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About Google Book Search Google's mission is to organize the world's information and to make it universally accessible and useful. Google Book Search helps readers discover the world's books while helping authors and publishers reach new audiences. You can search through the full text of this book on the web at |http : //books . google . com/| UP THE YANG-TSE. BY E. H. I>-AlHK:EK. (reprinted prom the *china review.') WITH SKETCH MAPS. HONGKONG-. PEnmsB AT THE *Chika )tiiL' Officb. 1891. CZl 2/^ ^5 v/ / HARVARD UNIVERSITY L'^RARY 3?P 6 I960 PRINTED AT THE * CHINA MAIL ' OFFICE, HONGKONG. L--* ERRATA. If • fi !• If •f tt P^e 2, Line 6, for It m imm, rttd Tkit u««. „ 84, „ 9, „ boiUr$ htk$^ ,| Mltrf Affvt. Mf f» »f It cMMi0fpip9^ „ tauiqffi§9. 117| ,9 13* II *»/ mmiwick m§ift „ — wApm A »mii. 164| 91 9, ,1 MjNuiiiiff 99 iMm^muimg, lWi 99 35| 19 wmgpip$it ft ••^Bw*i» IM9 19 d6| 99 loite lift 9f iMif tito. W^ 99 D9 99 iMNfyA9 99 CM^pi^pn* SIO9 91 O9 99 IMiMIMf| II flMWMi r(fiif«s OF Hc-PEH 275 S/. Cn'i-AN Plants ^01 Index i PREFACE. In publishing this reprint, I have expunged useless matter to the best of my ability, and I venture to call at- tention to the Index, which has been compiled with care. E. H. Pabker. 1891. •^ UP THE YANG-TSE. I. THE YAXG-TSE GORGES AND RAPIDS IN HU-PEI. At daybreak on the morning of the 24th of November, 1880, we fulled over uncomfortably in our beds as the noisy crew made preparations to start from I-ch*ang. Having had the advantage of reading Blakibton^s, Giirs, Rocher^s and others' experiences with Se-ch*uan boat-crews, we bad taken the precaution of arranging to sleep on board, and to have everything ready to start un the ivciiing of the 23rd, thinking that, with this prevision, we might at least count upon leaving some time, not later than midnight the next day. This hope was, however, the less sanguine in that the skipper had applied on the 21st for permis- sion to bubstitute 'noon' on the 24th for 'early dawn,' as had been dibtinctly stipulated in the contract. The necessity of draw- ing up a written contract has been touched upon by more than one traveller upon this route ; and, in endorsing their recommendations, we may add, specifically, that no particular form of contract appears to have been sanctioned by custom ; and, generally, that, in this as in all matters in China, the European voyageur may rest assured that, in every question which concerns his own comfort or interests, his own wits will pull him through better than any established native practice. In the present instance one distinct proviso was that we should start at daybreak on the 24th ; another that ten per cent, of the total boat-hire should be dependent in any ooM on the hirer's favour, and be certainly forfeited unless all the i>~«. b. . 1^.. ^.■...::l. :i uf!i*iri^:iOL. fiiJ: the hut wss to br *«^.. - •..»-..- ..::—:.::: mnr: titt: amval *: zhr Eire: £ vis -'«-•-■ -:.. :!. r^.-i..*: iiiiiu jiz2^ tnr opUoo&l pgruon, - :. ]w«. ... >■ ...i. ;.:.v: ariivt-t. a: rr.'uaf-kinp. In ...:. :i:ri.;:i:ri noj^ft^c and Bervu la. -■■. :*:... T ,v.:f\\:.L: : -ar sarprise, ; f*.: • :::crtduyus "! when the ...■!i::!:.. Tt^oitz.: 03 TKirk and :: :. .. . -a:.- jtiol ou: tuI deiaving - ? '•.=■■:..:; fttar: ritiort day- ..' a.- «■■ W'.rt coiiLtrned. -:... fi.:;. I:.l^ uiider*auid- — i . ...-5. V. -...•■. • •• tar I ,. .. ;;..:•;. letri iunp bj ..;■: -■ u: ;:!t ei*w .-V :...:> r:-<:iiif l|»«i ^ ..: '...:• ^. laia lijion .. ■:..-:: vist uLd ... .. :.tix;M w::h- • .: ; :::; |ia>- • : -r^^ri fjtpk . . • -J ii:.-vtMe - ■• - ■ y.p VJ..iL »-li( •..:■.*.:* liif '^i--- > - ■ •• . " V.'..".': ,"""..'■ li.^- >A ■ ■ - , - , *=-^ '^^ --^^ i^vi V : l.I^. . .. : ; ~ " -■ *-^ -* 1 * r;^ ^ Gorges and Rapids in Hu-pei. 3 ffoar times daring the voyage, also, they get a ration of pork and fow], a treat known as shau thenfu or * roast to the gods/ which is moreover repeated as an extra encouragement to them from time to time at the expense of the skipper or the passenger, when they have succeeded in passing a dangerous rapid, or achieved any other exceptional success. Ahout six feet from the prow is rigged athwart-ships a powerful beam ; and connected with this by means of strong ropes is the main sweep, wtiich extends thirty feet or so ahead, and, worked by three or four men, has a powerful effect in veering the boat round in any particular direction. A similar beam is rigged athwart-ships in front of the mast, and in support of the mast, which runs up in front of the foremost passenger com- partment. Side sweeps, worked by eight men apiece, move on short stanchions attached to this latter beam. Behind the mast are the passenger cabins, each about ten or twelve feet square, by eight high, with the exception of the fourth or hindmost, which is not so deep fore and aft as the other three. The foremost we use as a sitting, dining, and guest room ; the second as a bedroom ; and the otlier two as store and servants' rooms : when carpettcd or covered with sheep&kin rugs, these compartments can be made very tolerably comfortable. Beneath them are the bulk- heads, in which the traveller's ba^^^ago is packed, each compart- ment being separate, and as far waterti^^ht us any Chinese-made compartment can be. Behind is a sort of after deck, which can be covered in with mats like the forward deck, and which, besides being what may be called the tilkr-room, can also be used for passengers* cooking, servants' promenade, and general misoellaneous purposes. Sloping up again behind this is the poop, a mysterious region, protected by doors, in which the skipper and his harem dwell. The sail is the usual ragged atfair, with bamboos in place of reefs, and the mast-head serves besides to bear the strain of the tracking rope, being relieved, however, by a second line passed loaod two cat-heads fixed perpendicularly in front of the second thwart-beam. The tracking is usually done with the /et-ton, or 'flying hawser,' a bamboo aff'air of two strands: the next-sized hawser is called the erh-hsmg-tan, or * seoond-go hawser ;' and the largest, only used at the most dangerous rapids, the iiO'tattf or * sitting hawser.' From a book published by Rear- Admiral Ifo 4 Up the Ta?i£'fse. Chin-shen* called the IJsitig Ch^uan Pi J'an, or the * Sz Ch'nan Traveller's Vade Mecum^^ we have gathered a number of valuable local terms which we shall give in the narrative. At l-oh'ang we exchanged visits with his Excellency the AdroiraL and found him a personage of great frankness, and anxious to do all in his power to oblige. We are indebted to him amongst other things for a hung ehUiaUt or * red-boat,' a handy little sampan manned by a naval lieutenant and live stalwart braves, which follows or precedes us alternately all the way, and makes itself generally useful, whether in assisting trackers to dis- engage their line, in carrying them to and from the shore, or in rendering small services to ourselves, whom it is commissioned to protect and to escort as far as Wu-shan on the frontiers of Sz Ch*uan. The dilatory deputy who was sent down by the Sz Ch*uan authorities to assist our boat up to Ch*ung-k*ing has not put in an appearance yet : he himself, together with his reasons, will doubt- less turn up some time or other, when it is to his advantage to be to the front. CHAPTER IL After tossing uneasily, alternately too hot and too cold, in a superfluity of blankets, I rose to see how far so much yelling and straining had brought us, thinking that we must at least have arrived at the mouth of the Ich*ang gorge, which is only three miles from the city. I found, however, that two hours vigorous yuloing with the two hide sweeps had only brought us half a mile along the left-hand bank ; another half hour's drifting and pulling took ua to the other side, near the river-otterf fisheries, little more than opposite the Consulate, whence we had started to the firing of guns three hours before. The crew, (in which term in future we shall include the permanent staff of eight, and the twenty-three hired trackers), were now regaled with their first meal. The cook on these occasions has the bowls, basins, * He has since changed his adoptive somame of IIo for his real surname of Lo. t The livers of these animals have since been prescribed as a certain core for the malady of Prince Ch'on, the Emperor's father. Gorges and Rapids in Hwpei. 5 and chopsticks all ready : every man helps himself with a wooden dipper to a fill of rice from the tub ; each four or five share the contents of a ha.sin of tasty soup, bean-curd, cabbage, wooden- lookinf? pens, or other strange compound ; fish-like months place themselves in position at the bowl edges ; a steady shovelling with the chopsticks goes on ; chewing is eschewed ; and all is over. Previous to entering the gorge, passed a temple called Kwari' yin MitiH^ and a place called Tsz-yang^ both on the right bank, and rounded a nasty-looking corner where the water rushed past ■ome angry low-lying rocks in threatening fashion. On the left bank at the entrance of the gorge is the village or boat-station of Kan-chin^ a place duly identified on the sketch-map of Admiral Ho. The first aspect of this gor8:e, of which we had heard and read so much, was somewhat disappointing. The scenery was undoubtedly fine, and, to my thinking, resembled the best parts of the Rhine or the barely •eoond-rate Norwegian fiords more than anything else. So far Switzerland was not to be mentioned, even in a whiRper. The day's jonrney was accomplished almost entirely by laborious tracking, dnrinfl: which the retrnlation amount of as:ility, howlinor, and other unnecessary display was tfot through by the crew. We had one or two oppirtunities of taking a walk amongst the ronkti, and at four o'clock came to anchor, or rathfr made fast with hawsers fore and aft to the bank, at a spot between P^imj-ahan Pa and Shih P*ai\ just above the mid -gorge Customs Station at which Blakiston appears to have anchored. In no place, thus far, did the current seem to be partiotilarly strong. Owing to the method of progression employed, the Chinese junks which ascend the gorget and rapids submit themselves to all the dangers which exist. Ilugjnng the banks, they have to sheer out at each projecting rock, where, of course, they must encounter the brunt of the current, and where, if rapid or shallow there be, it is most probable they will find it. The rock passed, they are swept along in the eddy which intervenes between this and the next jutting rock, and, whilst thus drifting clumsily along, every favourable poeitioQ for the bow places the stern at a corresponding disadvantage ; and rice vena. One man, armed with a flexible bamboo pole, is frequently all that stands between a rook and apparent annihilatioD. A light draft, full- powered steamer, such :3 is fT2 r?rc3 ■ Ilrfll, 7;l.".'_ : ■Di-.iXFr --: tr '-« -~4rt • £2^ ^e ? iv^*:r«. -sa. .jot ■*€ -Z. -«« .i«L:i_n-C ti&e: .r , —.—1 - -^ • - I r .---tiii, .-* ^.:rr --r^r; iiaicr- ii:"V» -fr ;-?r. 71= .-^•. ~ ."**•- :2s :i . JUi ria» ••.?t, sJixL pLve 31* riir :.izi€= I iv L--:5 . - . -r—itii::. ;:-■*. ^ .** ■.■■.::a "!»» 'amce«i :r. jlj. "n. ..r ir-.'-r ,. ::.• Tv.si --*!.. JiT- ■-■•-•' : "rr'-nci'jtf; jr '*-ui.i Tc-rf ij'vi-j. ri:r:'it'_.i_ i :. 1 .-; ~. TLt v. t ills :r«« "»i-h ..Sii*. .in:. .;:^ . ■. - -• .■ j-::-..iv:.-.r! ^ -.lie 1 — V-Jtrii. If i -,-r — -:-^ -•— ;■ • ^ :2-rK.'^ .:lxj ..rj.'. .-* r-sTi'iiij -.•■ = i'^ >-;-?■ "l-.e ..'.:;-•• -r "• ::::.n "I.j.-. t- -*-2rr.c^i -.a :iiii fr-'-ur;n iV-.Ti S**'- • rj'r ir- ;^-rr i: .".—. i^?.j :a*l^i "f'l*-, "TiicW ^i»"i! i» ir '-'jf '"iM^ in.i '.;« i--t i-tr :iie >uai rv:s.-i '37 :ht> wiad i,i^/,o» •*/■,'/-/.. . .^ ••. , iiirr^an.ii::^ ♦•^••^►^rv frun jut vtc-v. md ^ve • ./, j-,jy»#. 1;' ♦■r.'i»v,n ///' ; ''?■••. .^ ir * ]icd EL-ek,' and C-'utt^mi/ttj f.i-f, ••- • Tt:'^ M^-'C'iii iv.ck," lad ifidr a li:ue more tnckioif an'V,.,f /} /',f rnv^rvl ^t a imall tHIi^ ealLffti Ltn-pH Skihy or Gorges and Rapids in Uu-pei, 7 ' Thander-olap Rock.' All the places above meDtioned appear in the route-map called the Hsia-chiang Chiu-sheng T*U'Chiht or Sketch of Life Saving on Ihe Yatig-Uze liapids and Gorges, WheD, as frequently happens, the tow-line gets foul of the rooks, the trackers are stopped by a tattoo of three strokes at a time on the drum. This is called ta k^tcan^ or * beating easy,* a term also applied, according to Admiral Ho's book, to the quick tattoo by which on other occasions the men are encouraged to redouble tbeir efforts. Fu'tBz is the term applied to the trackers, whether per- manent, or hired and additional, {lUenfU'tsz). The half-dozen or 80 of sailors who remain always on board the boat to handle the sail, pay out the line, beat the drum, and so on, are termed hsia ihoUf or * hands :* the two masters or mates chia-^chatig, or * man- agers.' Owing to the jumble of dialects spoken on the frontiers of Hu Peh and 8z Ch*uun, it in dilHcuit to be Hure of the exact mean- ing of these terms. Kven the erudite Admiral, who occasionally quotes the poet 7u to illustrate the dangers of the route, sometimes uses characters which are manife&tly wron^ ; whilst the illiterate boatmen and military escort oflictrs ure still less to be depended upon. We anchored at 3 '60 p.m., alter a not very hard day's work, on the afternof^'U of the 'JOth, and took advuntuge of the remaining daylight to ramble over the hills and inspect the country home- steads. The dialect of the people di tiers here very slightly from that of Hankow ; but the upper even tone, which is so high and so distinctly a monotone at that place, shews a tendency higher up to 'curl upwards' at the end, after the style of the still transitional Ilakka shang p^vnj* There seems some reason to believe that the Hakkos of Canton Province are the descendants of emigrants from 8z Ch*uan, Uu Pei, and Kiang Si. Probably, it this be so, the con- ftuioQ caused by the madcap vagaries of Chung Ils'in'tsung in 82 Ch*uao, and the imperial butcheries which followed, both at the eloee of the seventeenth century, would sufllciently account for this wholesale immigration into the southern province. The houses iluit I entered were much better built than those which one encounters on the lower banks of the Great lliver. The reason probably is that there is high ground on the upper river, where it is possible to build without fear ot inundation. When 1 walked from Kewkiang to Hankow in the winltr ot 1^72, 1 noticed that 8 Up the Yang'tse. the dwelliDgs improYed greatly as sooa as ever I got beyond the reach of the summet overflows of the Yang-tsjse. CftAPTER III. An hour or so after starting on the morning of the 26th pf November, we passed two minor rapids called the Siau Lu-chio and the Ta Lu-chio, or the * Little' and * Great Deer's Horns.' The native sketch-map states that these places are only very dangerous in summer aud autumn, and doubtless the ' strong rapid in June ' of Blakiston's larger chart refers to this spot. The two rapids are separated frum each other by only a few hundred yards. Our own score or so of trackers pulled us successfully through with the mid- dle-sized hawser. We reached Shan-tou-pUng^ or liill Lozenge Plain — the Shan-toic-j^icn of Blakiston — at noon, and received the usual complimentary cards and salutes from the gunboats and red- boats at the station. In addition to the red-boat which accompanies us to the Sz Ch*uan frontier, other boats of the same description escort us along their beats, varying from 30 to 50 li, (ten to six- teen miles). The marines and officers so far have all been Hu Nan men. Admiral IIo boabted >^ith pardonable pride of the exception- ally large share taken by liis co-proviuciuls in both the civil and the military government of China. We went on shore after tiffin and walked for a couple of miles along the sandy and rocky bank, many of the bouMerb upon which were worn deep with the friction of innumerable bamboo hawsers. These ropes will endure a much greater pulling strain than any hempen article of the same calibre, but they are not so limber, and consequently will not coil so quick- ly and so small, nor will they stand a sudden cross-strain half so well. A hempen hawser could never hold out against the severe friction of the granite rocks, and would probably rot with the rapid changes of temperature and with wet, whereas the water strengthens the bamboo fabric. These latter are renewed at least after each voyage down and up. At 3 p.m. we reached the rapid of T*a Tung, or Otter's Cave,— the Kwa-dung of Blakiston. This rapid does not appear to be more than a furlong in length, but it was the most serious business we had as yet encountered, and we watched with keen interest from the shore our ricketty looking craft as she was slowly dragged through the seething waters. At Gorges and Eapids in Ilwpei. V this pUce we took on thirty extra trackers, and reqniflitioned the big hawMr, about fonr inches in circumference. At least two hun- dred yards of rope were paid out, and the trackers were out of both sight and hearing of those on board the boat. But a couple of men are always ready at a momenlf^i notice to throw off their clothes, spring into the water, and free the tow-line from any obstacle in which it may catch. Men, too, are posted on prominent boulders at distances from each other, to signal orders from the boat, and likewise to keep the hawser free. Another hour's track- ing and sailing and drifting in eddies, brought us to Mei-J^n T^o^ or 'Beauty's Eldy,' after sailing through which we arrived at Chiich'i^ 'Crocked Creek,* or * Lane Creek,* (variously written), and Uc Yen or lit Yai-isz^ both meaning * Black llock.