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[Illustration]




  THREE YEARS
  IN
  WESTERN CHINA.

[Illustration: ICHANG GORGE: SALT JUNK, PROPELLED BY OARS, MAST BEING
UNSHIPPED FOR DOWNWARD VOYAGE.]




  THREE YEARS
  IN
  WESTERN CHINA;

  A NARRATIVE OF THREE JOURNEYS
  IN
  SSŬ-CH’UAN, KUEI-CHOW, AND YÜN-NAN.


  BY
  ALEXANDER HOSIE, M.A., F.R.G.S.,
  H.B.M. CONSULAR SERVICE, CHINA.


  SECOND EDITION.


  LONDON:
  GEORGE PHILIP & SON, 32 FLEET STREET. E.C.
  LIVERPOOL: PHILIP, SON & NEPHEW, 45 TO 51 SOUTH CASTLE STREET
  1897.




PREFACE.


The following pages are intended to present a picture of Western China
as the writer saw it in 1882, 1883, and 1884. Chapter VII., in a
somewhat modified form, was read at a meeting of the Royal Geographical
Society on the 22nd of February, and published in the Proceedings for
June, 1886; Chapter XI. was read at the Aberdeen meeting of the British
Association in September, 1885; and Chapter XII. was addressed to a
special meeting of the Manchester Chamber of Commerce on the 12th of
May, 1886. The remaining Chapters are now published for the first time,
and, if they meet with half the favour bestowed upon the Parliamentary
Papers in which the journeys were first, and somewhat roughly,
described, the writer will consider himself amply rewarded for the work
which want of leisure has compelled him to neglect so long.

  THE AUTHOR.

  _Wênchow, China,
  September 6, 1889._




PREFACE TO SECOND EDITION.


Since the publication of the first edition of this book, in 1890,
several important changes have taken place in foreign commercial
relations with Western China, and sufficient time has now elapsed
to admit of a decision being arrived at as to how far these changes
have affected trade. The following Additional Article to the Chefoo
Agreement of 1876, which owed its existence to the murder of Margary in
the west of Yün-nan in 1875, was signed at Peking on March 31, 1890,
and the Ratifications were exchanged on January 18, 1891:

“The Governments of Great Britain and China, being desirous of settling
in an amicable spirit the divergence of opinion which has arisen with
respect to the first clause of the third section of the Agreement
concluded at Chefoo in 1876, which stipulates that--‘The British
Government will be free to send officers to reside at Ch’ung-k’ing to
watch the conditions of British trade in Szechuen [Ssŭ-ch’uan], that
British merchants will not be allowed to reside at Ch’ung-k’ing, or
to open establishments or warehouses there, so long as no steamers
have access to the port, and that when steamers have succeeded in
ascending the river so far, further arrangements can be taken into
consideration,’ have agreed upon the following Additional Article:

“I. Ch’ung-k’ing shall forthwith be declared open to trade on the same
footing as any other Treaty port.

“British subjects shall be at liberty either to charter Chinese
vessels, or to provide vessels of the Chinese type, for the traffic
between Ichang and Ch’ung-k’ing.

“II. Merchandize conveyed between Ichang and Ch’ung-k’ing by the above
class of vessels shall be placed on the same footing as merchandize
carried by steamers between Shanghae and Ichang, and shall be dealt
with in accordance with Treaty, Tariff Rules, and the Yang-tsze
Regulations.

“III. All Regulations as to the papers and flags to be carried by
vessels of the above description, as to the cargo certificates with
which they shall be provided, as to the re-package of goods for the
voyage beyond Ichang, and as to the general procedure to be observed
by those engaged in the trade between Ichang and Ch’ung-k’ing, with a
view to ensuring convenience and security, shall be drawn up by the
Superintendent of Customs at Ichang, the Taotai of the Ch’uan Tung
Circuit, who is now stationed at Ch’ung-k’ing, and the Commissioner of
Customs in consultation with the British Consul, and shall be liable to
any modifications that may hereafter prove to be desirable and may be
agreed upon by common consent.

