The peapod shaped boats, with a capacity of 10 people, navigate the stream without benefit of a noisy engine, and solely through the skillful boatman who steers it through the shoals and rip currents. In the past naked trackers pulled boats laden with cypress upstream for processing, but with the advent of tourism, they were required to be modest, and now wear shorts. Before the flooding of the Three Gorges Project headpond the stream was shallow in places, and this journey was dotted with shoals; the flooding has reduced the need for the trackers. Most are now employed to return the peapods to their upstream stations.