INTO CENTRAL CHINA.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1612, 21 January 1903, Page 60

INTO CENTRAL CHINA.

TjP THE GREAT YANG-TSZE-KIANG RIVER. Mr James Pinnock writes as follows of a trip on board tiie J.iido-China Company's large twin-screw river steamer, the Eutwo, Captain Wm. Mahon, into the heart of China, up the mighty Yang-tsze-Kiang river, one of the largest in ttie world.

The Kutwo was built and engined by the London and Glasgow Engineering and Iron Shipbuilding Company of Glasgow for this special service, and notwithstanding her shallow draft steamed out via the Suez Canal, her complement of crew exceeding 100 men. The saloon (every table fitted with punkahs; together with our state rooms, having communicating batnrooms and iava/torios, aro situated on tlio upper or hurricane deck with a promenade space of nearly 300 feet in lengtn. We had (the adventurous lady travelling with me and myself) a very large cabin each to ourselves, .we were entirelv screened from the heat by the finest of Bun decks; the catering was good, the ship "being supplied with the best of everything, Avith an unlimited supply of ice (the greatest of all luxuries to myself in such a climate), a most urbane, kind, and courteous commander of whom I cannot speak too highly, together made a most luxurious and ideasant voyage of what might under adverse circumstances have been the reverse; ours rvas one of continual pleasure, excitement, and never-ending novelties.

After eighteen nours steam from Shanghai Ave arrived at the first Treaty port on the Yang-tsze-Kiang, Avhere A\ r e went alongside an iron hulk which Avas connected Avith a long pier to the shore. The hulk proved to be an old Avorn-out P. and O. steamer, the once famed Orissa, of nearly half a century ago. “How are the mighty fallen !” We passed two very pretty and interesting islands, known respectively as the Silver and Golden Islands, covered with numerous ioss houses and pagodas. The grand canal is on the opposite side of the river and leads all the Avav north to Tientsin and Peking, and Avas formerly the recognised Chinese postal and official route to those distant northern territories. We disembarked our missionaries Avho were passengers Avith us at Chin Kiang.

The follOAving day Ave arrived at the second important station, Nanking, composed mostly of Avarehouses, Custom House, etc.; it has lately become a Treaty port. The ancient city of Nanking, the former capital of China, lies five miies inland from the Custom House, it has lost its famous porcelain pagoda, and with it most of its former splendour. There are, hoAvever, many fine old stone tombs of the Ming and other bygone dynasties of past centuries AYhich are still in a good state of preservation, and which Avould Aveli repay a visit to anyone having the opportunity. Having discharged all our cargo for Nanking Ave proceeded to the next Treaty port, that of Wu-hu, which is distant 52 miles above the last named place. Wu-hu is the largest rice port in China, though, as is pretty generally knOAvn, no rice Avliatever is permitted to be exported from any part of the country. Sugar appears to be one of the most important imports, as it is generally, over this surrounding area.

Leaving this part of the river we sailed for Tatung, sixty miles further up. - Passed during the day two droves or flocks of tame ducks, 200 in each, being driven for a long distance, from a point up the river, to a market very much lower down. They are kept together by a man and a boy in a sampan following them, the man armed with a long bamboo with a rag attached of considerable length as a lash to keep them together, and two wily trained old birds to lead them on their way. After swimming down stream all day. ducks and men alike get tired towards night and land on a editable site taking a rest for the night and starting on again the next morning. The birds keep together in a wonderful compact mass, needless to say it would be impossible for them to swim up stream as they could not stem the current.

On the broad canal, near Wu-hu. was an enormous flock (the OAvner declared) consisting of no less than 5000 birds, they were being conducted a long distance in a someAvhat similar manner, but in this case Avith an escort of 15 men; each in a round tub, like a Avash tub, punting along with bamboo poles assisted by another five men running along the banks to prevent the birds landing or passing through openings Avhere the Avater had broken the hanks floAving into the surrounding country.

The canal here is very wide, and the country swampy. The birds seen in the distance coming towards one resemble the approach of a large wave. . Early the following morning we slopped off Ta-tung Pagoda to land some Chinese steerage passengers, as our steamer takes nearly a thousand on her trip up and down, all of whom are located on the lower deck. The river all the way up so far has been five miles wide, varying but slightly here and there. On the bluff of Matung Channel, just after rounding Dove Point (a very picturesque lofty cliff/ me- Chinese have erected some rather formidable batteries, mounted with modern guns, commanding the river, though there is a passage far away on'the opposite side a steamer might pass up; b.ut it is a great pity seeing Great Britain's great interest on the Yang-tsze-Kiang that it was not provided for in the Articles of Peace after the Boxer troubles of 1800 that the Chinese should not eredt any more batteries or mount more guns on the banks of this great river. A similar proviso having been made the whole way up the Pei-Ho river from Taku to Peking. I know, as a mattter of fact, our authorities have a complete plan of the fortifications, guns, and magazines, etc., in question Such a stipulation put forward at the time by the Powers (all of whom are very largely interested in the commerce here) would have been assented to without a murmur. It is very easy to be wise after-