“IV. Chartered junks shall pay port dues at Ichang and Ch’ung-k’ing
in accordance with the Yang-tsze Regulations; vessels of Chinese type,
if and when entitled to carry the British flag, shall pay tonnage
dues in accordance with Treaty Regulations. It is obligatory on both
chartered junks and also vessels of Chinese type, even when the latter
may be entitled to carry the British flag, to take out the Maritime
Custom-house special papers and a special flag when intended to be
employed by British subjects in the transport of goods between Ichang
and Ch’ung-k’ing, and without such papers and flag no vessel of either
class shall be allowed the privileges and immunities granted under this
Additional Article. Provided with special papers and flag, vessels
of both classes shall be allowed to ply between the two ports, and
they and their cargoes shall be dealt with in accordance with Treaty
Rules and the Yang-tsze Regulations. All other vessels shall be dealt
with by the Native Customs. The special papers and flag issued by the
Maritime Customs must alone be used by the particular vessel for which
they were originally issued, and are not transferable from one vessel
to another. The use of the British flag by vessels the property of
Chinese is strictly prohibited. Infringement of these Regulations will,
in the first instance, render the offender liable to the penalties in
force at the ports hitherto open under Treaty; and should the offence
be subsequently repeated, the vessel’s special papers and flag will be
withdrawn, and the vessel herself refused permission thenceforward to
trade between Ichang and Ch’ung-k’ing.

“V. When once Chinese steamers carrying cargo run to Ch’ung-k’ing,
British steamers shall in like manner have access to the said port.

“VI. It is agreed that the present Additional Article shall be
considered as forming part of the Chefoo Agreement, and as having the
same force and validity as if it were inserted therein word for word.
It shall be ratified, and the ratifications exchanged at Peking, and
it shall come into operation six months after its signature, provided
the ratifications have been exchanged, or if they have not, then on the
date at which such exchange takes place.”

In other words, Ch’ung-k’ing was constituted a Treaty port, but
British steamers were denied access to it until Chinese steamers
carrying cargo should be pleased to lead the way. No attempt to
navigate west of Ichang was ever made, nor, so far as I am aware,
was it ever contemplated by the latter, and trade between that port
and Ch’ung-k’ing has up to the present been conducted in junks, in
accordance with the terms of this Additional Article. But it fell to
Japan, after the war of 1894-95, to claim the right of steam navigation
to Ch’ung-k’ing, and by Article VI. of the Treaty of Peace, signed at
Shimonoseki on April 17, 1895, not only was Ch’ung-k’ing opened to the
trade, residence, industries, and manufactures of Japanese subjects,
but steam navigation for vessels under the Japanese flag for the
conveyance of passengers and cargo was extended on the Upper Yang-tsze
from Ichang to Ch’ung-k’ing.

