Therefore, from the beginning to
the end of the trip, make the best of everything in every way, and I can
assure you, if you are not ill-tempered and suffer not from your liver,
Nature will open her bosom and lead you by these strange by-ways into
her hidden charms and unadorned recesses of sublime beauty, uneclipsed
for their kind anywhere in the world.
Think not that the life will be luxurious--houseboat life on the Upper
Yangtze is decidedly not luxurious. Were it not for the magnificence of
the scenery and ever-changing outdoor surroundings, as a matter of fact,
the long river journey would probably become unbearably dull.
* * * * *
Our _wu-pan_ was to get through the Gorges in as short a time as was
possible, and for that reason we traveled in the discomfort of the
smallest boat used to face the rapids.
People entertaining the smallest idea of doing things travel in nothing
short of a _kwadze_, the orthodox houseboat, with several rooms and
ordinary conveniences. Ours was a _wu-pan_--literally five boards. We
had no conveniences whatever, and the second morning out we were left
without even a wash-basin. As I was standing in the stern, I saw it
swirling away from us, and inquiring through a peep-hole, heard the
perplexing explanation of my boy.
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