one basin to another. Apparently the Chinsha here reaches its lowest latitude, 26° N. The strength of the stream and the height of the banks prevent its being much used for boat traffic even in the few portions where no dangers exist. The gorges culminate near the Sunbridge, where the precipices rise 8,000 feet above the river. At Wawu the river is 490 feet broad. Baber found no shoals or sandbanks here, and navigation was said to be safe and easy for 30 to 40 miles higher up, while half a day's journey lower down all boat passage is barred by a succession of dangerous cataracts. The fall of the river from Wawu to Huangkuoshu is six feet per mile, and thence to Pingshan about three feet. Baber says he saw enough of the Chinshakiang to know that it cannot be navigated, except with frequent transhipments, further
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a few miles above Huichi, and M. Brenier states that an old sonary, who spent 32 years in Ssuchuan, confirmed Baher's opinion. is worth noting that the name Yangtze is applied by the Chinese only to the lower reaches of the river, from a little above Hankow to the mouth. Higher up, Chinshakiang, Takiang, and Changkiang are the names adopted. It is imutant to know whether the Chinese, in recognising the Yangtze as Eno sphere influence, refer to the whole course of the river, or only
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