By this most-favoured-nation clause, therefore, Ch’ung-k’ing is now
open to foreign trade on the same conditions as the other Treaty
ports in China, and it remains to be seen which country will take the
initiative in still further developing the trade of Western China
by steam. The mere opening of Ch’ung-k’ing as a Treaty port, even
without the immediate prospect of steam communication, was undoubtedly
a step in the right direction, and the establishment there on the
1st of April, 1891, of a British Consulate, and of an office of the
Chinese Imperial Maritime Customs, soon rendered possible a more
exact estimate of the capacity of this great trade emporium of the
province of Ssŭ-ch’uan, and of the west of China generally. In that
year, virtually from June to December, 300 junks, of a capacity of
7,332 tons, provided with Customs Charter Certificates and flying the
Chinese flag, reported at the Foreign Custom-house at Ch’ung-k’ing from
Ichang, with foreign goods of the value of Haikwan Taels 1,371,027,
and native produce of the value of H.T.[A] 94,003; while 307 similarly
chartered junks, of a capacity of about 4,404 tons, left Ch’ung-k’ing
for Ichang, with exports of the value of H.T. 1,389,683, and silver
(sycee) valued at H.T. 84,381. In addition to this, foreign goods, of
the value of H.T. 2,346,055, and H.T. 643,475, were sent, under transit
pass to Ichang and Hankow respectively, to Ssŭ-ch’uan, and native goods
of the value of H.T. 443,269 were brought down under transit pass from
that Province to Ichang for shipment. The trade steadily increased,
and in 1895 as many as 1,200 junks, whereof 878 were chartered by
British, 112 by American, and 210 by Chinese merchants, of a total of
36,881 tons, carried to Ch’ung-k’ing from Ichang foreign goods valued
at H.T. 5,618,213, native goods valued at H.T. 1,238,816; while 917
chartered junks carried away from Ch’ung-k’ing native produce of the
value of H.T. 6,396,743; a total of imports and exports of the value
of H.T. 13,253,772. Besides this, goods of the value of H.T. 662,679
were sent to Ssŭ-ch’uan, mostly to Ch’ung-k’ing, under transit pass
from Hankow and Ichang. These figures refer only to the trade which
comes under the cognizance of the Imperial Maritime Customs, and
Mr. Woodruff, Commissioner of Customs, writing from Ch’ung-k’ing
in January, 1896, in reference to the trade of the previous year,
says--“Our petty share of the trade (_i.e._, the trade passing through
the Foreign Custom-house) has prospered;” and again, “With prosperity
based on such uncertain foundations, it would be unwise to draw too
definite conclusions, but there is enough else in the appended tables
to give abundant promise: there are the possibilities of a great
trade.” The Customs Returns give precise details of this petty share
of the trade of Ssŭ-ch’uan, and an examination of the list of exports
reveals a state of things which cannot but appear startling to those
unacquainted with the Province. In 1895, as stated above, the value
of the exports reported at the Foreign Custom-house at Ch’ung-k’ing:
was H.T. 6,396,743, and of this amount native opium alone ranked
for H.T. 2,875,180. When Ch’ung-k’ing was made an open port, Mr. H.
E. Hobson, then Commissioner of Customs, despatched to Shanghai,
for analysis, specimens of native opium from the three Provinces of
Ssŭ-ch’uan, Kuei-chow, and Yün-nan, and, after embodying the results
of this analysis in his Report for 1891, he adds--“The above details
go to prove that of late years the native farmers have paid closer
attention to the production of unadulterated drug, and have succeeded;
whilst there is now but little doubt that, with anything approaching a
favourable season, the out-turn of the poppy fields of Western China
alone are ample to the ordinary requirements of pretty nearly the whole
Empire. It would be idle to attempt an estimate of the probable total
yield of what is now the favourite spring crop of regions vaster in
extent than individual European kingdoms; but the fact is patent that,
as regards her opium supply, China is now practically independent.”
Next to native opium comes white-wax of the value of H.T. 940,699. A
description of the remarkable industry by which this wax is produced
will be found in Chapter XI. Silk of all kinds ranks third, with a
value of H.T. 811,764; but this is a mere fraction of the production
of, and export from, the Province, for Ssŭ-ch’uan is an immense silk
district, and the production is practically unlimited. Then follow
medicines (H.T. 589,472), musk (H.T. 540,662), sheep’s wool (H.T.
99,377), bristles (H.T. 96,152), hemp (H.T. 68,806), fungus (H.T.
26,202), brown sugar (H.T. 22,973), feathers (H.T. 15,092), leather
(H.T. 13,770), safflower (H.T. 11,696), turmeric (H.T. 6,314), and
some minor articles which go to make up what is practically a petty
share of the export trade of Ssŭ-ch’uan. Moreover, the great and most
valuable salt export from Ssŭ-ch’uan is under Government control, and
is excluded from the supervision of the Imperial Maritime Customs. A
glance at the list of imports shows that the principal foreign goods
consumed by Ssŭ-ch’uan are--Indian cotton yarn (H.T. 2,600,637), plain
grey shirtings (H.T. 1,169,966), white shirtings (H.T. 162,162), cotton
Italians, plain and figured (H.T. 158,803), American clarified ginseng
(H.T. 131,687), cotton lastings (H.T. 128,292), woollen lastings
(H.T. 97,822), analine dyes (H.T. 86,041), long ells (H.T. 63,648),
seaweed and agar-agar (H.T. 60,917); while the principal imports of
native goods include raw cotton (H.T. 515,891), silk piece-goods (H.T.
200,776), medicines (H.T. 92,046), cotton yarn from Hankow (H.T.
86,329), China-root (H.T. 42,162), paper (H.T. 28,253), paper fans
(H.T. 24,519), and cuttle-fish (H.T. 22,399). These are exclusive of
the goods, mentioned above, sent to Ssŭ-ch’uan under transit pass
from Ichang and Hankow. When the goods have arrived at Ch’ung-k’ing
they are distributed over the Province, part going to Kuei-chow and
Yün-nan; but as transit passes are not taken out at the port to cover
their further distribution, it is impossible to state with accuracy
their ultimate destinations. Mr. Hobson, in his Report for 1891, gives
the following reasons why inward transit passes are not availed of. He
says--“During the December quarter documents were taken out to cover
parcels of Indian yarn to inland marts within the Szechuan borders,
but, owing to a misunderstanding at the barriers, operations quickly
came to a conclusion.” And in the same place, writing of outward
transit, he says--“There were no applications for passes to convey
cargo from the interior, which is not surprising when it is explained
that accumulated tax charges, _en route_, are slighter than transit
dues would amount to.” It must be borne in mind that all these figures
refer to a fraction of the trade of Ch’ung-k’ing, and, therefore, to a
much smaller fraction of the trade of the whole Province of Ssŭ-ch’uan,
conducted between the Upper and Lower Yang-tsze.