* All the above places are given in the Admiral's Itinerary, and also in the Koute Map above alluded to. And here I may stale that I use no names of places unless they are approved by the boatmen them- sslves. The A'irairars Itinerary gives the name of every single place passed by the traveller on both north and south banks, and contains at least a dozen others in each of the intervals between every couple of names given by me. At He Yen we noticed five white hay-cock looking mounds on the hill (left bank) which we were informed marked the t^attg or ' stage.' We had, it was said, achieved two great Oang^ or ISO H from Ich*ang, the first great 'stage* being Hwang-ling Miau, Shortly after starting on the morning of the 27th, we came to the entrance of the Niu-han^ (♦Cow*s Liver,* the Lu-kan of Blakiston), or Ma Fei (* Horse's Lungs') Gorge. This place is also known as the K'ung Ling Hsia^ a term of doubtful etymology, by some of the boatmen unmistak- ably pronounced T'ung Ling. Captain Gill selects this word as an instance of the difficulty of obtaining the exact pronunciation of Chinese places, and points out how bis companion, Mr. Baber, arrived at Liu Lin or • Willow Grove.* In this case, however, the words T*ung and K^unj are both used, though the latter is the only one given in the two native books so often here cited, whilst Liu Lin is another place at the entrance to the gorge. A rather far-fetched derivation given by the author of the Sketch Map is K*ung * empty,* and Ling^ an obscure character referring to some part uf a boat, * because the boats have to empty themselves of 10 Up the Yang'tse. their cargoes oooasionally.' I succeeded in taking a very fair sketch of the entrance just before passing the three conseoutiYe rocks in mid-stream called the T*ou^ Erh^ and San Chu, or ' First, Second, and Thiid Pearls.' The morning was still somewhat misty, or it may have been dusty, yet not so much so as to seriously mar the prospect, which was finer than anything even in the latter part of the loh'ang Gorge, and almost equal to a first- rate fiord in Norway : perhaps on a par with Lake Thun, barring the snow-capped mountains in the distance, which are so striking an ornament of Swiss scenery. We were exceedingly fortunate in having a favourable breeze all the way up the Cow's Liver, a gorge which takes its name from an overhanging mass which is supposed to, and indeed does, resemble somewhat the hepatic organ of that ruminant. A solitary tree of considerable size, perched on the summit of one of the hills on the left bank, and marked in the native Boute Map, was also easily identified. Above the Cow's Liver Gorge are the three Ch^ing T^an^ or * Clear Rapids,' (also ealled by some the Hsin T^an^ or ' New Rapids.') At certain times of the year, — the spring and late winter, — these rapids are perhaps the most formidable on the Upper Yang-tsze. We were told, notwithstanding, that we should find the Yeh T'an, on the other side of Ewei-chou, much more dangerous. There are three rapids at this place, known as Nos. 1, 2, and 3, counting from up-river. We got out and walked whilst our boat was being towed up num- bers three and two, and passed on the way a junk lying bottom- upwards upon the bank, where she was undergoing repairs : her cargo of cotton was being dried on the beach. No. 3 rapid is aboul a quarter of a mile long, the worst part not taking up, perhaps, more than one third this distance. At least two hundred yards of tow-line were paid out, and the operation safely accomplished with the assistance of about 50 extra coolies. No. 2 rapid gave very little trouble. We then got into the boat, and closely scanned the hazardous business of passing rapid No. 1 , a terrible sloping race of not more than 20 or 30 yards in length. The boat was moored close to the shore, at the shore-edge of the rapid, and actually touching it. Two middle-sized hawsers, each about 150 yards long, were laid out amongst the stones, and the bow of the ship was steadied by the strongest hawser, made fast to a rock, and Gorges and Rapids in Hwpei. 11 Ijing at rigbt angles to the oonne the junk was to follow. Angry roeks peeping throogh the foaming and roaring rapid were within a foot of her prow as, with a few palls of the bow-sweep, she was sheered into the literally up-hill torrent. As soon as the two towing hawsers were taat, the steadying rope was let go and hauled in : the waters hissed and roared around the boat ; her head plunged ; ererything creaked and groaned ; and the bamboo lines slipped and snapped round their fastenings as she slowly, very ■lowly, crawled along. Just as we had cleared the worst part, and were at the ' top ' of the current, we nearly came to utter grief, for we had passed a junk at anchor lying in shore between our two lines, the hindmost of which the shore people could not or would not let loose, and which the skipper was loth to cut, although the mates and cook were shrieking for a meat-knife, which was fortu- nately not at hand. I did not quite see how we got safely out of the scrape, but as the two hawsers were neutralizing each other's efforts by pulling in different ways, I expected to see the boat go darting down CTery moment. Happily the thinner of the two lines held out until the offending second one was eased, and we glided into slack water to a salute of three guns Touohsafed by some obeequious official. In recognition of their efforts, I presented 1000 cash to the extra hirelings, and 1000 more to our own crew. In the CTening the man who had taken the money from my hand eame to enquire if it was all intended for him, or to be diyided. The squabbling oTcr this division was so protracted and noisy that I half Yowed to give no more presents at all. I forgot to mention that, in the Cow's Liver Gorge, we passed the dead body of a man floating down stream, over which a kite was hovering. The only notice our crew took of it was to say, ' he has his small hose on.' The whole of the three Clear Rapids passed by us were on the left or north side of the river. There seemed to be rapids on the other side too, besides more than one fierce current between, — that is, crossing over from bank to bank. Between each of the three left- bank rapids, — that is, sailing upwards or downwards,— the current finr a hundred yards or more is so slack that ferry-boats cross straight over with the aid of a single lu or side sweep. I have no technical informstion by which I can form a competent opinion whether or no a steamer could make her way up at this time of the i4? Up the Yan^-tse. jear, — which, as already stated, is not the worst,— or what the rate of the current is, now, or at other times. Judging from its appearance as contrasted with the strongest summer currents off Kew-kiang and Chin-kiang, I should saj that, if those were seyen knots, this would he nine or ten ; if fi?e, this seven ; and so on, viutatia mutautUa, Whether a steamer with nothing hut steam power, and drawiog four or live feet of water, could, with her increased resistance to the current as compared with a junk, make her way up ii for mariners to decide ; hut, anyhow, she could be towed up with 200 or 300 men, and she could have either steel hawsers or bamboo hawsers made stronger than those used by the Chinese, besides haying steam to ease the strain on the lines, and to give her way. Her steam power would at all events be suf- ficient to work her into an eddy, or into slack water, should she by any chance break loose. The break-iorce spar used in the bows by 8z ChMian boatmen might be worth the attention of European river captains. One of these lies along each of the sides of the ship's bows, a little in advance of her prow, like a couple of carelessly rigged bowsprits, and is loosely held in a rope loop. The inward end rusts on the oross-beam, the ends of which form two cat-heads above the gunwales, about six feet from the prow. When the boat runs ashore, or on to rocks, the forward end is, or the ends are, lowered into the sand or stones : the shock naturally forces the other ends up, but a man is at hand to pull them down ; and, to give him purchase, a loose loop of rope is left swinging at the inner ends too. We had to use both these spars later on this afternoon, and one was snapped in two ; but they undoubtedly saved ui from serious damage, if not from shipwreck. CHAPTER IV. Wo were in luck again after clearing the Taking or IJsin T^an, and wore carried before a stiff breeze right through the Mi-ts^amj or ' Kioo Granary' Gorge — the Mi-tan of Blakiston. This gorge is quite as fine as, if not finer than, the Cow's Liver, and is certainly more precipitous. Perhaps the most striking view of it is from the upper end, looking down into it : there it resembles a funnel lead- ing into a bottomless cavern of gloom. Emerging from the Rice Gorges and Bapids in Ilu-pei. IS Granary, we were sailing hopefully past the llwamj Niu Sun kun^ or • Yellow Cow Three Seethings,* with the Chu-ch^ih Chi^ or * Saw Teeth Shallows/ on our left, (that is on the right bank), when I noticed a junk ahead suddenly drop astern, and at the same time drift sideways to the other side of the river. She then as suddenly shot ahead, and drifted sideways back again. Assisted by her sail, she had evidently manoeuvred to avail herself of an eddy, and we appeared to be about to follow suit. But we failed to oatch tlie eddy, and had to work our sweeps. What happened next I failed to see, as I bad turned my back for an instant ; but, as soon as I looked up, I saw we had onoo more crossed to the left bank and were going in a slanting direction downwards, bow first ! Then we whisked round and drifted upwards in an eddy, fetching up as above described on the rocks, and saving ourselves from disaster only by a deft manipulation of the break-force spars. The result was we lost at least an hour of time, and had to track up what looked very like a mediocre rapid, — apparently the Yellow Cow again. We had also to round three or four nasty corners, and watch a very exciting series of juggles with eddies and strong currents. At last we passed a jutting rock on the left bank, called JI$ia-thih Men^ or * Lower Stone Pass,' and anchored within sight of lau Kwei Chou, or Old Kwei Town, which lay on the opposite or South Hank, twenty river ti from Kwei Chou proper. (By the way, Kwei Chou should not be confused with K'wei-chou (Fu), or K*wci Kwan, higher up the river). There was a little snow this evening as we took our clamber over the hills, and we felt very sorry for the wretchedly-clud trackers as they huddled together on the cold planks, many with but a shirt and poorly-wadded jacket over a ragged pair of cotton truwsers. I recommend all travellers taking this route in autumn, winter, or spring, to prefer skins to stoves. Skin-lined stockings, pyjamas, hat, coat, dressing gown, and ulster, with skins on the tl<)or and hung round the room, will keep off more cold than any stove, besides not sullbcating one with a stuffy atmosphere. Fifty dollars* worth of sheep-skin and fine lambskin will achieve all this. The whole of the next day, Sunday, the 28th of November, was employed in laboriously tracking pabt half-a-dozon coruors, the two first on the left bank within sight of Old Kwei Chou, and Chum %" v^^ %«»A A)i»,2«c.^u.K '^^ ^x^»x ?«SJ«^ «3UCHr VTWJk CfflMite Kvh^ v'^.sa. J.W *viy >.v«i -.>a:;s ja ^ i'^cX. a ea;:|:«-VsAl drvva«d. \.^ A i^ .--^LnyiiVi w >id«Mi^ )3^v«^i .^ i^ wit Kuik i» «Ark«d va \^ »»iitv Kj<4W )dl v ^ -*^ ^ Y^ju^ K*mi:%^ « tte * Whirlpooi vi \.c*u \,i*a,' y^"^^^ \*««V xi# ^^^nt^d amt^or 0i tbe Li Sii% Fvea. TSm« >» tbh> r^; VdAk «n m&rbeii as Lim lUa Ban Hrwtn, cr *T!Lr«r L»:u^ >«^^•w Wbirt|^M2s^* V«t I did Oar^es and Bapids in Su-pei. 16 boweTer, are probably well aathentioated. We hear thrilling ao- ooonU of the dreaded Yeh T*an, which we are to pass to-morrow, and learn with disgoat that 200 junks are waiting to be towed np ; and all before our turn oomeB. In passing Pullej Rook, we had at least a quarter of a mile oi hawser out. I see no reason why a steamer should not have half a dozen hawsers, each worked with a eapstan on board, or a rough windlass fixed on the bank. In the narrower rapids like the T*a Tung, she would be able to make use of both banks, or of rocks on both sides, for that purpose. One of her greatest difficulties would be anchoring or mooring at night ; for there is, I belicTe, no practicable bottom to be found in many parts of the gorges, whereas, outside the gorges, the bottom is often rooky and unsuitable. But, so far as I could make out, there is no oonsecutiTe mile of gorge thus far without a footing ; and, wherever there is a footing, the boatmen seem to have no difficulty in making fast a hawser. I learn to-day from the Cap- tain in charge of our red-boat that Admiral Uo is in supreme com- mand of thirty gunboats and thirty red- boats, the former with ten men apiece, and the latter with five, exclusiTC of the shau kwan^ or squad officer — sometimes a junior captain, at others a lieutenant or ensign, (for the same terms are used for both army and navy). A higher officer in general command of ten red-boats is called a ling sAaii, or commanding squad-officer, a sort of petty commodore. The men hsye the characters thui chiln, or * marines,* marked in red on a white circle in the centre of both back and breast of their tcI- Tet-trimmed and neat-looking bluejackets, with their names in full, and their numbers in smaller characters ; and also the words * in- tended to save life ooly, not to rescue cargo,' chuan chiu tning, pu chiu hwo. Their head-dress is a black turban, and their other elothes much like those of other respectably-dressed Chinese. / They receive from taels three to taels four a month, and one new uniform a year, the cost of which is deducted from their wages. I nerer saw more handy, smart-looking and docile marines in any eonntry. At night they ooTcr their neat-looking $ampan with a •ort of blue and white striped tent : one of the fi?e serres as oook in turn : they make their beds on board ; and look thoroughly well fad, healthy, and happy. Admiral IIo seems to be a very popular oAeial, and to take a great interest in his duties. Opposite Kwei \ .1 » : .N. :i.r. i^ a: 1 t.. or craTLiiicmt unnii. zrnuiiL. irtittn be ru t^ . .:?:.... 1.. lilt iiiii i*: ti:*\h \, :. i: liu ultfTOonn, met mtn cLiryiDg ..iv, :? ^:l;Il^: on to xht bnck, tnd sup- V • . ,'.i! t.r»u boor, mixed with water, •'.♦ ,r»n. Arv steamer which V :;,' V t nUi thus be able to coal '1 \.y price nf c^al, from * ,♦; iu'wivr. t200 and 250 cash ::v,*;^:;iii. :he exact market . '.r i.-: jJonr when mshirg • ;u i r.> n traveller. Ap- , l; v.i.'.,' .TsitJi Tan in iv.v^rt'd m at least six i./v.-s. waiting for their «. ♦, Ti' ct rtr.in privileges V ,1 *hc help of our re- ^'i s4jr>Ci*Nied in ronnd- '•, »>"ur; «•: a small rapid, .V> waiting imme> t. >« *<; >» ■ « • ■ \ Gorges and Rapids in ffwpei, 17 diately at the rapid to be towed up. Downward-bound junks were shooting the torrent in great numbers ; wrecks were lying about on all sides ; and a junk was just being towed up with four strong hawsers attached to four gangs of forty or fifty men apiece. Strange to say, this rapid is not mentioned by either Blakiston or Gill, though we were informed on all sides that it was oar only serious one. It is formed by a sloping bed of boulders, stones, and large shingle, running far out from the left bank into the bend of the river. At this time the rapid on the right bank, which did not look nearly so formidable, was available for, and was being used by smaller junks. The main current in the middle of the two ragged-looking rapids swept down like a huge wedge. Just below the rapid was a large rook, standing about thirty feet out of the water, and not quite in the cur- rent. It was stated by everyone that there was no danger so long as the several lines by which junks are towed were kept equally strained, and the junk's broadside not allowed to catch the down- rush of water. A marine to whom I was talking said that nothing drawing more than five feet of water could get up at this time; but there would, I apprehend, be sufficient water in the central channel if a steamer could only make way against it. Here, as at most of the rapids, she would be able to make use of both banks to throw out guys and other steadying apparatus. Coming down would be a more dangerous business, but (with deference to mari- ners, for I am entirely ignorant in such matters), I do not see why steamers should not drift down backwards in the most dangerons places, and, where necessary, counteract the overbearing force of the current by steaming upwards. The Chinese, with their clumsy junks and miserable apparatus, can go both up and down with com- parative safety, and, however positive the opinion of some may be that it would be madness for a steamer to ascend the gorges and rapids, I cannot see why, if a steamer accepts the single con- dition of drawing no more water than a Sz Ch*nan cargo junk, she should not, with all her other advantages, aooompllsh what a junk doee. There are at least two master mariners on the river who are anxious to be given the chance of trying it, and there is certainly no lack of Chinese sailors willing to risk their lives if any European capitalist will only have 18 Up the Tang-tse. the plaok to trj, and, if he faile, to go on trying until he succeeds. We broke three successive hawsers in the ticklish job of steal- ing a march on the unwilling crowds of junks below the Teh T*an, In one case our safety hung on a shaky looking iron staple loosely