A\ r ards. but a far-seeing diplomatic body might have grasped this at the time. Later we passed Poyaug Lake Avitfi a mountain in the distance, 4500 feet high, and after covering 193 miles from VVu-nu we arrived at Kiu-Kiang; this is a very large and important tea port, mostly in the hands of Russian firms. At anchor hero Avas a small flat-bottomed twin-screAV steamer, H.M. steamer Teai, built by YarroAv and Co., London, for tiiis special service. She steams 13 knots, drawing only 13 feet of Avater. Her duty is the protection of British interest and commerce on the river, etc. Ultimately Ave arrived at the very important, far distant city of Nan-koAV, Avhicli has a bund or sea front, .a good protecting sea-Avall or frontage seven miles in length, with a railway beside it, completed and running hoav as far as 150 miles into the interior. It is the “Peking and HankoAV raihvay,”'working from both ends, and there remains only three to four hundred miles to complete the connection. It is knOAvn as the “FranceBelgian Peking-HankoAV Railway Syndicate.^

Lying here at anchor are H.M. Ships Espieglo, Captain Barton, and H.M. small river steamer Snipe, also the German man-of-Avar litis. It may be remembered a Avar steamer of the same name and nationality Avas lost with all hands off the uiorth coast of China on the 23rd July, 1896, the crew singing the German National Anthem as they all Avent doAvn Avith the ship.

Fronting the bund, which is planted with a roAV of trees and grass nicely laid out, are very many large and important buildings, several banks, “Tlie RussoChinese,” “Hongkong and Shanghai/ - ’ ‘'Specie Bank,” and the “Chartered Bank of India,” etc. Merchant houses, clubs, and consulates, etc. The shipping at this port so far distant in the interior of China is incredible, and though I am desirous of keeping my letter free from any statistical figures I must make a trifling exception here. The uteam shipping entered and cleared at Han-koAV during last year, 1901, Avas no less than tAVO and a-half million tons, in the following proportions: 1,162,000 tons British. 554,527 tons German 424,913 tons Chinese ' 280,006 tons Japanese 48,948 tons Russian 2,470,394 What the sailing tonnage Avas for such time, Avith the absolutely incalculable number of Chinese junks (X say large but they are all sizes) flitting up and doAvn 'the Avhole river at all points day and night! I lia\ r e no knowledge of or figures to give, and feAV jjeople in England—even among the shipping interest— lcuoav anything of such trade as I point to on a river in China and the British interest totting up to such startling figures. Wild pheasants abound up the river, very beautiful birds, and at se\'eral places Ave touched at they Avere to bo bought for equivalent to one shilling (English) per brace or about 240 cash (cash is a piece of brass Avith a square hole cut through it in the centre, a \’ery cumbrous form of currency to go marketing AVith. Teal and snipe abound in A r ast numbers all over this part of China. The province of Hunan is not far distant Avhere the tAVO missionaries, Messrs Bruce and LeAvis, were murdered by the Chinese fanatics on the 15th of August last. * A steamer runs regularly from Hankow, tne Uflangwe. Uaptain Laverie, belonging to the luao-Unna Steam iNavigatton Company, to Yo-chOAV and -then on t° Changsfla, Avhich is the capital of tfle province of Hunan, distant 200 miles from Hankow. The population of Changsha is estimated at one million, and is situated on the bank of the Siang river; the population of the province is betAveen 22 and 23 millions. The first mission established in the Hunan province Avas shortly before the Boxer trouble, in 1900, on the advent of which the missionaries Avere all driven aAvay, just escaping Avith their lives; some tAvelve months since they re-en-tered the country, not Avith the consent of the Chinese officials or others but by strategy a.nd stealth, and once inside the city and located temporarily in a Chinese hut the local officers Avere afraid to forcibly eject them as a riot might ensue and some of the petty officials might pay for it Avith their heads. There are noAV already established there in this very short ensuing space of time the London Missionary Society (Nonconformist). Wesleyan Missionary Society of - England, NorAvcgian Missionary Society of NorAvay, Christian Missionary Alliance of NeAV York, United Evangelical Church of the United States of America, China Inland Mission, all trying to undo the Chinese traditional teaching of Confucius. My information Avas received verbally on the spot from the head and leader of one of the principal religious bodies.

Tiie leading port of the place on the Upper Yang-tsze-Kiang river, far away above T-Chang and the Gorges, is ChungKing, in the province of Su-chuan, the latter having a population of 68 millions of people, or to be exact 67,712,897. Here to my astonishment was the French; Lieutenant Hourst. 8.N., commanding the French gunboat Obiy, who some time ago made that most marvellous descent of the -Niger river from Timbuctoo to Warri, at the top of the Forcardos river oh the West Coast of Africa, which was first explored and opened by myself thirty-five years since. Lieutenant Hourst was the author of that somewhat recent publication “Timbuctoo. the Mysterious.” He is the only man in the world who ever made this journey from Timbuctoo by water; he had 21 days' terrible task on the Yang-tsze from Tchang, through the Gorges, to the large open waters above, making this passage of the rapids; the whirlpools, etc., make it practically inaccessible to commercial steam navigation as it is attended with great danger and endless amount of fatigue. However, the little steamer is on the Upper Yang-tsze in smooth water, and Lieutenant Hourst is naturally very proud to be flying and representing the French