[A] H.T. = Haikwan or Customs Taels.

Much has been heard in recent years of the rivalry of the French
for the trade of Western China, by way of Tonquin and the Red River
(Song-koi): but we are now in a position to test it by actual results.
By Art. II. of the Convention Additionelle de Commerce entre la France
et la Chine, signed at Peking on the 26th of June, 1887, the city of
Lungchow, in the Province of Kwangzi, and the city of Mêng-tzŭ, in
Southern Yün-nan, as well as Man-hao at the head of navigation of
the Red River, and south-west of Mêng-tzŭ, were opened to trade, and
by Art. III. the following differential duties were, with a view to
a more rapid development of trade between China and Tonquin, agreed
upon:--Foreign goods imported into China through these cities shall
pay seven-tenths, and Chinese goods exported to Tonquin by the same
routes shall pay six-tenths, of the general tariff in force at the
Treaty ports of China. In August, 1889, a Custom-house was established
at Mêng-tzŭ, with which I propose to deal more particularly in this
place, for the route by way of the Red River, Man-hao, and Mêng-tzŭ
is practically the only way of access from Tonquin to Yün-nan and
the South-Western Provinces of China, and by it the whole trade is
conducted; so that the Custom-house Returns of Mêng-tzŭ supply complete
data as to its value, volume, and distribution. The following table
gives the value of the trade from 1890 to 1895:--

  --------+---------+---------+---------+----------+---------+---------
          |   1890  |   1891  |   1892  |   1893   |  1894   |  1895
  --------+---------+---------+---------+----------+---------+---------
  IMPORTS.|   H. T. |   H. T. |   H. T. |   H. T.  |  H. T.  |  H. T.
   Foreign|  466,089|  744,480|  887,606|{1,524,290|1,241,879|1,809,253
   Native |  169,014|  202,336|  261,459|{         |         |
  EXPORTS.|  468,904|  583,275|  736,355|   735,204|  943,321|1,033,066
          +---------+---------+---------+----------+---------+---------
   Total  |1,104,007|1,530,007|1,885,420| 2,259,494|2,195,200|2,842,319
  --------+---------+---------+---------+----------+---------+---------
  After 1892 no distinction was made between foreign and native imports.

An analysis of the trade shows that it is composed for the most part of
a few articles of considerable value. The year 1895 may be taken as an
example.

  --------------------------------------+--------------------------
                  IMPORTS.              |      EXPORTS.
  --------------------------+-----------+---------------+----------
                            |    H.T.   |               |     H.T.
  Indian cotton yarn        | 1,303,108 | Yün-nan opium |   160,197
  Raw cotton (Tonquin)      |    60,515 | Tin in slabs  |   812,819
  Prepared tobacco (Canton) |   234,995 | Other goods   |    60,050
  Coffin wood (Tonquin)     |    46,086 |               |
  Other goods               |   164,549 |               |
  --------------------------+-----------+---------------+----------
      Total                 | 1,809,253 |   Total       | 1,033,066
  --------------------------+-----------+---------------+----------