fixed into one board of a junk's stem. Once we whirled round as the current caught us just when our line snapped in rounding a Junk ; but we were fortunately able to sheer into the eddy we had previously left. The operation was so exciting that we could hardly eat our breakfast, but kept rushing to table for a mouthful of food, and then bolting to the door to watch eagerly our next move. The Chinese boatmen seem to blunder into danger with as much easy-going stupidity as they wriggle out of it with calm though noisy (if the two can be combined) resource. The trumpery old sail, and the provoking old sweeps, the sockets in which are perpetually slipping off their pins, and require a man to wax them with the sole of a cast-off straw-shoe, seem to work wonders at most distressing crises. Knots are carelessly tied ; pipes are lit when the hand should be otherwise employed; cooking utensils are always in the way ; blocks wabble about, and are so loosely fixed that ropes are almost invited to tear themselves ; and yet everything seems to blunder somehow round again to safety. These Bz Ch'uan boatmen certainly do a good day's work for their money. This year they are getting from three to five tiau (strings almost equal to a dollar), for the trip to Ch'ung-k*ing, with liberal food provided by the ship. Down, they are generally willing to come for the food alone; and the journey is only one-fifth the duration of that upwards. This year the hire of coolies has gone up, it is said, from one to four tiau, owing partly to the plen- tiful harvests in Sz Ch'uan, and partly to the fact of large numbers having gone north to guard the Russian frontier. I had consequently to pay Tls. 200 for a second-class boat which should have cost not more than 80 tiaii,^say Tls. 60. Arrived at the Yeh T'an, our esoorting officials, (the Si Ch'uan one had caught me up here), said that they proposed to ^nd the afternoon in looking after the ropes, and to start up the rapid next day. I therefore took a soldier with me as guides and went for a walk as far as Liu-Shu Wan, or * Willow Reach,' on Gorges and Rapids in Eti-peL 19 the left bank, when I regaled myself and the aoldier with pea- BQta and tea. As he was well educated, I took the opportunity of getting his ' four tones ' out of him, and found that, in his part of Hu Nan, the tones were more like those of Hankow than those of our red-boat commander, also a Hu Nan man, whose tones were almost the same as the Hakkas. Returning from my walk at about three o'clock in the afternoon, I saw that our boat had somehow or other wriggled herself in front of the other junkS| and was about to ascend the rapid. As we were lightly laden, we only required two hawsers with about 40 men to each. The ascent of three feet was perfectly clear from the hill-top, whence I anxiously watched the struggle which decided the fate of nearly all the worldly things I possessed. I consoled myself with the reflection that, if CTcrything were lost, I should at least be the happy possessor of nothing, which is a free and easy attitude to take up against society generally. After about ten minutes, however, I perceived that I must relapse onee more into the cares of possession, and down I went to congratulate and receive the congratulatbns of the deputy and naval officers. The deputy's small boat ascended next, but he watched its approach with serene indifierence, as he had all his property on his back. The six Atta-sAow, or Vai-kung^ (* hands'), were presented with 600 cash wine money; the three red-boats with 600 cash apiece ; and the head ruffian of the Rapid coolies with one Uao, A bottle of lavender-water was the reward of the lieutenant whose mancsnvres had got us past the other junks : I celebrated the occasioB with my first shave and wash for a week ; reflected that next to scrupulous cleanliness the greatest comfort was un- scrupulous dirt; and proceeded to pen these lines. We passed the same evening the Mang-^hi Chai^ or ' Boa-oonstrictor Enclosure' on the North, and the H$iung-Htoang Shan, or 'Besoar Hill,' on the south bank, and moored a little further on the Shang ekik-nUn or * Upper Stone Pass.' At half-past eight on the ■oming of the 30th we cleared the Pa-tou^ or * Eight Bushel ' Rapid, without disaster, and learnt that the rapid of Niu K'ou or ' Cow's Mouth ' was the only other one of importance on this side of K*wei Kwan. Here I shall drop my narrative for the 20 Up the Tang'tse. present, in the hope that it may be of some small service to those vho may venture to ascend the rapids and gorges as far as the Sz Ch^uan frontier, now but a few miles oft*. THE RAPIDS OF THE UPPER YaNGTSZE. Amid so much that has been written by European travellers upon the Yang-tsze Rapids, it may perhaps be well not to disdain consideration of what the native pilot has to say on the sub- ject. The opinions and traditions of the local junk-masters have been carefully collated by Admiral Ho Chin-sh6n, (whose cogno- men is Ha-ch*dn), now charged with the general superintendence of the gnnboats and life-boats between Ich'ang and Wu-shan on the Sze Ch'uan frontier, it appears from the two prefaces to his work, written by the Viceroys Li Han-chang and Ting Pao-chdng, that both these high functionaries have been deeply impressed by the dangers of the Tang-tsze gorges and rapids. Witness is borne by them to the fact, which has been disputed in certain quarters, that the villagers at the Ch*ing or Hsin T'an Rapid were in the habit of purposely obstructing the river, in order to reap a harvest, whether as pilots or coolies, from the disasters befalling merchant- junks at that place. Commodore (now Rear-Admiral) Ho was accordingly charged with the duty of organizing a life-boat ser- vice, to support which the Viceroy Ting* (whilst still Governor of Shan Tung) contributed the handsome sum of Tls. 5,000, raised by his own efforts. Admiral Ho, whom I visited at I-ch'ang, had himself made frequent voyages between Ch'ung-k*ing and I-ch'ang, and graphically describes, in a preface to a subordinate part of the published Itinerary, the horrors of the route, which * the force of 10,000 oxen' can scarcely soften. He gives the name of every [ single place, whether on the north or the south bank, between the two cities ; about one thousand in all. He adds observations upon the current, the promontories, the submerged rocks, &c., &c.; whilst in an illustrated volume pictures are given which are sup- posed to represent the worst places, and additional cautions are • c Since deceased. Hie Bapids. 21 famished for the benefit of the traveller. I give an almost literal translation of the Itinerary, (Rsing Ch^uan Pi Yao^ or * Vade mecum to Sz Ch*uan'), as far as K*wei-chou Fu, together with free translations of the supplementary observations accompanying the sketches. Owing to the illiterate state of the mariners, and the unnautical habit of the literates with whom I have been in contact on my way up, it has been impossible in many cases to arrive at a certain conclusion as to what some of the terms do actually mean;— such, for instance, as 'keep the point open,' *take up the current,' 'cap the hill,' and so on. The mariners do not under- stand the book terms, and the literary men do not understand the Colloquial nautical terms : moreover, different dialects are spoken by each ; and all these differ more or less from any dialect I know. Such is the language of China. I have done my best, however, to furnish anyone, acquainted or not with the Chinese language, who may do the world the service to survey the gorges and rapids, with a basis on which to work. By knowing the names and sites of the local rocks and eddies, he will be able to appreciate more readily the remarks of the junkmen and pilots, whose services of course be must requisition. Admiral Ho appears to have bestowed the utmost care upon the Itinerary, which appears to me to be abso- lutely correct throughout. The transliteration of the Chinese char- acters has been effected according to Sir Thomas Wade's system, very slightly modified, for reasons which it is unnecessary to discuss here. The riverine dialects, which will be examined in their proper place, are, roughly speaking, Pekingese, with the Hankow tones. The names of places, however, are so well known, locally, that the feeblest attempt at pronunciation will be at once identified. If a steamer once succeeds in reaching K*wei-chou Fu, surveyors need not trouble themselves much with the rocks, eddies, and rapids higher up. All the steamer has to do is to go ahead, and let the Itinerary tak* care of itself. Vet, if the accompanying wearisome translations b ■ found of any appreciable service, I shall have great pleasure in continuing them as far as Ch'ung-king. Notice is taken of lilakiston's names wherever they appear on his larger chart. Surveyors will be interested, too, perhaps, in com- paring the Chinese observations with those in Hlakiston's and U ill's narratives. 92 Up the Yani'tae, The dangers of the rapids, it will be seen from the native remarks, are (1) sunken rocks ; (2) eddies ; (3) shallows oTor which flows a rapid current ; (4) too great draught of water ; (5) insuffi- ciently strong lines ; (6) unmanageable helms, by reason of whirl- pools ; (7) entanglement of the line ; (8) want of local knowledge. The dangers of the gorges seem to consist in (1) whirlpools ; (2) eddies; and (3) rapid currents; all of which subject the ship to two dangers: (A) running upon rocks or shallows; (B) running against the rocky bank. A steamer ascending the rapids and only drawing five feet of water (the draught of a loaded cargo junk) would be no more exposed to Nos. 1,2, 3, 4, and 7 than a junk. As to No. 6, there is no limit to the number of hawsers she might use; and, in addition, she could supplement their power with steam, improve the quality of tracking hawsers, and command, by reason of her superior capital, larger numbers of coolies. Only needing to use her hawsers at the rapids, she would keep them (if occasionally wetted when made of bamboo) in better condition. As to No. 6, a steamer under present conditions would probably be worse off than a junk, unices provided with a powerful stem- sweep. I do not see why a powerful stern-sweep should not be added to the rudder, nor why a forward rudder should not be added to a bow-sweep. Some boats, 30 feet in length, have stern- sweeps of 60 to 60 feet, of which 30 or 40 project over the stem, the inner end being balanced with stones. It is important that nothing project beyond the keel or bottom, as lines have con- tinually to be passed under boats and junks, and would have to be passed under steamers; otherwise the steamer must either be delayed, or must break adrift the obstructing junk. Sail power would be of little use to a steamer going up ; of none whatever coming down: (downward junks invariably un- ship their masts). At any rate, in order to facilitate the working of lines and crosslines, a mast which would unship would be preferable, as also a smoke-stack which would move up and down like those of the Thames ferry-steamers. A steamer should be provided with a series of strong protecting beams round or above the water line, and carry a liberal supply of rope buffers : she should also have, at both bow and stern, poles such as those used by the Chinesci to break the force of her bumping or ground- The Rapida. 2S iaf . The ChineM jankt are also provided with a pole at the howt niBBiiig through a tnhe in the jank's hottom, whioh may he med either aa a hreak or as an anohor. In short, before building iteaaere apeeially for this eerrioe, study should be made of native paaaenger and eargo boats. Coal oan be had all the way from lehang for one or two eash the oatty, — say $2 to $3 a ton. As to mooring, it will be seen that the Itinerary points out the most eligible plaoee at all stages of the water. I will eonclude this paper with a list of nautical phrases used on the river, some taken from Admiral Ho's book, and others from the mouths of the boatmen themselves. Communioation with pilote and junk-masters will be the more easy, the better means there are for making them understand exaotly what you mean in teehnioal matters. 1. Passenger-boat. E Rapids, 39 207. N. Hwtng-tan-hao. 208. N. Ta-sha-tsz. Verj d&ngeroas for upward janks at high water. Beware of shallows in mooriDg at the entrance to the gorge. When the Lao-hn Rock, (No. 200), is exposed 8 or 9 feet, jonks must take the Lia-lai Ewan channel, (No. 211). 209. S. Te-oha H6ng-chiang. At mid-water, when there is angry water from the creek at Lia-lai Ewan, there are nasty whirls to be guarded against by small up- ward junks. 210. N. Cbdu-wu Chi. Upward junks take the inside of the shallows (chi) at mid, the outside at low water, and use two lines. 211. 8. Liu-lai Kwas. At highest water upward junks keep the main channel. 212. N. Tao-ku T*o. Downward junks moor at highest water, but do not start with a breeze down river. If the river is swollen, keep a good look-out for Loa-ha Bhih, (No. 200). 213. N. Fan-tsdng Nao. Whirlpools bad at low water. 214. N. Ye Ch'wang. 215. N. Te Chdn. 216. N. Ye T*an (Blakiston's Rapid of Yeh Twnward jnnka at high water go ronnd bj the sonth bank in orda to get the north enrrent At bigh<»at water the whirla are Terj dan- gerons to small craft. 226. a Kon-ahih T^o. 227. K. Kin-k«on. (Blakiston's Xin-kow-tan). The border between Kwei Chon and Pa-tnng Hien Distrieta. At all timea upward jnnks reqnire fi>nr linea. With a strong npward breexe thej ahonld also hare out a atem hawser, to use in shooting the Teasel out. 228. Mid. Ta-tsz Shih. Athigh water downward jnnks should examine the watermark registered at Niu-k*ou ; and, in making Niu-k'on, keep elose in to the south bank, in order to get the north current. 229. N. Ch*i-kou T*ou. Dangerous at full-mid-water. Up- ward junks be eareful not to break awaj. 230. K. Hwang Liang-tsz. 231. N. T*a Ho. 232. 8. Hnng-shih Liang. 233. S. Chi Ch*ih-pang. At full-mid and exaot-mid water take care not to break loose going up. 234. N. Ewo-lung T*o. Upward junks mind shallows at low water. 235. N. Ta Hwang-la Shih. 236. N. Hsiao ditto. 237. S. Pa-tung District City. Thirty-fiye U from Ta Pa-tou, The Rapids. ^1 (So, 22o). Ninety li from Kwei Chou. At fulUmid- water down junks may moor here, but not too far dowtif on anoount of iballows. 238. 8. Ch*ing-chu Piao. At full-mid-water upward junks may take either bank. At lower-mid- water junks should follow the north bank to ^t the south cur- rent. Be very careful not to be carried on too far north. 239. K. Tung-hsiang K*ou; {tung means 'east'; hsi < west'). 240. 8. Wan-hu T'o. 241. N. Mei-ntt sai-hsiu. 242. N. Chiang-chun T*an. At high water, two lines upward. 243. N. Niang-niang T8 several hundred feet. The rock is like a horse. Hence the saying : * When Ten-yii ia large like a horte, yon eannot descend Chu T*ang. When it is as large as a turtle, you cannot eren peep at Chii T*ang.* No. 360. (Here Pd-ti Shan). Its ancient name was Ch*ih-chia Ch'dng. A savage-looking hill. A JOURNEY IN NORTH SZ Cfl'UAN. As I have said before, at Fou-t'u Ewan, the road from Ch'ang-k'ing westwards separates into two branches ; and, early in the month of June, I took the north-western road, which runs for a few miles within view of the Hoh Chou River. Looking down aa we descended from the rook, we obtained a most glorious yiew. There was the dangerous gate of Shih-m^n-'rh almost eoTered by the muddy waters, and forming a strong contrast with its winter aspect, when it stands high out of the clear and limpid current. The hills on the left hank were bathed in fleecy clouds, intervals between which gave play to the brilliant rays of the rising sun. The /ya-/«z, or * plain,' which extends in labyrinthiaa undulations up to the range of hills of which Ko-lo Shan is the most prominent, was literally reeking with richness. The dull and leaden af^pect of the paddy-fields was now changed into a green freshness, as the transplanted shoots had grown sufficiently tall to hide the water from the eye. With the exception of the lour feet of stone road, not an inch of vacant ground was to be seen. The di?i ling ridges were covered both above and down the •ides with 'yellow 'and * green' bcnns. Tobacco in huge worm- A Journey in Xofih Sx CJiiutn, 53 •aten leafei; maize already shewing its red hairj-looking efflores- eence ; spinaohi Barbadoes millet, pea-nuts {ArachU hypogaea)^ and a sort of parsnip or potato called niu wet shao, or peh shoh, or •Ann yiif occupied those patches of land which were not taken up by rice. Numerous little birds cheerfully sang in the summer, and, to add to the bucolic and classical illusion, the rustics wore garlands of peach-leares round their heads, — with the purely practical object of keeping them cool. Bamboos, um-Vung* (Ster- culia plaianifolia)^ cedars, willows, {yang Uu, ? Salix communti, and tna^iiUf of which I have a specimen), fig-trees (hwang koh), yews, firs, pines, all in fresh leaf, gave varied colour to the land- scape. The Vung trees were now in fruit, and innumerable wild flowers and berries enabled me to make a speedy oollection, which I trust will some day come before the eyes of a botanist. Though it was very hot in the sun, I thoroughly enjoyed a walk under the protection of a quilted umbrella, and the light-hearted oooliea relieved themselves with nasal snatches of celestial song. We stopped for tea at Siao-lung-k*an, a village 15 U from Fou-t*u, the entrance to which is under a notched and gnarled banyan which arches romantically across the road. I don't know whether it is that my nostrils are now becoming inured to powerful odonn, or how, but I perceived no stench at all from the paddy fields, nor was my pleasure marred by the spectacle or smell of any of those pita or receptacles which are such a distinguishing feature of Foo- chow and Shanghai rurality. The yang ch*uof or ktcei ku yang^ which utters a treble note in the form of three whistles, the middle one of which is an octave higher than the other two, defied all my efibrts to get a glimpse of him. The only new tree was the ehUh^ kuh'lan or * bone- joining elixir,' a malodorous plant with long, pointed, willow-like leaves, used as a * simple.' The road to the coal-mart of T8'z-ch*i E*ou, where the river turns north, branches off to the north-west, whilst we skirt the brae of Ko-lo Shan, and mount painfully westwards up two miles of steps to Kan-tien-tsz, (1,200 feet above the sea), 45 /i from Ch*ung-k*ing, and 30 from Fou-t*u. After leaving Eau-tien-tsz, we get a glorious view of a very * Not to 1)6 confaied with the Vung or AUuritft. t Perhaps this is Williams* IShuh chwang, or * Sz Ch'aas cackoo.