Translation
The best tour is to go boating on the lake on a moonlit night in autumn; and among such tours, the best is to go boating around Junshan Mountain in Dongting Lake at night. I wonder if people in ancient times had this experience? In my life, I have regarded boating on Dongting Lake and traveling around Junshan as a beautiful wish. I once wrote this wish in a poem. It is now the night of the 15th day of the lunar calendar in the year of Dingmao (1867, the sixth year of Tongzhi), and I have only had such an opportunity to travel around Junshan.
Set the boat and set off from Longkou to Xianglu Peak. The moon rises from the tops of the trees, and the boat sails on the lake where the moon and water complement each other, like a picture of golden mountains and rivers. The people traveling with me were the two monks "Kaishangren" and "Dashangren" and my guest Li Jun, as well as my nephew named Fei and my grandson Wu Po. Under the high cliff in the south, there were more than a dozen flickering lights of fishing boats facing west, one after another, passing us one after another. (Look carefully) it turned out to be fishermen rocking their boats to catch shrimps. The Kaishang man pointed to a tree on the high cliff and said to us: "This ancient camphor tree is undoubtedly as thick as a dozen people's arms. The roots of the tree are surrounded by a big stone, which is more than ten feet square. From Yueyang When looking at Junshan from a distance, the one thing that stood out was this camphor tree. "But looking up at it from the boat in the moonlight, I felt that it was not particularly tall. This is the first time I know about this situation. Guest Li Jun said, "Su Shi's boat trip to Red Cliff was on July 16, which is only one day different from our boat trip to Dongting Lake today (July 15)." I turned back to my descendant Wu Po and said, "You Look, isn’t this month also between the Dou Xing and the Ox Star?” So we recited a dozen sentences from Su Shi’s “Red Cliff Ode”.
Later, we came out of Xianglu Gorge and headed slightly north. When we first set sail, the wind was blowing from the southeast, but now the wind was blowing diagonally from behind. The water surface became calmer and calmer with no waves. I saw the embankment of the inlet and thought that I could park temporarily here. However, the ship did not anchor and continued sailing. It passed the mouth of Guanyin Spring and came to Xiangshan (also called Mingshan). Before we talked about the tunnel leading to Wuzhong (Taihu Lake, Jiangsu), someone said: "There are gods living there." The golden palace should be below this. "When night falls, the moonlight shines, the mountains and water are silent, and the scene seems like visiting the legendary Xiang Ling and Dongting Lord. Later, they entered Houhu from the north and soon turned to the east. The water reflected the lights of Yuezhou City on the shore. Clouds and mist appear and rise from the side of the boat, and the water is filled with misty clouds. Looking straight at these clouds, they turned into a long and horizontal shape. The clouds gradually rose up and disappeared. My grandson Wu Po said: "One night, from Shazui, you can see the clouds of Houhu rising from the water. Some of the white fog groups are like wheels, and some are like huge water urns. There are about ten pieces. This is the place.” However, if this is the case, then this place is close to the cave in the mountain. Isn’t it the cave where clouds should be stored? There is no one living behind the mountain. The straw huts built in the low-lying and flat places in the mountains are where people from the island come to avoid floods. There are a few passenger ships moored here, but there is no noise of people.
Turn south and drive out of the sand spit, passing through the willow forest, you can see the old temple gate. "(Yuezhou Local) Chronicles" records that "the circumference of Junshan is more than seven miles long." According to the slow movement of the boat we were on, it seemed to be more than (seven miles long). After the boat was parked, people brought out the food and wine, and stirred the bitter melon with the chicken. At this time, the moon hung high in the sky, and the wind and waves were rising. Everyone drank to the bright moon and the wind and waves. Everyone drank more than they could drink. Master Chao abided by the commandment not to eat meat, drank a little, ate a few slices of pears, returned to the temple, and brought the prepared tea. At midnight, we disembarked from the boat and said goodbye to Master Chao and Jun Li. The four of us followed the road home. The next day I wrote down the experience of visiting Junshan on a moonlit night.