As the transit pass system is in full working order at Mêng-tzŭ, it is
possible to describe with accuracy the area which this route supplies.
In 1895--the latest figures available--the value of the imports, as
stated above, was H.T. 1,809,253; and all these imports, principally
from Hong-kong, are entitled, on payment of seven-tenths of the General
Tariff import duty, and of an additional half full import duty, to be
conveyed under transit pass to any destination in the interior without
further taxation. Eighty-four per cent. were so carried, of the value
of H.T. 1,521,021, and of this the Province of Yün-nan itself consumed
H.T. 1,509,491, leaving a balance of H.T. 11,530 for distribution in
other Provinces. Of this latter, Ta-ting Fu, in Kuei-chow, took seven
piculs of prepared tobacco, of the value of H.T. 210; Chang-sha and
Ch’ang-tê Hupeh, on the opposite bank of the Yang-tsze from Hankow,
took 41 catties of cassia lignea, of the value of H.T. 14. There still
remains goods of the value of H.T. 10,936 to be accounted for. These
were sent to three places in the Province of Ssŭ-ch’uan, namely,
Ning-yüan Fu, which is situated in that part of the Province which
juts into the north of Yün-nan, and is separated from the highest
navigable point on the Yang-tsze by the inaccessible Lolo country. I
visited this city on March 20, 1883, by the only available mountain
road from Ch’êng-tu, the capital of Ssŭ-ch’uan, and it is not at all
surprising, when the difficulties of this route are taken into account,
that it draws its supplies from Mêng-tzŭ. Its requirements, however,
amounted to the small sum of H.T. 10,085, consisting almost entirely
of Indian cotton yarn. The other two places in Ssŭ-ch’uan which drew
from Mêng-tzŭ were Ch’êng-tu, which took 25 catties of cinnamon, valued
at H.T. 800, and Hsü-chou Fu, at the junction of the Chin-sha Chiang
(Upper Yang-tsze) and the Min River, whose requirements consisted of
203 catties of inferior cardamoms, of the value of H.T. 51. While
Ning-yüan will in all probability continue to satisfy its wants from
Mêng-tzŭ, there is not the remotest likelihood of other parts of
Ssŭ-ch’uan deserting the Yang-tsze route and Ch’ung-k’ing. Although
Kuei-chow drew seven piculs of prepared tobacco, and Chao-t’ung, the
northern prefecture of Yün-nan, took four pieces of T cloths and 14-1/2
piculs of tobacco from Mêng-tzŭ, I see no reason to alter what I wrote
eight years ago in the concluding paragraph of Chapter XII. “The only
route to Ssŭ-ch’uan, Kuei-chow, and Northern Yün-nan is the Yang-tsze,
on whose upper waters a large trade in foreign goods is even now
conducted, a trade which is capable of enormous development when the
present burdensome taxation is reduced. The opening of Ch’ung-k’ing by
the ascent of a steamer--an event anxiously looked forward to by the
native merchants of Ssŭ-ch’uan, will, as I have pointed out, reduce
that taxation, and will enable millions, who at present look upon
foreign goods as articles of luxury, to become themselves consumers;
and I trust the day is not far distant when the British flag will float
over entrepôts of British manufactures throughout Western China.”
The unwieldy junk, which, if it succeeds in covering the distance of
400 miles between Ichang and Ch’ung-k’ing in less than a month, is
considered to have made a good passage, is still the only means of
communication between the Lower Yang-tsze and Ssŭ-ch’uan. This long
passage entails heavy freights, thereby enhancing the retail prices
and hindering the free distribution of our manufactures; and it is
sincerely to be hoped that the permission granted by the Japanese
Treaty of Shimonoseki, to employ steam on the Upper Yang-tsze, will
soon bear fruit. The French have succeeded in running small steamers
on the Red River from Hanoi to Lao-kai, that is, to the frontier
of Yün-nan, and a weekly service is maintained between Yen-bai and
Lao-kai; but in winter the river is too shallow to admit of the passage
of even small steamers. In 1895 a cargo steamer was placed on the line
in summer, for junk navigation, owing to the strong current, virtually
ceases from the beginning of May until September; but the Chinese,
even although freights were as light as by junk, refused to ship by
her on the plea that “the arrival of goods could not be regulated as
at present, and that prices would consequently fall.” The long journey
overland from Mêng-tzŭ, or rather Man-hao, to Ssŭ-ch’uan, Kuei-chow,
and Northern Yün-nan, is, in my opinion, an insuperable barrier to a
successful rivalry of the Red River with the Yang-tsze.