* 64 Up tlie Yang-tse. considerable plain (for Sz Ch'uan) oalled Hia-pa^ and bhortly after- wards find ourselves in the valley, where the road again divides, the western branch running to Pih-shan Hien, and ours north-west, biseoting the plain, to T*u-t*u Chiang, beyond which it is called Chung Pa, Here my followers and the townsmen had a free fight, which appears to have arisen from the fact that the former were no longer in mourning for the Empress-Dowager, and that the latter were as yet unaware that the ofiicials of Ch^ung-k*ing had two days ago resumed their red tassels. The appearance of a foreigner soon secured a deferential hearing. The accnsed person, whose meddlesomeness had caused the afi'ray, and who appeared to be a literatuSf went down on his knees, and I sentenced him on the •pot to knock his head thrice upon the ground, or, on his pleading that it was dirty, upon my umbrella. The river which we crossed, or ought to have crossed, last month at Pe-shih Yih runs through thii Tillage, and we crossed it again at Sz T*ang, a mile further CD. It is nothing more than a rocky cataract, which winds pur- poselessly about in this and the Pd-shih Tih plain, or Shang Pa, It joins the Hob Choa River at a place called Pd-pei, 90 li from Chil. The other crops as before, with the addition of laran, buck -wheat, and F'rench beans, {sz-chi ioii, short flat, and curved, and chiany toUf long, coarse, and baggy]. I noticed no new trees the whole day, but I again secured a very rich oollection of wild flowers. We met singularly little traffic on the road, and passed comparatively few farm-houses. Twenty U further on, after passing WSn-t*ang Yih, or Luh T^ang, a road again branches oflf to a place 30 li distant called Chiu-hien Ch'ang, or the '* Old City Market,** which appears to have been the seat of a District Magistrate under the Miug dynasty. Wa-tien-tsz is<35, and Ch'i T'ang 45 li from Ch*ing-muh Kwan. I forgot to say that one of the two bridges at this last place forms the boundary between the Pa Hien and Pih-shan Hien territories. The day was broiling hot, and 1 was consequently glad to put up with very indifferent accommodation at Pah-t'ang, only 65 /t from Ch*ing- muh Kwan. The way in which these chair-bearers will carry you briskly along, up and down long flights of steps, in a broiling sun, with the thermometer at 90 degrees in the shade, is really mar- vellous. Their capacity for enduring discomfort ought to make the Chinese the best soldiers in the world. The labourers and rustics along the road were all engaged in a process called kauing the rice ; that is, treading down the outer or weakly shoots in each bonch, together with any weeds there may be. We are now in a region where it evidently pays better to get salt from Hoh Chou than from Ch'ung-k*ing. Porters carrying loads of Shd-hang pan-salt, worth 28 cash the catty at Hoh Chou, and 32 at Ch4-t'ang, were met coming from the north. W« also met Shan S6 Up the Tang-tse. Si ooolies with their masters' bedding on poles bound for Ch'ung- k4ng, the owners intending to carry on the drug trade there. The only place between Ch4 T'ang and Pah T'ang is Man-fu Chiang, where I presented the crowd with a copy of the Home News, After it had been carefully examined, one old man took pains to explain to me that not one of them could read it, whilst my coolie explained to him that it was a newspaper fashioned after the man- ner of the Shanghai Shin Pao^ each paragraph of which pointed a moral or adorned a tale. We had to mount in a north-easterly direction up to a pretty high pass after leaving Pah T'ang. It is called FSng-ya, and forms the very appropriate boundary between Hob Chou and Pih-shan Uien. We had a severe storm during the night, during or in consequence of which the aneroid barometer may have con- siderably varied ; but, apart from that possibility, the pass is about 500 feet above the winter river at Ch*ung-k*ing, and 1,300 feet above the sea. The view from the summit or neck, as we descend- ed into a wide undulating plain, was very striking and lovely. The night's rain had freshened everything up, (though, indeed, nothing but the air required freshening), and the eye could light on no spot which was not thisk with verdure or foliage of some sort. The descent from F6ng-ya is not immediate. First the road skirts the heights, and winds through a sort of elevated pass, of which the sides are, however, anything but what would be called mountainous. The only place after this of anything like importance — in a very humble sense — is Shih T*ang, where I found the dark, black, and grimy < parlour ' a very grateful retreat from the sun's rays, which a better room would have not been to so complete a degree. The distances for the day are Fdng-ya 10 /i, Shih T'ang 30 /t, Hob Chou 20 /i, sixty in all. Just before coming in sight of Hob Chou, I caught sight of the river which runs down from T'ung-liang Hien and Chiu Hien, forty li apart. It is said to be navigable a good way above T'ung-liang, and joins the Shd- hang River five li above Hob Chou. The word T'an^, so often used in the course of the past three days' journey, signifies * stage ' of 20 or 25 li, and at each stage there are or should be a row of from three to five conical ^//i, or mortar pillars, such as one sees so often all over China. A Journey in Xorth Sz Cfiiian. 57 Hoh Chou I have already described, when I aaw it under different oonditions in the winter. The rirer bad, early in June, covered all the exposed bapk on which the shipbuilding took place in February, and had reached almost to the bottom of the steep flight of steps which leads to the Gate. 1 was favourably im* pressed with the town as I rode through in my chair, and I should be disposed to rank it above Lu Chou in everything but size. It it also decidedly cleaner than Ch'unK-k'ing, or even than any other town I have as yet sc-en in Sz Cii*uan, except, perhaps, K'wei-ohov Fn. Our road from Hoh Chou towards Sui-ning Hien was a direct eut to the north-west. We had already had to cross the T'ung* ch*uan River once on arrival opposite Hoh Chou, and we now had to cross it again where it turns west at Chao-chia Tu, and ooo« more where it turns south at Pd-sha, 15 /• from Ho Chou, aft«r which we followed the left bank for fifteen more li as far aa Wei T*o, where we leave it and cut across a bend for 40 li as far aa the Urge market- town of Ta-ho Pa, 70 U from Hoh Chou. There it nothing of special interest to be noted on the road, which, betweem P^-sha and Wei T*o, degenerates into a mere bridle path along the sandy bank. Maize is more common than rice, owing to the ooni« parative steepness of the undulations. Brinjals and tobaooo, together with the vegetables previously specified, are the other crops. Some of last yearns (or perhaps the winter and B^riag crop) tobacco was being aired and dried on the shore, under a aort of low shed made out of mats, to the top of which the leavea wer« auapended in valance-like rows. Tobacco in these parte ia usually brought to market in bundles about the size of a besom. Tobacco seems to be most extensively cultivated in the neigh- bourhood of Ch*^og-tu. The largest quantity, and this made up chiefly if not entirely as tz yen or ' cut tobaooo,* cornea from P*i Hien, where the use of oil-cake manure (yti k*u Ux) ia most advant* ageoualy pursued. Its usual price at Ch'ung-k*ing la about 110 to 120 oaah the catty, or 80 cash in the leaf. There are, howeTer, three qualitiea, the la (great), irh (second), and ehOok (foot, or lowest) ; but the last named does not oome to Ch'ung-k'ing. The prioee of the two others in August 1881 were Tls. 13.2 and Tla. 10 the 100 catties at Ch'ung-k*ing. The best tobacco cornea from 58 Up the Yang-tse. Ein-t'ang Hien, and, it is said, would, if properly dried with fire inatead of in the sun, compete succeBsfally with any in the world. Its colour is goody and its flaTour soft and mellow. The usual price at Ch*ung-k'ing is ahout 160 cash the catty. This tohacoo is done up in open handles {k^un) of from 30 to 40 catties, only one-fifth the size of the P4 Hien bundles. A third kind comes from 8hih-fang Hien, hut this is hotter and stronger than either of the other two, usually costing at Ch'ung-k*ing about 130 cash the oatty. The hundles are about the same size as those from Kin- t'ang. The prices of all the above descriptions are often 25 per cent, higher in the late autumn than when the new crop has just been gathered. The statements of the Shanghai Delegates made in 1869 regarding the tares are corroborated with unimportant discrepancies at the present day. The hong scale is 16 ounces and ^Q to the catty, and payments are made with discounts of chin k^ou chiu ch% which is probably what the Delegates mean hy Tls. 8.7.3 for Tls. 10. The wholesale prices of all these tobaccos vary very much with the time of the year. The new leaf from P'i Uien costs in May, at Ch*ung-k'ing, between Tls. 7 and Tls. 8 the peoul ; in autumn from Tls. 9 to Tls. 11. But in some seasons it has gone up as high as Tls. 15. The tobaccos from K'il Hien (also chiefly $z yen or pressed and planed tobacco) and Ho Chou are known at Ch*uog>k*iDg as Vu or ' local ' tobaccos, and cost about 30 cash the catty in the leaf. Pre- pared and cut, there are three qualities, the Vou hwang at 50 cash ; the irh hwang at 60 cash ; and the Viao sz at 130 cash the oatty. The t*u yen is dry and yellow compared with the p*i yen, which is oily and dark inside. The hong charges, according to my informants, somewhat differ from those given by the Delegates. The buyer is said to pay two mace the bale for certain tobaccos, and the seller one mace. This is called $an fin yung, or < 3 per cent charges.' A kind of tobacco (which does not make its appearance in Eastern Sz Ch'uan) called nan^hwa yen, grown from Kan Sub seed, is produced in Kien-ch'ang and Ch*ing-oh4 Hien, near the Tibetan frontiers. There was once a large trade in this tobacco with Ch*ang-k*ing, but now other and nearer places demand all that can be supplied Ihsnee. ^4 Journey in Korth Sz CKuan. 59 The export of tobacco from Sz Ch'uan cannot be ranked amongst the first class items of trade. Hu Kwang (Hankow and Ch'^n Chou) appear to be the chief markets, and their combined import probably does not much exceed Tls. 400,000 a jear, much ol it being re-exported water-pipe tobacco. Snuff is imported entirely from Canton and Peking, probably in the first instance from abroad. The higher qaalities fetch enormous fancy prices. Regular snuff-takers usually satisfy their appetite with a quantity of the coarser description, and * top' the indulgence with a pinch or two of superior, just as dinner claret is topped with a glass of borgondy or liqueur. Water-pipe tobacco is said to be entirely imported into Ss Ch'uan from Lan Chou and Shen Si. A considerable quantity of n yen Is also imported from Fu Kien. This, (fu yen), and the tobacco known as mien yen from Mien Chou near Ch*^ng-ttt, are amongst the most expensiye kinds of all, and fetch from 140 to IdO cash the catty. A Tisible improvement in the deportment of the people took place at toon as we passed north of Hoh Chou. Certainly, they displayed some little curiosity at the rare spectacle of a foreigner in European attire ; but their manner was quiet and even respectful, and they did not beset me in the inns to a disagreeable extent, even in placet where fairs were going on. They very often rise from their leata when they see an official chair approaching, and even vncoil their queues, or remove their umbrella-like hats — which last movement is, I apprehend, rather intended to make way than to inresent an uncovered head ; but, in the exceptional instances where these marks of civility were shewn, the actors often shewed un- mistakable symptoms oi discomfiture when they perceived that it was ' only a foreigner.' I made the discovery of a novel industry to-day. I had several times noticed a man walking along country lanes, and, apparently purposelessly, blowing a small horn : it turned out that this instrument was the signal of a pig and cow gelder. I also made the agreeable acquaintance of a remedy against mosquitoes in the shape of paper ropes filled with ground < land-eel* bones, •nlpbnr, and sawdust, which, when lit, slowly smoulder and emit an odour which certainly keeps mosquitoes off, even in candle-light : these ropes are called tcin yen, or ' mosquito smoke,* and remind 60 Up the Tang-tse. one of the lanzare pastilles of Yeoice. Another sort is made out of Tarious kinds of A rtemisia. At Wei T*o I perceived a number of Man-tsz Tuny^ in the rockfi ef the left bank. Some of them looked ver}* old, and others much larger than any I had seen hitherto ; but they were all unapproach- able except with the aid of ladders, and most of the largest en- trances were bloeked up with stones. I have remarked so far that these oaves are almost invariably situated near an important river janction, which would seem to point to the conclusion that they were 'royal residences' or ^capitals* of Man-tsz tribes; and, indeed, the great unwashed of that ilk could scarcely afford to hollow out a ■tone oave for each family. Near one of the caves was an inscrip- tion in the rook : * The city-wall was built in Ch*dng-hwa*s reign/ (A.D. 1465); but I failed to discover any eigns of an ancient city in the neighbourhood. Very likely it refers to An-chii, a former district city, now belonging to T*ung-liang District, 30 li below Ta-ho Pa and 30 li above Wei T'o. As we cut across the bend which the river makes here, we did not see this place, nor the embouchnre of the river which comes from Loh-ohih and An-yoh. We saw no new trees to-day, and not so many of the sorts already observed ; but I succeeded in adding another half dozen to By collection of wild flowers. There are some pretty severe climbs between Wei T*o and Lu-lung P*u, a tea-house 18 li from Wei T*o. From that point to a fine fig-tree, the next resting place, whence is obtained a fine view of the river and of Ta-ho Pa, the road is fairly level for Sz Ch*nan. From the tree down to the town is nominally 6 /t, but in reality not more than a mile. Above Hob Chou the manners of the people are supposed to grow more frugal. A Christian photographer who was turning Tb. 20 a month at Hob Chou, and who was next going to Ewang-an, said that there was no use in his going further north, as the people in that direction would not spend money. As the people I have hitherto travelled amongst in Sz Ch'uan themselves live like cattle and hostel me like a pig, I shudder to think what horrors are before me in the Spartan north. The inn at Ta-ho Pa was a sorry affair, drenched with piggy smells, and reminding me sorrowfully ef its namesake at the foot of Kin Shan, where, true, I slept like a «ow in a shippon, with twenty coolies in the same room a few feet A Journey in Korth Sz CJtivan. 61 tboTe me, but, anyhow, enjoyed the fresh air ot nature. In spite of the extraordinary tilthiness of the Chinese in their household amngemente, I feel bound to record the opinion that, miserable though their habitations are, they are at least ill-built enough to be perforoe ventilated, and their atmosphere is not nearly so un- wholesome as that of many a crowded London theatre. At Ta-ho Pa I made my first acquaintance with 8z Ch'uan silk, —the yellow tort which abounds in the Pau-ning and Shun-k*ing Prefectures. At the inn there were also large numbers of coolies ooDTeying loads of Tls. 1,000 in silver to Mien Chou for purchase of lilk for the Ch*ung-k*ing trade. These loads are placed in the ino-keeper's chest at night, and somebody sleeps on the top; and the inn-keeper is responsible for losses which take place in his hotel. In a ease where I was robbed myself, the inn-keeper was at onoe made by the authority to pay the value of the missing articles. Bat, indeed, there is great security for property in this Province, and I doubt if anywhere else in the world a simple unarmed coolie oould travel dOO miles with £300 attached temptingly to the end of his pole. To return to the silk ; the Chinese say that the worms whioh eat the shui sang, (lit. water mulberry), produce yellow, and those which eat the ttz sang, (lit. young mulberry), produoe white silk ; and that both colours are produced, and both trees eaten, in Kia-ting Prefecture ; but this statement about the differ- ent mulberry leaves requires confirmation, and may be oompared with others made by Chinese in Kwei Chou, if reference be made to a former chapter. The ordinary silk mulberry is simply tang thu or kwang sang» The ye^sang, tna-sang, and shui-tang are little used for silk. During the winter the eggs are, in this part, kept in the family wardrobe or strong-box ; and, to use the native expression, are ' nourished by the perspiration in the clothes.