flag there. At some future day a railway Avill be built to overcome the overwhelming difficulties of this navigation, similar to Avhat the Belgians have done on the Congo river in connection Avith the difficulties of the Stanley Falls. Needless to say it Avould. if accomplished, give a great development to the trade in this region. As an alternative, to blast the rocks to clear a safe and easy passage through Avould be an herculean task, far too costly aiid the Avork.occupy too much time. If I may be allowed a little divergence I Avould like to call the attention of your readers to the following: After the siege of the Embassies at Peking by the Boxers, in 1990, Avitli all the attendant horrors and the murder of the German Minister, Baron Yon Kettler, outside the legation it was specially provided in one of the Articles of Peace that the Chinese Government should erect a very large and handsome monument in memory of the baron on the spot Avhere he Avas so foully murdered on the 20th June, 1900, by the soldiers o!' the regular Chinese Army. If it is ever completed it Avill be a magnificent one, judging from the dimensions of the granite rocks and the space marked out for it. But this is Avhere the curious, not to say romantic, part of the story comes in. It seems to "be almost the universal belief of the more ignorant no doubt of the Empire of China that the Europeans, or as they are almost ahvavs known “foreign devils,” have been ordered by the Chinese Government to erect this monument to honour the memory of the man Avho killed the German Minister. • At HankoAV Ave went over tne large brick tea-making factory belonging to the Russian firm of Messrs Molchanoff Pocliatnoff and Company. We Avere taken through the establishment and shoAvn the working in all its detail by the chief engineer, Mr A. Shearer. ' Of brick tea this firm alone turns out -5.000 tons annually, and of ordinary Congo tea 10,000 tons in the same time. They import largely Ceylon tea, and mix Aritli their OAvn China tea about 20 per cent, of the former, as the taste of tlieir consumers liaA'e altered to th;s. The process of making brick tea is very interesting, being manufactured from pure dust tea. the breaking up of Avhich Avas very novel to us. This (after being broken up) is slightly steamed to dampen it, then, whilst still hot, is put into moulds and pressed by porverful hydraulic rnachinery, and Avhen being subsequently taken from the moulds is nearly, if not quite, as hard as the best made ordinary baked clay bricks, as heavy and as difficult to break. This tea is conveyed on camels’ backs for thousands of miles all over the most distant and outlying districts of Mongdia, Manchuria, and Siberia, encountering all Aveathers and frequentlyoccupying months in transit. Hankow at one time Avas one of the largest tea ports in China, but although the trade is still very great it has dwindled aAvay very much,’excepting in regard to Russia, and making and export of the brick tea which I have endea\mured to describe. This is OAving to the great change in the taste of the British public for Ceylon teas as against China teas. The export of-many neAV descriptions of produce is rapidly ’springing np and groAving into very considerable dimensions. but the resident merchants, Avhose trade for all past time nearly has been confined to the export of tea. most irreverently designate all else as “muck and truck,” Avhich has nc-AV become a not too euphonious title or name under Avhich all other articles of produce are knOAvn, Avhich consist principally of hides packed in bales by hydraulic poAver and shipped to America; animal and vegetable tallow. bristles, feathers, skins (various), nutgalls, Avood oil (in large quantities), sesasum’ seed, and quantities of various qualities of hemp, the trade in Avhich latter is increasing rapidly. The amount of hospitality and kindness Ave received from the leading families in HankoAV during our stay there outvied I think the Aveli knOAvn proverbial reception usually given to A'isitors from the Avest, nothing but a continual round of dinners and tiffins, visits and drives, etc. It Avould obviously be invidious to mention names (I Avish I dared), but had our visit to been prolonged Ave should have left Avithout any “livers.” of course. I mean arising from the heat of the sun. There is here, as at all Treaty ports, a \ T ery nice racecourse (to which our friends drove us). It has a good grandstand, which, like Shanghai and other places, combines a ladies’ and a gentlemen’s club, making a nice afternoon’s lounge for ladies to take tea and show their pretty d?esses on the green lawn, AYhich is provided AYith chairs and small tables from the race and club building. I Avould here like to throiv in a note of warning to tlio British, authorities and. public generally that m my humble oninion the time is not very far distant Avhen there AA'ill again be a much greater rising of the Chinese against ourselves and the representatives of other European countries. •We are all foreigners, of course, and knOAvn only as foreign devils.” You ask . why and lioav I deduce this direful prognostication. : Well, during my travels I have conversed Avith all manner and conditions of Chinese, and they tell me they are so fearfully oppressed by the native high officials of each province Avho have had vast sums allotted them to collect for each ~district under their jurisdiction to pay the indemnity claimed by the European PoAvers for the outrage committed in 1900. These' same officers have and are levying five times the amount they honestly should, and so pocketing four-fifths themselves. The natives say it were better by far for them to die in their efforts to drive away all Avbito foreigners who they look upon as the primary cause of all their troubles.