On the 1st of March, 1894, a Convention between Great Britain and
China, relative to the boundaries of, and overland trade between,
Burmah and China, was signed at London. Art. VIII. of that Convention
says--“Subject to the conditions mentioned hereafter in Articles X.
and XI., the British Government, wishing to encourage and develop the
land trade of China with Burmah as much as possible, consent, for a
period of six years from the ratification of the present Convention, to
allow Chinese produce and manufactures, with the exception of salt, to
enter Burmah by land duty free, and to allow British manufactures and
Burmese produce, with the exception of rice, to be exported to China by
land free of duty. The duties on salt and rice imported and exported
shall not be higher than those imposed on their import or export by
sea.” Art. XI. says--“The exportation from Burmah into China of salt
is prohibited,” and “the exportation from China into Burmah of cash,
rice, pulse, and grains of every kind is prohibited;” and, again, “The
importation and exportation across the frontier of opium and spirituous
liquors is prohibited, excepting in small quantities for the personal
use of travellers.” Art. XI. says--“Pending the negotiation of a more
complete arrangement, and until the development of the trade shall
justify the establishment of other frontier Customs stations, goods
imported from Burmah into China, or exported from China into Burmah
shall be permitted to cross the frontier by Manwyne and by Sansi.
With a view to the development of trade between China and Burmah, the
Chinese Government consent that for six years from the ratification of
the present Convention the duties levied on goods imported into China
by these routes shall be those specified in the General Tariff of the
Maritime Customs, diminished by three-tenths, and that the duties on
goods exported from China by the same route shall be those specified in
the same tariff, diminished by four-tenths. Transit passes for imports
and exports shall be granted in accordance with the rules in force at
the Treaty ports.” Art. XIII. says--“It is agreed that His Majesty
the Emperor of China may appoint a Consul in Burmah, to reside at
Rangoon; and that Her Britannic Majesty may appoint a Consul to reside
at Manwyne.” By this Convention, therefore, the same differential
duties have been fixed as in the trade between Tonquin and China; but
it will be observed that while Yün-nan pays for a considerable part
of its imports by the Red River with native opium, it is debarred
from exporting it to Burmah. What progress trade is making across the
Burmah-Yün-nan frontier under these conditions I am not in a position
to say, for I have seen no recent statistics bearing on the subject;
but it labours under the same disadvantages in regard to its area of
supply as the Red River route. The overland transit is too long, and
therefore too expensive, to admit of the richest parts of Western China
being “tapped” by it.

On the 1st of December, 1888, a Convention between France and China
was signed at Chefoo, whereby, _inter alia_, the junction of the
Chinese and French telegraph lines in Yün-nan and Tonquin respectively
was agreed to, and Mêng-tzŭ and Lao-kai, which lies just within the
Tonquin frontier, were subsequently united by wire; and on the 6th
September, 1894, a similar Convention, respecting the junction of the
Chinese and Burmese telegraph lines, was signed at Tien-tsin between
Great Britain and China, wherein it was stipulated that the junction
should be effected between the British station at Bhamo and the Chinese
station at Têng-yüeh (Momein), at latest on the 31st May, 1895, unless
prevented by accident or by _force majeure_.

By a Supplementary Convention, concluded between France and China at
Peking on the 20th of June, 1895, and ratified in 1896, Man-hao, the
station opened by Art. II. of the Convention of 1887, at the head of
navigation of the Red River in Yün-nan, is superseded by Ho-k’ou, a
place on the left bank of the same river, and just within the Chinese
frontier.

Of recent years Western China has acted as a magnet, not only to
exploring expeditions, but also to more practical commercial missions.
In 1890 a French expedition, including Prince Henry of Orleans, passed
southwards through Western Ssŭ-ch’uan and Yün-nan by way of Ta-li Fu,
Mêng-tsŭ, and the Red River, from Tibet to Tonquin; and in 1895 the
Prince was again at Ta-li Fu, whence he proceeded west to the Mekong,
ascended the right bank of the latter to Tse-ku, and then struck
westwards across the Salwen and Irrawady to Sadiya in Assam. To show
the spirit of rivalry which exists, I may quote from the paper which
the Prince read before the Royal Geographical Society on the 18th of
May, 1896, and published in the December number of the _Geographical
Journal_ of that year. He says--“We heard [at Ssŭ-mao] that two
Englishmen had just left the town. This news was not calculated to
rejoice our hearts. Reconnoitring parties are numerous in Yün-nan, and
there is a race between the French and English, and even amongst the
French themselves. The field of the unknown is day by day being reduced
with marvellous rapidity, and to find unexplored ground on the map one
must hasten. At Ta-li Fu we were told that one of these Englishmen was
Captain Davis, who arrived from Burmah by way of T’êng-yüeh and Ta-li,
intending to return by Mien-ning, Ssŭ-mao, P’u-êrh Fu, and Tamano. We
twice crossed the itinerary of these travellers, and were lucky enough
only to travel along 120 miles of the same road.”