* In the third moon, at the Ch*ing-ming Festival, they are taken oat and kept in the bosom for a few days, after whioh they are placed on bamboo trays, and fed for forty days on mulberry leaves, being carefully tended all this time. They then proceed to crawl up on hedge-like sticks or stalks placed handy for that purpose, and, in two days, they, and the cocoons they have spun around themselves, are ready for boiling. A little potash is put in the water * in order that the head of the worm may be found.* The silk I saw was kuo- 6B Up the Tang-Ue, p*in'8Zf or silk which had had the benefit of two courses of water. The merchant said that eight cocoons went to the thread ; that the water used was nearly but not quite boiling ; and that most of his silk went to Shanghai. The ' books* which I saw hanging up for sale reminded me very much of the Japanese silks which I have seen unearthed from the recesses of Cutler Street and Fenchuroh Street for inspection by the Manchester manufacturer and his portly broker ; but the colour was darker and brighter. Each tsz, or twisted skein, weighed from six to eight ounces, and 10 isz went to the pa ; one hundred and sixty ounces make one ch^ing. The price on the spot was from 150 to 210 cash the ounce, — about the price of opium, (which, however, is much cheaper this year). It was market day at Ta-ho Pa, and a very brisk silk trade was being done ; but I shall have more to say upon this anon. Our course the next day was still north-west, perhaps a little more west. We followed the left bank of the T^ung-ch*uan Eiver as far as Shih-hsing Ch*iao, 18 /tfrom Ta-ho Pa, and crossed to the right bank at Sz-fang Pei, three li above Te-mao Ch*i, 22 U from Shih-hsing Ch'iao. All the above places are in the District of P'dng-oh'i, 280 li distant, by a very difficult mountain road of four stages, from Sz-fang Pei. Directly we had crossed, we found ourselves in a ootton and tobacco country, the former crop just above ground, the latter almost ready for picking. Great quan- tities of an earlier crop were being stretched on light wicker frames and dried in the snn. I did not know until to>day that there were two sorts of taro ; the thui-yu, which grows in the the slop-lands ; and the han-yii which grows on the slopes. We now followed the right bank as far as Tsz-t*ung ChSo, 30 li beyond Te-mao Ch*i, passing, about half way, the boundary between P*dng-oh*i and Sai-ning, of which latter District Tsz-t'ung is a sub-district. Beyond this place the river takes two very sharp bends within the short space of a mile, forming the rapid of Ewan-tau Shih. We happened to arrive at the corner of the headland which com- mands a view of the bends just at the moment that two huge empty junks were descending. One nearly ran its fore-sweep foul of a large ooal barge which was painfully ascending by another channel, and the other ran aground as it was turning a sharp corner. This headland is a place of some celebrity. All elevated points which A Journey in J^orth Sz CJiivan, 63 tarmooDt dangers are semi-saored io China ; and in this case a ooloasal Buddha, siztj feet in height and forty in hreadth, has been earned out of the solid rock. A seven-tiered roof, slanting backwards, and somewhat resemhling that of Blakiston's 8hih-pao Chai on the Upper Yang-tsze, covers in the Buddha, and forms a ■ort of telescope case for him. The sight of such a stupendous work slightly overawed my coolies, who performed a few obeisances. A larger Buddha, similar in other respects to this, is said to exist in Lo-shan District of Kia-ting Fu, and one very little smaller three H outside of Jung Hien near Thz-Hu Ching. We now entered upon a remarkahle plain called Tlia Pa, or Hsia-hsien Pa, which extends in all directions about two miles, and is almost literally * as flat as a pancake,* a few hamlets and tombs only breaking the expanse. At thif season of the year, it is nearly covered with cotton, and in the winter with the P'*ppy and carrots. This region is noted also for its pea-nuts {ArachtB hijpver vas ab>Gt the rean 1S49- 62, vben tbe production at SLmn-ki££ r&aebcd IdOO bs^ a jear. Bnt red aniline djes [p'ui &vikg> which, though less tenacious, are easier of manipolation, hsTe larfelr rrpla««dtbe s&fflover dje in 6x Chilian, espeeiallj in the ease of red paper. OjnaBi, too^ whieh appears to spread ererTwhere in Si Ch'iian, has taken its plaee as a ^ring erop. I also got a speeinien of the pao'ki'Ua0 or * crackling flea,' a tree which has been identified bj some with the wax tree. A mile or two bej-cmd 6i-tH P'a, we passed a road running off west to P*eng-ch'i, 150 /t from the spot in qaestion. This road erxMses the rirer at Lo-tai T'o, 12 &' awaj. There are 50 more id from Si-t*i P'n to 8ai-ning Hien, the chief places passed being T*ien-ch*ih Ch'iao, 18 /< from the former, and Lang-f^g Chiang, 20 li from the latter. The last 20 U 'are over part of the celebrated Nan Pa, the second largest flat space in Sz Ch'nan. It is about 20 miles long north and south, bj from four to eight broad, and in June is covered with cotton, sesame, Barbadoes millet, pea-nuts, and a drug, extensively culti?ated here, called pih chih, (t Iris florenttna)^ of which I haye secured flower, leaf, and root They say that it does not matter much if the cotton gets little rain, uuless this little positively dwindles to almost nothing : the soil is grey and sandy, and the country looks like a cross between the rustic environs of Shanghai and the western part of the Peking plain. The ground is never allowed any rest, — opium, carrots, beann, and pih chih forming the winter crops. At Tsz-t'ung and Tu-ho Pa, where there was a good deal of Shanghai cotton, the hitter was quoted at Tls. 18 to 19 the 100 catties, and native at Tls. '1\. The chief trade uf the river is, however, in coal upwards, ^i Journey in XoHh Sz Cli*ican. 61 tnd salt downwards, grain going both ways according to ruling prioea. At Hwang-kwo Shu, (a place already elsewhere described), OQ the Hoh Chou RiTer, half way between Ch'ung-k*ing and Hoh ChoQ, and opposite Pd-pei above mentioned, a local pioul (2,500 eatties!) of coal oo^ts about Tls. 3.5, or, say, two cash a catty at the wharf. Ten or a dozen men are required to drag the boat up to Sui-ning and Yang-tau Ch*i, each man receiving about 2,000 eath for the journey. The coal sells at the salt wells for about four oash the catty. The riverine population is largely supported by this clumsy trade, which, in accordance with Chinese principles, it oalculated rather to distribute industry than to develop it. A oertaio number of monopoly Districts, ChUing-k'ing, (both banks), Chung Chou, Wan Uien, Nan-ch*uan, Fu Chou, &o., are obliged to consume a certain proportion of Little River salt; on the other band, the wells could supply much more if the 'consumption routes' were left unfettered. P*eng-ch*i Hien also produces large quantities of salt, and supplies by overland carriage, for which ' myriads' of porters are required, 8hun-k*ing Fu, Yo-ch*ih Hien, Kwang-an Chou, Ting-yOan Hien, Liang-shan Uien, P'dng Chou, Ta-chuh Hien, Jung-shan Hien, and E*ii Hien. The production of P*dng-oh4 is about 20,000 tons a year. Strange to say, Sui- ting Fu, above K'U Uien, takes, up the river, the Tsz-liu Ching •alt, which is also consumed in K*ai Hien, Tung-hiang Hien, and T'ai-p'iog Hien. The monopoly Districts which consume a pro- portion of Little River salt are also bound to consume a share of Great River salt. 8ui-ning is an important District, with 32 licentiates, and nearly Tls. 100,000 land-tax, counting all exactions. Like Shwang- ohiang, it is situated half a mile away from the river. It is reported to be a dissolute town, but I found a most agreeable change in the manners and facial ezprehsiou of the people. The native of Ch*ung-k'ing, and within 100 miles radius, is to my thinking one ot the least pKa&ing specimens of the Chinese race. It was quite exhilarating to gi t amongst honest faces once more, and many were the pleasant running conversations I had at the tea-houses or with the rustics alonj; the road. But, alas ! it did not last long ; in fact, it ended with the first market-town in 8hc-hung District, a mile from the P'rng-ch*i boundary. After 70 Up the Yan^-ise. leETing Sui-ning city we continued along the plain until we got into a region of mao grass, a sort of marsh j juok which not even pigs will eat, but which is valuable for fuel. Shih-chi Sz is 20 li from the town, and, after breakfasting here, and holding a plea- sant conTersation with the robust old landlord, a man of 78 years of age (who remarried and begat at 63), crossed by ferries two hao, or semi-stagnant branches of the river running through the dank grass. Talking of old men, I noticed an unusual number of them about this time, and remarked also a hairiness and difference in facial type, which led me to surmise that the people belonged to the lao piitf or ' old stock,' a few isolated groups of which, (as, for instance, east of the Kung-t'an River), escaped the great massacre of the seventeenth century. But, no ! they all insisted upon it that they or their ancestors came from Hu Ewang and Eiang Si ; and, moreover, I listened in vain for traces of dialectic differences. Having now described a two hundred mile circle round Ch'ung-k'ing, and passed along half-a-dozen radii, I find that in DO quarter, (with the exception of purely local and rustic uncouth- nesses), does the language vary sufficiently to deserve any separa- tion into dialects, and over all this space the language differs in a very slight degree from that spoken at Hankow. The main points of difference are, (1) that the departing tone is the same in sound as that of the Foochow Dialect, (but this distinction from that of the Hankow Dialect would not be perceptible to persons only knowing the latter) ; (2) that the i vowel, which at Peking is in many cases in a transition state with o, has entirely disappeared, and given place to the Canton e ; (3) that a final g is often placed after the syllables ending in an. But it is a dialect, and I hope to go into it at length on a future occasion, merely adding now that it differs on the whole less from the Hankow Dialect than the Tientsin Dialect does from that of Peking. Persons not regarding tones would consider that it differed much more; but with Chinese dialects tones are of great scientific, even though of small practical, importance as some insist. Well, to return to our journey, we reached the inn of T'ang- ehia Tien, 20 li from Shih-chi Sz, as we debarked after five U of a boat from the second ferry, and found ourselves once more on the left bank in P*dng-ch4 District. Jan-chia Tien is 12 ^4 Journey in Xorth Sz CJiuan, 71 li farther on ; and now the ooantry becomes more hilly, and very moch barer and lees productive. We pass over the ya- Ir'ou or neck of Ts'ao-sz Ta, and look down upon another pa-tszt or fli^t spit, around which the river bends, cultivated like those already described, and known as Ch'ang-p'inf( Pa. We descend and traverse this, always in the same north- westerly direction, and in a short time come upon our first salt- wells. Then we pass under a * virtuous ' arch, over a remarkably picturesque roofed bridge which forms the boundary between P'dng- oh*i and Shd-hung, and enter the thriving town of Ch*ing-ch*i Tu, the place where, as I have said, the honest faces most abound, and beyond which they cease. I held a sort of reception whilst we were getting our things into the boat, and harangued the curious but good-tempered crowd. We crossed once more to the right bank, and made our way through a barren grassy jungle to a spot 10 /i distant oppohite Yung-tau Ch'i, where we again took boat for a mile up, and were finally deposited on the left bank both of the river, and of a creek running into it at Yang-tao Ch*i, the great salt region. This creek is crossed by a bridge of planks, supported by numerous strong stone piers, and is navigable some little distance up for small boats. The total salt production of Shd-hung Hien is about 30,000 tons a-year, of which YaDg-oh4 Chen or Yang-tau Ch'i produces about 20,000, the precise figure for the latter being five yiVi a day. Each yin here consists of 50 paof and ench pan, of 160 nominal and 240 actual catties. I fortunately happened to come across the chief salt merchant, who is a very friendly man, and he showed me round both wells and boiling houses. He also showed me that the gross production of Tsz-liu Ching and Kung Ching together, pan-salt and granular, was 7,000 ym a-roonth, or 48,000 yiVi a-year ; making allowance for local consumption and peculation, say, 85,000. A yi'n, on the average, there now consists of 10,000 catties, or 7} tons; so that 600,000 tons may be safely put down as the gross annual produc- tion of the Fu-shun River. The wells of the T'ung-ch'uan {i.e. variously, the Hob Chon, 8hd-hung, or Little) River are very insignificant affairs compared with those of Tsz-liu Ching. There is no natural fire or gaa ; they range only from 200 to 000 feet in depth; they are worked 72 Up the Yan^'tse. eDtirelj bj tvo or three mea apieee ; their kan-Vou or degree of •altness ooly ranges from 5 to 20 per oent ; and few of the wells jield more than a eoaple of backets ni^ht and morning. Otot the well stands a large wheel, something like a mammoth ChinsM spinning-wheel, about ten feet in diameter and two feet aeross the ' tire-edge,* which is made like a treadmill or white-mouse wheel. The bamboo rope falls over the edge into the tiny well, and sap- ports a Talved bamboo bucket not more than two or three inehea io diameter, and about thirty feet long, but not so highly finished^ nor yet so strung as those at Tsz-lia Chiog. When this has reached the bottom, it has to be ' jabbed ' by gentle treads off and on agaiast the slush below, which furoes its way up drop by drop through the Talve. Then two men walk round the wheel half a dozen times, and the tube is hauled up. The quality of the salt is better than that of Tsz-liu Chini? ; and, moreoTer, it is of snowy whiteness, to obtain which the p*H-H fruit (of which I obtained a fresh speci- men) is in some way used. The value of the brine is about 400 eash the 100 catties, and few wells produce more than 100 catties each night and morning. No one sells the brine, but each boiler owns a dozen or more of wells. The piercing of the wells only takes a few months, and is dune in much the same way as at Tsz-lia Ching. The coal is the chief expense in the manufacture, eight local tou of 50 catties each, at from 4 to 6 cash the catty, being required for each cake of 160 nominal (i.e, 240 actual) catties. The pans cost from Tls. 9 to Tls. 10 each; all come from F6ng-ta below Ch*ung-k*ing, and each pan makes on the average 40 cakes, the merchant considering that 400 cash wear and tear of the pan must be added to the cost of each cake. The iron is bought here as well as the use of the pans, (which are not very much larger or thicker than the very largest kitchen pans), and thus of course the boiler can sell the old iron. Then the lekin and charges of about 8 cash the catty in all, which (levied on 160 catties) make another 1,200 cash ; besides which wages, oil, ropes, sticks, &c., in all bring up each cake of 160 ufhcial catties to about 4,500 cash, or nearly 30 cash the catty, — the selling price as far as Hoh Chou. The freight to (:h*ung-k*ing is 14,000 cash the yin of 8,000 (12,000) catties, — say 10 tons ; which adds, with minor expenses, another two cash the catty ; so that things would most evidently be worked A Journey in Jforth Si CJiuan. 73 at a loss unless, as above explained, a spade (i.e. 240) was not called a spade ((.«. 