After having determined the Taiping Gate to be in latitude 29° 33′ 50″ N., and longitude 107° 2′ E. of Greenwich, ascertained the variation of the compass to be 2° 26′ E., and gained all the information possible about the city, the neighbouring country, and on that all-absorbing topic the rebels, we left Chung-king on the afternoon of the 3rd day of May. The son of the Mussulman high priest, whose acquaintance our Seikhs had made, accompanied us the short distance we went before halting for the night; and he departed much delighted with some devices which we had put on a new fan he had brought to us for the purpose; the names of our whole party, Mussulmans included, were upon it. The fitting of our junk had been somewhat altered; both the large bow-sweep and the sail had been done away with, and the mast was now only used for tracking, the line running through a ring which traversed up and down, so that it might be accommodated to any height. The skipper had also hired a small boat or sampan to accompany us, which was found very useful in putting ashore and bringing on board the trackers, when the depth of the water did not allow of the junk approaching the land; it was manned by three men, one of of whom steered by a large sweep-oar at the stern—a method which we observed very general in this upper portion of the river.