160). The largest boilers only own 10 pans, and the majority bat one or two. It is easy to estimate the riTerine import of coal. Shd-hung produces 3,000 yin a year, or 150,000 packages, each requiring 400 catties of coal. But only half the salt above Yang-tao Ch'i is worked with coal ; so that we may strike off 30,000 packages, and say 60,000,000 catties or 80,000,000 pounds of coal a year, almost exactly 50,000 tons. Roundly speaking, therefore, two pounds of coal are required for a pound of salt. Crossing over the creek by the plank bridge, we traverse an- other flat expanse of jungle and cotton, and reach the village of P'n-chia Hao, 15 li from Yang-tao Gh'i, passing numerous salt wells and boiling houses on the way. Most of the cotton on this flat seems to be from Hu Kwang seed. We then again cross over in a ricketty old boat to the right bank at Wu-siang Ngai, and enter some more jungle. In a short time we come in sight of T'ai-ho Chdn, 15 more /i, a business place which bears much the same relation to Northern 8z Ch'uan that King-te Chdn does to Kiang 8i. The whole aspect of the country has now changed, and the usual Red Basin configuration completely vanishes. Yellow sandstone, sandy soil, bald and woodless hills, flat plains at their feet between the bends of the river ; these take the place of the red soil and wooded hills, the incessant crevasses and creeks, and the varied crops. Sorghum and cotton are now almost the only things to be seen besides the coarse grass. Both the country and the people with their houses begin to remind one of the North, and the atmosphere is fresh and cool. Before entering the very large town of T'ai-ho Chdn, we pass a tremendous collection of black buildings, a sort of mixture between a theatre, a market, and a temple ; the place seems, indeed, to be a vegetable market. I was (airly taken aback by the size and business-like look of T'ai-ho Chen. A new wall has of recent years been built of granite blocks, well fitted together, and very neat It is about 20 feet high by 12 broad, and is paved with slabs of granite several inches thick. Though of course not so bulky as the walls of many an eastern Chinese city, it is certainly, taken all in all, amongst the most respectable 1 have ever seen in China, or, in fact, any- 7-4 Tip the Fang'tse, where. The plain ia whioh the towa stands is so flat that it it very difficult to get a fair view of the whole town, or to form an estimate of the population ; hut I should think that, hoth in size and numbers, it exceeded Cheung- kHng. I do not think there ia in Ch'nng-k'ing any one street so long and well stocked as that I passed through at T'ai-ho Ch6n, and I only saw a fraction of the town. The importance of Ch'ung-k*ing seems to me to have been systematically exaggerated by all travellers, who haye probably been misled by the reports of traTclling Sz-ch*nanese who are in- ordinately proud of their filthy city, but most of its trade is simply like that of Hongkong, which has been of recent years laid by some at a stupendous figure ; that is, full-laden ships stop there for a few hours, or, what is the same thing to Chinese, days. The actual trade is, I believe, very much indeed below that of any two of Hoh Chou, Fu Chou, and Lu Chou together. In very round numbers, j£l,0(K),000 sterling of eaeh of cotton, drugs, opium, piece-goods, and salt pass through and are transhipped ; and that is all. Canton, besides, being quite as much a centre of distribu- tion, is a hive of varied industry, whilst most of that whioh goes up and down to and from Ch*ung-k4ng passes Hankuw first. In point of internal resources, I doubt if one-twentieth of the Canton wealth hoard could be found in Ch*ung-k*ing, and in refinement and civilization the latter is infinitely below the former. Shen Si opium was advertised for sale in T*ai-ho ChSo : silk and cotton, with native piece-goods, were the most valuable goods exposed, but there were quantities of iron and other metals, grass, and hemp cloths, —in fact of everything but foreign goods. The main street was much broader than any Ch*ung-k*ing street, and, besides, had covered causeways on each side equally broad. So far, I have never seen a single wheeled vehicle in Sz Ch'uan, and not very many mules and horses ; certainly not one single donkey. A mile below this place, there is rather a serious rapid called Tang-chia T'an, where the river descends like a wedge between two shingly banks. Above, again, is an equally bad rapid called Lo-sz-ts'z. We pass over another cotton plain after leaving T'ai- ho Chdn, and mount up to a rock (Mu-k*un Ya) above the rapid : then we follow the lower of two roads along the bank, and pass a A Journey in J^orth Sz Cliuan. 75 large number of salt wells. Thete are different from those at Tang-tao Ch4 in that they are worked by a pulley at the top of •omewhat larger shears than the mere sticks used lower down* The fuel used is chiefly jungle grass, enormous stacks of which are piled up near the boiling bouses. Salt could be distinctly seen ooffing out of the soil like hoar-frost. In addition to using the well-water, the saltness of which was only 12 per cent., lumps of mud were placed in huge mud Tats or cisterns, and slaked with fresh water, which filtered through a pipe below, and had an tnereased kan-Vou of 30 per cent There was no waste here ; the smoke from the furnace was conducted through another Tat of mud bricks, and the mud furnace itself was taken to pieces and boiled down eTcry few days, in order that cTery atom of salt might be got out of the business. Working night and day, the owner of the fiTe pans, I saw, said he could raise two cakes, and that he oon- •vimed 8,000 cash worth of fuel in the operation. He had to get considerably oTcr 5,000 cash for each cake of 240 catties in order not to be a loser, — that is, exactly a penny a catty, or about ten- pence a stone. His other information agreed with that of my preTious friend. I suspect, howcTer, that he exaggerated the coet of his fuel under the impression that I was some official on the look-out for profits. We now once more left the riTer and out •cross a barren piece of country, in which, howcTer, were numerous walnut trees. This led us up a steep ascent to Shou-shih Ya, where an old woman suddenly flung herself on her knees before me, and begged for assistance, as she had no money wherewith to pay her trsTelling expenses back to To-ch*ih Hien, six days away. Remembering a similar case which, as narrated, turned out to be a feint, 1 crosa-examined the old lady so closely that she burst into tears under the operation. It seems that she had stumped it all alone in order to bring some cloth to the market, and Tcry probably had the proceeds in her pocket, or in some of the holes or rags of which she was outwardly composed. She estimated her expanses at from one and a penny three-farthinga to two-pence and one six- teenth a day, as she would eat at least two ' oats' polls ' a day, (i.e. two bowls of rice clapped tight into one). I accoi^ingly order- ed up 300 cash— about thirteen pence, — and begged the old woman to man-man hwui-elna ch^iif or *get her quietly home,' a duty whioh, r^r Up thft i'ang'THf, h^atfjuidin^ irifm Shua-ioih. Tx, I aOiierr^i t4s ch« kft a re- MarkahU itMi«, vkkd raeanbLed a iia;ff» zrioaii^ BtMsker fqual- timf^ «o iU has* and haatii, aad. fttran^ eiL-reiiia^stieev to-dar w« |af<ekj of stace which spans a small mcT nmaiag ap to Cbin-shili Win. Tlie aaTi^iim of the T^nag- eii^aaa Hirer for the Ur^est-sized jinks e^f^es at T^ai-ho Ch^ : abcrre tbat point the rirer is still a fine and noble stream^ bat there are nnmerooa rapids and sbaUows whieh do not permit of moeh draught. Notwithstanding this, Terj comfortable looking eraft, capable of earry ing a ton or two of cargo, and perhaps 100 pas- sengersy abound on the higher rirer. The aneroid (which most baTe gone np with the fine weather) makes She-hang Hien only 760 feet above the sea. Bat this mast be at least 100 feet onL Shl-bong is a poor and bleak-looking place, inside and oat, and in Ite furronndings. The silk in this part of the eoantry, whieh I oeeasionally taw being wound off on to the wheel, looks a purer eolour than that we saw at Ta-ho Pa : it is also done up in differ- ent skeins, and, instead of being twisted, is gathered in at one end, and neatly tied into a knot. It looks almost like the golden half of a fair English child, — which brings me round to the sub- ject of women. Thejr decidedly improve the more north jou get, and look more healthy, vigorous, and good-natured. Maternity and womanliness have never appeared to me so poorly idealized as in the hobbling, dirty, noisy, unwholesome women of interior China. Here, too, they have small feet, but not quite so painfully small as in more civilized spots. I have not as yet seen a single large Chi- nese female foot in 8z Ch'uan, and I am sure if I did I should fall in love with it, — there would be so much human nature in it, — whalover the face was like. Ko salt comes from above Sh£-hung town, at least to the west, the only trade of which is in silk, cotton, (native), and opium : the people look a8 haggard and miserable as their country. We fol- lowed I ho right bank of the River to Yaug-chia Pa, passing on the wny the boundary of San-t'ai Uien,~the District city of T'ung- A Journey in Ji'ovtk Sz Ch'uan, 77 ch*uan Fu. The country gets more and more barren, and we see nothing but rush, brake, sorghum, and cotton. Healthy-looking rustios were flocking to the fair at Yang-chia Pa, with their poor simple wares, the total value of which for the day I should not place at above £100, including the silk. We leave the river for a short time after quitting Yang-cliia Pa, to rejoin it, after crossing a pats, at Ma-i-tung, the most dangerous rapid on the river. Its oonfignration is not unlike that of the celebrated Yang-kwo Ch*i Rapid on the Kung-t'an River, but its depth and velocity is of course nothing like so overwhelming. We can now see the pagoda of T'ung-ch'uan Fu to the west-north-west, and, descending into the small flat plain in which it stands, we cross by the ferry a small river running past the south side of the city, and enter by the south gate. The small river in question is navigable up to Cbung-kiang Ilien, 120 /i: indeed it is navigable for small boats up to I/O-kiang Hien ; but, owing to the falling off of trade in that direction, this latter traffic has almost ceased. Cotton, silk, and opium are the chief productions of T*ung-ch*uan Fu, a Prefecture having under it the eight Districts of 8an-t'ai, Shd-hung, Y'en- t*ing, Chung-kiang, Sui-ning, An-yo, Lo-chih, and P'eng-ch*i, and the Sub-prefecture of T'ai-lio Chdn. Opium had been selling at 60 cash and 120 cash the ounce, fresh or dry respectively, and had been very plentiful ; but, of course, it was too late in the season for me to see with my own eyes. But none of Hoh-chou, Sui-ning, Dor Sh^-hun^ produce anything like so much as Pa Uien or Yung- ch'uaD. The quantity of cotton did not strike me so forcibly as that of the silk, which was hanging up in the shops, being hawked about the streets, and being carried into town by numerous rustics. Like that we had seen at Shd-hung, it was left free as taken off the wheel, with the exception that it was knotted near one end in order to keep it from ravelling. The price varied from IGO cash to 180 the ordinary ounce ; but it was usually quoted at 210 to 250 cash the local ounce, being i^^ of a catty containing 20 ounces instead of ^^ of a catty containing 16. The local in or skein, as taken off the wheel, was usually about two ounces, but I bought a oouple which only weighed two (local) ounces between them. The local />u, or ' book,* consists of 80 ordinary ounces. 1 witnessed the winding operations in several places. A woman sits on one 7S Up the Tang'tse. bar of a very simple oblong frame, just wide enough to contain her legs, and allow free movement. In the middle, running parallel with the long side of the frame, and equidistant from each of the short sides, is a treadle, about two feet long, and 6 inches broad, like a double pedal of a piano. Through the middle of this treadle runs a stick about three feet high, and as the woman plays with each foot, or rather each shod stump, upon the two sides of the treadle one after the other, of course the stick wags from side to side. To the top of the stick is affixed another stick about half as long as the frame, and running parallel with its long side. At the other end of this last-named stick is fastened the outer end of a zigzag piece of wood, or an iron crank, the inner end of which fits into a wooden roller about the size of a large bread roller. This roller is the axle-tree of a six-spoked wheel about two and a half feet in diameter. There is a double row of spokes, that is, six running out of each end of the axle, and each spoke is connected with the one opposite to it by a stick, these six sticks forming, so to speak, the felloe or tire of the wheel. So far, we see that the wheel is turned when the woman presses the treadle. At the woman's right hand (the wheel being at her left) is a small stove keeping almost on the boil a gallon or two of water, in an ordinary iron oooking-pan, two feet in diameter. The frame is prolonged BO that one short side ends in a bar running over the middle of the pan, and on this bar is set another frame, (like a Bahl saw], having as its middle part a small roller, (usually divided off into two or three separated portions), of bamboo slips. In the lower part of the small frame, on the woman's side, are fixed two or three hooks, or two or three copper cash with suitable holes, (accordingly as the rollers and wheel carry off two or three skeins), and through these hooks or holes the woman inserts five cocoon threads selected from a bundle of several dozen which she holds in her other hand or keeps hanging to a counterbalancing chopstick. The thread of five Btrands thuef brought through the hook or cash is then made fast to the small roller, which is a few inches to the woman's left of the hook or cash, and a few inches above. It is then brought over the roller and back on to the circumference of the large wheel, whioh, when revolved, of course turns the small rollers very rapidly, but, owing to their small size, with very little jerk upon the coooonsy A Journey in Xorth Sz CJcivan. 70 and the silk is wound on to the cirouraferenoe of six felloe-spokes of the wheel. Every second or so one or more, or even all, of the strands forming the skein thread breaks, but the woman with great and almost invisible dexterity joins others on to those remaining attached which are themselves almost invisible. This joining is effected under the hook or cash, and therefore requires no pause to pass it through the hole, unless all five break together, when she must pass a new thread up the hole. The cocoons which are attached fliat promiscuously about with the others, or bob about, like fishes catching the rain, just under the hooks. The skeins are about three or four inches broad, and the same distance from each other. The way in which the silk is distributed over this breadth instead of becotninf^ all ravelled in a narrow rope is ingenious in the extreme, and I will endeavour to describe it. At the other (thxt is not the crank) end of the axle is a prolongation about four inches beyond the spokes. This prolongation is a mere shade thicker than the rest of the axle, and is, moreover, roughened. Over this runs a wooden wheel or block about six inches in diameter, and three inches in tire thickness, the axis of which is at right angles to the axle of the ^reat wheel. The roughness of the axle-prolongation causes this block wheel both to revolve and to bob slowly and gently, the first in a horizontal and the second in a perpendicular direction, and is, in fact, a rough application of the slanting cog principle. The axis of the block wheel in the sliape of a stick runs up and supports a crutch-like top which is often carved in the fanciful form of a canary. The canary thus goes whizzing round, and both over and to either his head or tail is fastened b^ a nail a lath, the other end of which runs to and fro over a small bar running parallel to the long side of the large frame. The bird is really nothing more than a small orank. At intervals of four inches apart in the lath, are affixed tiny crutches about four inches high, having tops or hooks not more than an inch across. Through these tops the thread is made to run before it is attached to the large wheel ; and as the tops move two or three inches from side to side in a direction across the felloe of the wheel, and parallel with its axle, of course the thread never remains in a straight line but is wound slightly diagooallj. The whole machine, stove, pan, woman, and all, could easily be 80 Up the Yang'tse. carried by a strong man, the woman at one end of a pole and the miscellanies at the other. One quart (Mng) of cocoons produces about a local ounce and a quarter, (1^ oz. ordinary), of silk, and costs about 240 cash. Thus about 60 cash profit on each ounce comes of the labour, and a woman can wind off 6 or 7 ounces a day. The value of the woman is probably below that of her clothes, (women being cheap in Sz Ch*uan, and, I was told at Sni-ning, largely exported into Shen 8i) ; but, anyhow, her labour is not worth more than 20 or 3D cash a day, whilst, as a matter of fact, the work being usually family work, no wnges need as a rule be counted in at all. The only expense is a very trilling quantity of coal, and the cost of the machine, stove, and pan; all of which, except the last, are probably home-made. Thus 250 cash a day, one shilling, a very handsome income for a rustic family, may bo earned by one woman during the short silk season. The water is not changed during the day, and but one pan is used, — of course in the cases under notice only. T*ung-ch*unn Fu is a poor but (for China) not dilapidated town, perhaps four miles in circumference, with public buildings dicidedly above the average. We left it by the east gate, and once more crossed by the ferry to the left bank of the (here called) * Great* lliver, which is navigable up to Mien Chou (180 /i) and Lung-an Fu. We made sixty H in a winding but generally north- easterly direction as far as Ch*iu-lin Yih, mounting gradually first 20 /i to Kan-tien-tsz, (like its Ch*ung-k'ing namesake, 1,300 feet above the sea) ; then passing An-loh Ch*ang, 18 /t, and after a descent, following up the left bank of a small stream which joins the * Great* River (i.e. the Kia-ling, or Little River) opposite Yang-chia Pa. I did not notice this embouchure yesterday. Here I may mention that the water of the T*ung-ch'uan or Hob Chou River is (at least at this time of the year) what the Chinese call * black.' Even where it runs through the red sand- stone country lower down, it does not appear to mix freely with the sand, like thut of the Yungtbze, but looks a grayish yellow, and curdles in a streaky way. In the winter I found it as pure as crystal between Hoh Chou and Ch*ung-k*ing. The country is now more barren than ever, and sadly lacks water; the hills are deprived of their trees in most cases, except that a .4 Journey in Jforth Sz CJiuan. 81 few cedar-wood forests are left here and there. Rice, near the streams ; a little cotton and sorghum ; taros and beans : these were about the only Tegetables; loquats, peaches, jujubes, and waU Dttts the occasional fruit trees. The people looked no poorer than around Ch'ung-k4ng, whilst their houses, chiefly of mud and thatch, as at Peking, were decidedly an improTement on slimy wood and leaky tiles. The people were respectful, not to say polite, and only evinced curiosity when in crowds. We met a good deal of salt, both shui hwa and ktco^pa, being carried from Nao-fung Sz and T'ien-pien Sz, and other places about 15 to 30 U off our road to the left. It appears that the T*ung-ch*uan city, and Lo-kiang, Td-yang, and Tsz-t'ung Districts, are supplied by these Weill with granular salt, whilst Chung-kiang Hien takes pan-salt. It is not allowed in ShS-hung. From the account given to me by an old wayfarer, the production is ' over a myriad a day,' which would make Tls. 4,000,000 a year. He added, however, that the production was not equal to that of T'ai-ho Ch^o, which, as we have seen, produces about 10,000 tons. Supposing that he meant over a myriad catties, say 10 tons a day, that would give at the utmost 4,000 tons a year, a much more likely figure. The selling price on the road (of the granular sort) was 20 cash a catty, (? of how many ounces). It was said by the old man to go in very large quantities to Han-chuDg Fu in Shen Si, and to have displaced thence the more expensive chao yen (the Hwai or Tang- chow salt) since the time of ' the wars.'* Between An-lo Ch'ang and Ch*iu-lin, we passed on our left a picturesque hill called Sd-chiang Shan. I also met a man carry- ing three birds which he called sha-ho-shang, and which had the appearance of a cross between a thrush and a gosling, with cobalt- blue wings. The shape and size were of the thrush, the down and and colour of the gosling, and the wings that of the kingfisher. I had serious thoughts of buying them, — they were only a few hundred cash each ; — but botanical cares take up so much time, that in this case I decided to let ornithological science go by. By the way, near Yang-tau Ch4 we met some rough and honest-look- fellowB from Hoh Chou in Kan Suh, carrying down some fox skins * Probably referring to Uie Shih Ta k'ai (T'ai piug) rebelUou. 8£ Up the Yang'tse. for sale. A little to the north-east of T'ung-ch'aan, we also en- oouotered some hunters oarrjiog leopard skins and bones, (the latter for medicine), from the hills in the Ewang-yUan District. And, by the way, also about here, we saw some dull black- coloured birds like blackbirds, which the people called niu shih pa : and this also brings to my recollection that a number of apparently tame white egrets occupied groves near some of the Tillages. Our next day's journey was through a poor, tame, and un- interesting country, of the common hill and dale type, past Hwangling Ya, 15 /i; Kai-pquito-curtains, previous to hanging them up for another nigl)t*s adventure. According to the coolie captain, they cannot walk upon blankets or woollen rugs, but it is evident that they can comfortably sleep there*, for now 1 see my blankets being sub- jected to the same operation. Near Liu-tien Vih 1 noticed some bare-legged women working in the paddy-tields. My men said they were of Cantonese extrac- tion, but they seemed to have no other reason to give for this opinion than the fact that their feet were not squeezed. They said they had observed the same thing in Lung-ch'ang and Jung- * Heucv the «tt\it)g, * as >iia? as a NorfoId-IIowiird in • ru<*?* \ 88 Up the Yan^-tse. ch'ang, (where, indeed, I have heard there are some old Cantonese immigrants), but I did not happen to come across any of them. The regular land-taxation of Nan-pu is not heavy ; but, what with extras, &o., it comes to Tls. 5,000 and over a year. A land- owner told me that each mace of silver counted as three quarts of rice, and each quart of rice as 215 cash ; so that the peasant would really pay four times the nominal amount. Nothing could be more complicated than the land-tax of Sz-Chuan, which, nominally about the lightest, is, in reality, amongst the heaviest in the Empire. The Prefecture of Pao-ning Fu, t.e. Lang-chung Hien, Kwang-an Chou, &c., is chiefly supplied with salt from those wells of Nan-pu which are situated on the left bank of the Pao-ning river. I met a man who owned one. He said the brine was white, and of IJ ounce saltness to the catty ; — say eight per cent. The wells were, as at Tsz-liu Ching, (down to a certain depth), and She- hung, lined with cedar or cypress-tubes to keep out the 'male' water. According to his account, these tubes are constructed with great care, and enveloped in canvas, tied with bamboo and hemp, and strengthened with Vung oil. The joints are made by prolong- ing one side of a tube and splicing it to the corresponding short side of that above or below. Sometimes a tube will have to be fished up and repaired after a year or two's use ; at others it will last fur forty years. The fuel used is chiefly grass ; coal from Ts*ang-k'i (brought down the small river to Pao-ning) being very expensive. At Liu-tien the price of coal was seventeen and eigh- teen cash the catty, or X4 the ton ; but of course it was only used for smith-work and other exceptional purposes. Opium of a good quality is grown in the district, but not enough for local consump- tion ; nor will the paddy-lands support a crop of opium during the winter. Here, and in Yen-t4ng, the distinction between Vien^ (wet-land), and Vu^ (slopes), has to be rigidly kept. Though ootton is grown in the district, Shanghai cotton still finds its way up here, and, in spite of the heavy freight, competes successfully with the local article. The landlord at Liu-tien being an intelligent man, I took the opportunity of cross- questioning him on various subjects. It appears that, though go-betweens are in vogue in match-making, these arc not female professionals, but relatives of one of the two A Journey in Jiorth Sz Ch'uan. 89 • UmUies, ftad that the girl's family asually proposes. Her pat&^ is left to the liberality of her family, the only things which are a Mine f ttd non of her troatseau being one large and two small tables, four benches, and a few humble wooden utensils. Three days after marriage, the pair spend three days with the girl's parents. The latter make no profit by a marriage, nor does the husband purchase bis wife in any shape or form ; her marriage being, on the contrary, usually a heavy expense to her parents. Guests invited to wedding and funeral feasts must bring a sum of money fixed by local custom, according to intimacy or propinquity. This sum is smaller in the country than in the town, where the host usually profits by the transaction. In my informant's yillagey the lowest sum for an ordinary friend is 120 cash ; at Nan-pu city 400 cash. As to adoption. An elder or younger brother adopts one of the sons of a younger or elder brother, if the former is childleas; and, in the event of there being only one son, the custom of $hwang Viao^ or one husband having two wives, one to represent and bring forth for his father, and one to do the same for his uncle, exists under the homely appellation of ' borrowing a cock for eggs ' {chieh chi-kutig chien tan). From Liu-pien, (or Liu-tien, I am not sure which), onwards in the same north-easterly direction, the country grows more mountainous, and, at the same time, opens out into broader ex- paoses. I should be disposed to think that the country from T'uog-ch*uan to Pao-ning was a gradual slope or slightly inclined plateau, still retaining, however, the cut-up and channelled ap- pearance so characteristic of Si Ch*uan ; but a whitish gray hat DOW taken the place of red soil, and the country wears a mor« wintry garb. At 8h4-hung I was told that several inches of snow had covered the ground on one occasion this last winter, and that this was no unusual phenomenon. After crossing one ridgOi we passed a busy fair at the little town of Ta Ch*iao, (26 (i), to which the country people were flocking, like bees, from every direction, some carrying grain and homespun, or leading pigs for sale, others just returning with a bit of fat pork hanging by a straw to the little finger. The pole had now quito disappeared, and even the grain crop was computed by the /isi, or baok-load. The custom here is for the landlord to receive about one third of 90 Up the Yaii^-tse. the ftatumn grain crop, and no ya Hen, or lessee's deposit, is left with him, as around Ch*ung-k*ing. In bad years the reduction of rent is a matter of arrangement jind liberality, governed by the ohanoes of the tenant's leaving, if too hardly pressed : there is no established custom. The Magistrate of Nan-pu must be an ener- getic man, for in every village and hamlet we passed, and, in fact, on almost every portal or house, there were affixed numerous proclamations exhorting the people to virtue and industry, and explaining to them in easy rhyme how the mulberry and the cotton plant should be cultivated. The next village is Shih-tsz Ch'ang, 12 /t, shortly after passing which we crossed a brook which evidently runs into the Pao-ning river somewhere below the prefectural city. This stream seemed to be full of fish, and both men and women were wading about with cast-nets in their hands. The large-footed women in the fields were no better looking than their sisters of the stumps, but I noticed that they were generally singing or exchanging banter with each other or the passers-by in a cheery way unknown to the miserable creatures who totter about in, or rather on, ' golden lilies.' I think I even saw one girl who was sitting astride of a cow engaged in the occupation of flirting. Her back was turned towards me, but a young fellow was standing opposite to her and looking smilingly into her eyes ; when he saw me, he dropped his smile and looked as solemn as a sexton, as though caught in a shameful act, little thinking that all my sympathies were with human nature, and not with the rites and ceremonies of unbending Confucius. At the ridge of Siao-Ho Ya, (1,100 ft.), we passed the eastern boundary of Nan-pu, and entered the District of Lang-chung. Here a fine new temple had just been built by a local family of substance, and here the village boys were shrieking out their lessons at the top of their voices. Education seems widely difi'used in Eastern and Northern Sz Ch'uan, but does not appear to go much beyond the three R^s, or their Chinese equivalent. Most people seem rather ashamed of the fact, or bashful to shew that they have any learning, and it is exceptional to find a man who can (or will) tell you the written name of an official or a place. Yet crowds stand round the proclamations, spelling out their meaning, whilst the reception of a letter by a rustic Ajax is quite A Journey in Xorth Sz Cliiuin, 91 %XL e?eDt, ftod oolleoU quite a crowd of curious dunces, who puzzle out a character each here and there over the recipient's should er, until some Thersites condescends to interpret it in a lump. < An old lady's ears are supererogatory appendages ' (lau Vai-Vai irh'to ku $hi)f remarked my fidm AchaUi, (a sort of Chinese Sam Weller), meaning ' Luxury and learning are out of place in com- mon people.' This gentleman hardly ever delivers himself of a sentiment without coupling it with some terse and homely proverh. 'It is in cutting the jungle that you iind out the wolf (Ar'an lo haU'Uz hsuan ch*u Uing)y he triumphantly remarked when I allowed some other person to buy me a skeip of silk, and of course was cheated of a few cash. We put up for the day at Wan-nien Ya, where we found a Tery tolerable and delightfully dark inn, having only accomplished sixty U. It was now scorching hot, though we had been singular- ly fortunate in having cool and sunless weather fur a week past. The landlord of this place had one of the richest and most re- markably deep bass voices I ever heard, — quite astonishing in a Chinaman, whose utterances come seldum from the chest. The inn, however, it turned out, had one most serious defect : the mosquitoes were so numerous and pertinacious that not one of my bearers and servants got a wink of sleep, notwithstanding that they had carefully smoked the enemy out with straw before go- ing to bed. I was more fortunate, inasmuch as I both smoked my room and had good curtains, whilst they each of them sweltered in a filthy appendage which looked mure like an old sugar sack than anything else. Unfortunately, all our mosquito ' ropes ' had run out, and, after four hours' refreshing sleep, I was awakened by groans of agony all around me : the unhappy coolies wer« making wild and desperate lunges at space and vainly en- deavouring to snatch a moment's slumber. The end of it was, we all got up at three o'clock in the morning, and a very silent and nnhappy lot we looked as we blundered along in the moonlight. I was rather glad to be able to get over the best part of the joomey ia the oool of the day, and discreetly kept to myself the fact that I had had a good sleep. It was still dark when we crossed the 8i Ho at a trifnrcated point called 8i-ho T*ang, where the river, eom- iag from Chia-ch'ao (in Naa-pu) and Ta Ch*iao, joins a small 9g Up the Tang-fse. ■tream running from a point 30 It in the Pao-ning direction, and the whole runs past Lau-wa Ch*i into the Eia-ling Eiang or Pao- liing (or Hoh Chou] River. By the way, I may mention that the T*ang-oh'uan River is called in the hooks hy the name of Fa Kiang. It was harely light when we passed through the sleeping tillage of T*ien-kung Tiia 'rh, where the bankrupt inn was in official limho. We breakfasted after a climb up a hill, (1,240 ft.), called Ch'6n-chia P*o, 20 li from Wan-nien Ta, and there witness- ed lome yery amusing scenes between the silk-dealers and the rillagers who were bringing in their skeins for sale. The amount of chaffering and indignation-acting whieh went on down to the last cent of the price, proved that no European merchant could ever possibly compete with a class of men who sell silk by the ounce and subdivide tenpence, (the cost of the ounce), into 200 fractions. The silk is weighed on a sort of steelyard, and I saw one lot of 73 ounces knocked down for 13,500 cash. The dealer was a crafty, ooyetous-looking man with one of his eyes drooping like that of a ehameleon, and who (his mouth watering at the prospect of gain) •pat freely into the face of everyone whom he addressed. As stated by the Delegates of the Shanghai Chamber of Com- merce, Kia-ting and Pao-ning are, (together however with Shan- king), the most productive silk districts. The Kia-ting sort oomea first in quantity, and, the silk being mostly white, takes the dye better. The fine silk, however, comes in larger quantities from 8hun-k*iog and Pao-ning, where the yellow cocoons yield a thicker thread. The value of the comhined production of the two latter prefectures is estimated by competent native authorities at from one million to one million and a half of taels a year, against from two to three millions for Kia-ting. The same authority estimates the production of Jdn-shou, where the silk is celebrated for its superior quality, at Tls. 200,000 a year. As the Delegates observe, boweyer, most places in Sz Ch*uan produce silk for local consump- tion, and the places named are only centres whence considerable export takes place. Little or none is produced in Jung-ch'ang or Lung-ch*ang; little, again, in Nan-ch'uan, and only * mountain silkMu K*i-kiang. But most places have a little. In the small district of Pi-shan, for instance, there is a production of from Tls. 10,000 to Tls. 20,000 worth of silk in the year. The whole busi- A Journey in Jforth Sz CKuan. 93 BMs it traniaoted in tweDty Buooetsive days at twenty different ch^ang or market towns. The export of Sz Ch*uan silk was, until within the last two years, carried on almost entirely by land, in order to avoid the heavy taxes at K*wei £wan ; but now muoh of it goes under transit pass. It is carried either to Hankow, or, by way of 8hih-nan, to Sha-shih, whence it travels rid Sui-ting and Tong-hsiang, or vid King-men and Fan-ch*eog, to Peking and the north generally. A certain quantity also goes to Peking from Ch'^ng-ta by the great Shen Si road, travelled by Kiohthofen. From Uankow the silk is carried on by steamer to Shanghai, and thence to Sooohow, where it is often dyed and sold as Soochow fabrio. Dyeing silk used to be done muoh better both at Peking and Soochow than in Sz Ch'uan ; but now dyeing is extensively carried on with aniline dyes, more especially at Ch6ng-tu. One regular customer, a large foreign firm in Shanghai, is said to have bought in some years as much as a million taels worth of Sz Ch*uan silk. The trade with Caoton, which place formerly took 600 to 700 boxes a year, has dropped ; but both the hwo-tz and the ihui ehang iz, mentioned by the Shanghai Delegates of the Cham- ber of Commerce, have resumed their place in the export to Yiin Nan, which Provinoe takes also large quantities of silk thread. Silk is also exported to Kwei Chou from Ch*ung-k*ing. The season oovers the third and fourth moons, and is quite over in the fifth and sixth moons. The mulberry tree on the leaves of which the insMta usually feed is ready for use the third year after planting. Th« leaves are plucked in the third and fourth moons, and the tree moat be polled every year. During the first moon the trees have to b« carefully examined by practised eyes to see if there are any gmba or motha upon the leaves, and these are instantly killed to prevent their eating up the tree. In Kia-ting the insects ar« frequently fed at first with the leaves of the chi, or silkworm oak, which resemble somewhat the leaves of the chrysanthemum. At they grow older, the diet is changed to mulberry leaves. This is ' hard silk/ and none of it is found in Pao-ning or Shun-k*ing. The iateott which produce the wild silk of Kwei Chou are fed on the young leaves of the Ch^ing Kang^ a species of Quereu$, These two trees must therefore be closely allied. In Kwei Choo, however, the insects are more often fed upon the tree than in the 04- Up the Tang'tse, home, and the silk also is reeled off the inseeta aa thej are aettled OD the tree. The fabric made from the wild silk, or sAmi-as, ia also called ke-ta ch^ou^ from the lumps and nodulea which are found in ita coarse texture. The newly-hatched grubs must be fed dailj with clipped leaves, and the leaves must be changed three times a-daj. There must be no lime or dirt upon them, and thej should be carefully wiped with a damp kerchief. Everything near the inseeta must be kept scrupulously clean. After ten days, they have grown to the size of a caterpillar, and developed their eight lega. When mulberry leaves have not been used from the beginning, this ia the time for substituting them for the leaves of the silkworm oak. After a month, again, the insects begin to make nests on the stalka, (ihany chia), form an egg around themselves, and begin to disgorge •ilk. As soon as they cease to move, they are removed from the branch. A certain number of insects are allowed to live in order to pro- duce eggs for the succeeding year. The grub oomea oat of the oocoon in the fourth moon, and lays its eggs upon sheets of paper provided for that purpose. These sheets are oareiuUy placed in boxes, and hung up in a dry place in the house until the first month of the ensuing year. On the arrival of the solar term ching ehihf or ' movement of larvae,' about March the 5th, the sheets of eggs are taken out of the boxes, and carried about in the hat or bosom, or placed among the bed-clothes in order to be hatched. Sometimes they are placed, instead, in a sort of large basket or sieve (lo-iou, or ihai'tsz) which is kept in a warm place. In washing the silk, or wetting it in order to wind it from the cocoons, the Chinese do not put potash and the caul of pips into the water, as has been supposed by some. These ingredients are, however, used to make silk glossy in the weaving. The term Kwo- p*in is used to indicate silk which has undergone more than one washing, or in the washing of which more than one pan or baain ia used. All silk must pass through at least one basin of water, ao that the definition given by the Delegates of ' Kopun^ so-called from its passing through the basin in reeling ' is hardly oorreet. As the 6z Ch*uan washers are paid according to the number of oocooDS they can get throngh,-*the rate being 80 oath the Um A Journey in Jiorth Sz Ch!uan, 95 Vf peek^no pains whatever are taken to keep the thread at A aniform thickness. Instead of takings up the ends of five ooocK>ns, as is done by women in Sonohow, the workmen fre- qaently grasp as many as thirty. The water in which the cocoons ar* placed must be very hot, otherwise the insect chanties into A moth. In the autumn of 1B81 the Ch'uni^-k'inf? prices for silk were quoted as follows per ounce : — 1. — J^n-shou and Mien-chou, one mace nine oandareens. 2. — Pao-ning and Shun-k'in^, one maoe three can'lareens for ^'iVio-^«z ; one mice seven for (selected) A^t pa: and one mace eight for Kwo-p^en. The price of the harder silk from Eia-ting, which, however, does not come to Ch*ang-k*ing for export, was one mace six candareens. At Ch*ung-K*ing there is a silk hang or licensed exchange employ- ing four families. During the year 1880 silk was remarkably cheap, prices being aa low as one maoe one oandareen the ounce. It has been as high aa two, and even three mace within the laot few years. About six years ago, for instance, it is said that a lar^^e French demand sent up prices to two mace five or six candareens. One hundred and sixty ounces of silk make a pa (book), and ten or more pa make a tan or peoul ; but local custom varies. A large number of khatm or yellow silk scarves (p*a) are also •ent annually from Ch*6ng-tu to Tibet, where they are used amongst the Unna» [hun/o) fur ceremonious purposes. Pao-ning also sends khalaSf vid Kan Suh, into Tibet. Coal was being conveyed on coolie-back from Pao-ning to Fu-ts'on Yih, where it was required for blacksmiths' work. The east at PO-l,8O0 cash the 100 catties. The iron and tobacco consumed in Pao-ning come chiefly from Han-ohung Fu, in Shen Si ; but we also overtook porters carrying loads of tobioco from Mien Chou. I was delighted to get hold of a good specimen with fruit of a very fine-grown small-leafed tree called the hxcamj lien^ (not to be confused with the drug hwang lien)^ which I hope to have identi- fied. The cedars on this ruad have sometimes been allowed to grow to a great height and thickness ; but the htvtng-kwo shu tc«>t poorer with the country. We heard a great many real cuckoos about here; the local name is pao-ku chuoh or * maize bird.' 90 Up the Yani'tse, EveiythiDf^ else in the way of nature was mneh the same, axeeft that the conntrj grew more mountainous, and the sandstone Mora decidedly white. The only other place deserving the name of village on this aide of Pao-ning was Ta-fung P'u, \b U from the city. Pao-ning presents very little view as yon approach it from the west. The Ch'dng-tu highway comes to an end with a flight of steps on the right bank of the river, whence we crossed hy ferry boats to the suburb. The place, which has a reputation for great poverty, looked to roe remarkably clean and prosperous, and in the high street through which we passed there were various foreign and CantTin goods exposed for sale. Apart from its silk trade, Pao- ning is famous for its superior vinegar, many jars of which we met on the road, going to T'ung-chuan. It is, I understand, made of wheat fermented with rice-harm. There are a good many Ma- hometans in the city, and there is also a considerable quantity oi 8hen Si opium consumed there. It is hard ; harder even than the Kwei Ohou drug, and is sold in bricks of 100 ounces apiece. The price was quoted to me at Tls. 15-16 the brick. It is said to be better than any Sz Ch'uan opium, but not to equal in flavour that of Yiin Nan. The coal consumed in Pao-aing and Nan-pu eomes from Kwang-yiiau Hien, up to which place the river is navigable for ordinary-sized cargo-boats, and above that for small lighters. Indeed, either the main river or one of its branches is navigable far into the Bhon Si Proyince, notably up to Lo-yang Hien and Ning- kiang Chou. Iron, water-pipe tobacco, wine, sheepskins, felt hats, and coal are the chief products brought down ; occasionally, also, cotton and foreign piece-goods are imported by way of the Han llivor. There was not much shipping lying off Pao-ning, nor did the interior of the city give one the idea of being much addicted to bufiini-ss. The Yamint are exceptionally fine, that occupied by the Hrigudior-General having been the palace of a $hwai or gene- ralissimo under the Ming Dynasty. According to trustworthy statements, Chang Hien-tsung, although he ravaged the country, never destroyed the city itself. Pao-ning is the official seat of the Taotai or Intendant of North Sz Ch'uan, who has jurisdiction over the three Prefectures of Pao-ning, Tung-ch'uan, and 8hun-k4ng. It is also the seat of the Brigadier-General of the northern A Journey in Xorth Sz CJiiiart, 97 marches, whose military jarisdiction is nearly, but not quite, oon^ termiooas with the civil. The Prefect of Pao-ning has jurisdio- tion over the Districts of Lang-chunf^, Nan-pu, Ts'ang-k*!, Ewang- y^%D, Chao-hua, T*un^-kiang, and Nan-kiang, and over the De- partments of Pa Chou and Kien Chou. Leaving Pao-ning by the same ferry by which we arrived, we followed the shore of the right bank down to a point about a mile below the city where the river bends to the north. The river opposite Pao-ning runs east and west, and bends north on both •ides, so that the city is built on a sort of low uvula formed by the tortuosities of the btream. We now cut across a fertile plain called Oh'i-li Pa, or ' Seven U Flat,' which abounds in tobacco, (i.e. not the water-pipe sort), cotton, beans, rice, sorghum, &e. A good many specimens of the Pao-ke-tsao or Pi-lah (white wax) tree grow about here. I am inclined to think from enquiries made that the former, though also called by the latter name, is not quite the same tree as the * white wax tree ' of Kia-ting, possibly a variety of the same species. The villagers near Pao-ning said to, rnd also said that no insects were there fed on the tree then before me. But a trader whom I met contradicted this, and his story is the more likely to be true in that a small quantity of white wax is undoubtedly produced at Sin-ohdn Pa, a Sub-district of Nan-pu on the left bank, and also at Fei-lung Ch'ang in Nan- ch'uDg Hien. in both cases from insects brought annually from Kia-ting. T^uti^ trees were common, as indeed they have been over all the road from Ch'ung-k*ing. A persimmon (Dw»pyro$ kaki) tree was the only novelty ; the bamboos, willows, cedars, and other trees, frequently above specitied, being about as before. After travelling twenty /i (very lung ones) we again take the river bank, and, crossing a few troublesome hills, reach the village-town of Faog-lung Ch*ang, 25 U from Pao-ning. On the road we met vaat quantities of native cloth being conveyed from Ting-yiian Hien, a District which produces a superior quality. The women in the T*nDg-oh'uan and Pao-ning Prefectures are engaged with silk in the early summer, and, being too poor to indulge in the luxury of squeezed feet, work with the men in the paddy fields. Probably this accounts for so much cotton cloth being imported. Yet the old women and girls in the houses, here aa elsewhere, were often 98 Up the Yan^'tse. engaged in spinning yarn. The wheel is exceedingly roogh and simple. In shape it resembles the silk-reeling wheel, and the woman sits with her right hand on a handle or crank which turns the wheel, holding in her left hanks of cotton, ginned and cleaned, about the length and breadth of a good-sized barley-sugar stick. The wheel is connected with and turns a spindle, whose axis runs parallel to that of the wheel. The end near and pointing to the woman's toes is prolonged and pointed like an awl. The end of the thread having been made fast to the spindle, of course it turns round many times faster than the wheel, whose circumference is so much greater. The woman serves out with her left hand, the fingers of which deftly regulate the supply, the hank she holds. The pressure upon the frail thread is not great at the point of the spindle; and, as the latter revolyes, and the thread is carried farther back, it gets twisted and more capable of resisting pressure. Yet it frequently breaks, and is joined to the cotton hank by rubbing the two together between the Angers. Of course, such a rude method produces a very un- even thread, accounting for the coarse and fluffy appearance of Chinese cloth, which also has the defect of being woven narrow, — not more than 18 inches across. I was told foreign cloths were freely sold at Pao-ning, but that they were expensiye. Yet I never noticed any in the shops or on the roads. Pao-ning and the country around is self-supplying in cotton when the year is good ; otherwise it supplements itself from Shen Si and Ch^ung-k'ing. Near Ch4en-fang Ngai, 5 li beyond Fang-lung, were a number of gaily-painted and somewhat massive Buddhas, aii- kuh ch*ud)f minahs, and daws were pretty common. We pass the village of Hd-ihui T*ang in cutting across our fourth bend, at the Southern end of which is Lao-wa Ngai, our stage for the day. Nominally 45 /i, it took us 7 hours of hard work, and recalled bitter experiences along the weary roads of Kwei Chou. From Pao-ning to Shnn-k*ing there are nominally three stages, but they are notoriously long 280 ^', and are known as the man §an cKan or 'three savage stages.' The ground enclosed between all theee * This aecoant has sinoe been twice officially conflrmed in me- morials sent to Peking by the OoTemor. J I 100 Up the Yang'ise, bends, for a mile or two from the river, is invariably flat, as was often the case along the Sh^-hung River. Otherwise, in calibre and bank scenery, both these streams may be compared with the Fu-shun River, except that the rapids are of still less consequence. Ten li beyond Lao-wa Ngai, the direct road to Shun-k'ing leaves the main-road, which takes a round to Nan-pu Hien, and rejoins it at Tsao-erh-li, 15 !i further on. As each side of the triangle is 15 /i, that distance is therefore saved by avoiding Nan-pu. A few li further on we crossed the Si-ho, (the same river that we had crossed before daylight the morning succeeding our sleepless night), and, continuing our course due south, as it had oonsistently been hitherto, came to a remarkably handsome jt>*ai7ofi, 'virtuous arch,' or portal in honour of chastity, where a road branches off to Si-ch*ung Hien, 120 li to the south-west. We are now quite out of sight of the Pao-ning River, and even of the channel in which it runs, although from the elevated points in our up-and-down zig-zag apology for a road we can occasionally obtain extensive views in all directions. The places passed en route are so insignificant as hardly to deserve naming ; but we may select for that honour P'i-p'a Ch'ang, where we took a snack in the shape of some Vang yiian^ (or hot boiled no-mi^ or glutinous-rice cakes), filled with coarse red sugar. Before crossing the Si-ho, we had passed a considerable number of the Nan-pu salt wells, which differ in little from those of She-hung Hien : perhaps they are smaller and meaner, but the yield of brine appears to be more generous, one or two wells, opposite which we stopped, furnishing BIZ or seven loads a-day. We aUo passed one boiling shed, where there were a dozen pans at work evaporating shui htca salt. The cost of the salt varied with the market from TIs. 9 to Tls. 12 the 100 catties; but the local salt catty has 120 instead of 16 ounces ; so that 750 ordinary catties cost Tls. 10, or, say, 15,000 cash, just 20 cash a catty. The /i7ci;i was 4J cash the local catty, or about § of a cash fur an ordinary catty. The fuel used was coal brought down on cow-back from Pao-ning. Most of the Nan-pu salt, how- ever, comes from a place callod Pei-wan-sz, on the other side of the river, about 30 li from Nan-pu Hien. We met coolies carrying this, or rather pan salt, into Shen Si, where it sells at very high prices, sometimes over 100 cash the catty. Three cash the li per A Journey in XorfJt Sz Ch'uan. 101 hundred catties, or, Bay, a halfpenny a mile a large hundred- weight, iH the rate paid : some of it goes in short stages, being pass- ed on from hand to hai.d, and, in other cases, the porters pay their way along by selling portions of the salt. A remarkable feature in to-day*8 journty was the re-appenrance in great numbers of the ch^ang-kaufj, or brushwood oak, which disappeared suddenly after Hoh Chou. The commonest road shrub all the way has been the hwang chatuj, a plant in process of identification.* We put up for the night at Cliung-pa Ch*ang, 80 U from Lao-wa Ngai. The next day's journey lay through the safflower country, now, however, plnnted chietly with yams and other vegetables. Rice as a rule only occupied the bottom lands between the feet of the hills. Jufct btfure the commencement of the salfljwer sea- son, the whole country is Baid to be one mass of red flowers, but at the present times it has a singularly buld appearance. The red telesoope-pyramid type of hill replaces the less cultivated and aorabby yellow or white sandstone ; the whole country far and wide has been denuded of nearly all trees except a few of the mulberry, t^utif/^ and bamboo ; and the newly transplanted yam shoots, {hung-shao Ung VA), are not sufficiently high to diversify the colour of the red ground. Yams are planted in furrows, and banked up like celery. Cotton was the most common crop after the yam. Men and women w*»re engnjjod in A^wing this latter, a process which, unlike the same term applied to paddy, may be translated by its English symphony * hoeing.' In addition to this, clods of earth containing a plant were neatly du'< out from spots where the seed had come np too thick, and reset in places where the aeed had not come up at all. The young rice was everywhere now well on, and about 18 inches or two feet high, but as yet no grain ears had appeared. iSometimes, when paddy-land is in- sufficiently moistened by rain for rice, yams are plinted there also. A road runs from Chung-pa Ch'ang to Si-ch'ung, 90 li dis- tant. Our route continues due south past Ma-ngan Ch'ang for 33 /i', until we cross the frontier of Nan-pu and puss into the District of Nan-ch*ung, (the Prefectural District city of 8hun-k*ing is Nan-ch*ung Hion) ; two li farther on is a small roadside inn, call- ed Wa-tieu-tM or Sin-ch'ang Ya, and, 15 li beyond this, the • 1 find this is Vitfx nfoitndo. A Joiimet/ in JS^orth Sz Ch uan. 103 lord deposit money at the rate of 1,030 cash an annual load, whioh at the Chinese rate of-interest, would add another 100 oash at least to the S'^O. The lopped mulberry trees aloni^ the roid frequently had their short bare branches twisted together in a circle, the object of whioh was said to be to make the leaves (^row. Those whioh grow after the * silk month ' — the 4th — appear to be of no use whatever, but still the tree has to be lopped in preparation for next year. We cr«»8s a brook traversed by an exceeJinj^ly solid bri