A French commercial mission (Mission Lyonnaise d’Exploration
Commerciale en Chine), consisting of a dozen members, and including
several experts, has recently overrun Western China from Tonquin to
the borders of Tibet, part of the mission remaining at Ch’ung-k’ing
for some considerable time. A Japanese Commercial Mission visited
Ch’ung-k’ing in December, 1895, and returned in January, 1896, and the
United States Mission, which left Tien-tsin overland for Chêng-tu to
arrange a settlement, so far as American missionaries were concerned,
of the anti-missionary outrages which occurred there and in other parts
of the Province of Ssŭ-ch’uan in May and June, 1895, returned by way
of Ch’ung-k’ing and the Yang-tsze in January, 1896. At the present
moment the Blackburn Commercial Mission, headed by Mr. Bourne, of the
British Consular Service in China, my successor as Consular Agent at
Ch’ung-k’ing in 1884, is traversing the Western Provinces of China;
and it is certain that all these missions have collected, and are
collecting, information which cannot fail to be of great assistance in
developing foreign trade with the West of China.

  ALEX. HOSIE.

  NEWCHWANG,
  _February 18, 1897_.




CONTENTS.


  CHAPTER I.

  UP THE YANG-TSZE TO WESTERN CHINA.

  PAGE

  Western China and the interest attaching to it--The way
  thither--An unsuccessful attempt to reach Ichang--Ichang at
  last--Difficulties of navigation--Commercial importance of
  Ichang--My native passenger-boat, opium-smoking skipper,
  and crew--The navigability of the Upper Yang-tsze by
  steamers--Dangers and difficulties of the Ching T’an Rapid--Up
  and down the rapid--The poppy--Ch’ung-k’ing.                     1


  CHAPTER II.

  CH’UNG-K’ING TO THE CAPITAL OF KUEI-CHOW.

  My overland caravan--Harvesting
  opium--Field-fishing--Wood-oil--The manufacture of paper--Salt
  carriers--Silkworms and their food--Rice or Pith paper, and
  its manufacture--The Kuei-chow frontier--Minerals--First
  meeting with Miao-tzŭ--Poetical description of Chinese
  inns--T’ung-tzŭ, its poppy valley and tunnelling--Ingenious
  bamboo water-wheels--Scant population amid ruins of fine
  houses--Coal-dust as fuel--The Wu Chiang River--Destruction
  of the iron suspension bridge--Northern Kuei-chow, a Miao-tzŭ
  graveyard--Opium-sodden inhabitants--The capital of the
  Province--An interview with the Governor of Kuei-chow           14


  CHAPTER III.

  WESTWARD TO YÜN-NAN.

  White wax insects--Terrific hailstorm and its effects--Miao-tzŭ
  houses and women--An-shun Fu--Limestone cave--Pai-shui
  waterfall--Reception at Lang-t’ai T’ing--Lang-wang Mountain
  and the “Cave of the Spirits”--Caught in a thunderstorm--The
  pebbly strand of the Mao-k’ou River--Pack-animals and their
  treatment--The Yün-nan frontier--A cart at last--Exploring a
  cave--Underground rivers--Exceptional courtesy--Goître--Breeding
  ground of the Yün-nan pony--Trade route to Tonquin--Marching
  knee-deep in mud and water--Poverty of inhabitants--Queen’s
  Birthday dinner in a back yard--Chinese inquisitiveness--The
  Sung-ming Lake--A local escort--A glorious view--Yün-nan Fu.    35


  CHAPTER IV.

  THROUGH NORTH-EASTERN YÜN-NAN TO THE YANG-TSZE.

  The city of Yün-nan Fu--P’u-êrh tea--Opium-smoking,
  chair-bearers, and personal care--Exposure of robbers’
  heads--Chinese school--Rainbow superstition--Entertainment
  at Tung-ch’uan Fu--A successful ruse--Stopped by a mountain
  torrent--Lodged in a byre--On the banks of the Niu-lan
  River--The Chao-t’ung plain and its lakes--Stories of Lolo
  bloodshed--Down from the plain--Narrow escape of a porter--Back
  to Ssŭ-ch’uan--Descent of the Nan-kuang River--Down the
  Yang-tsze to Ch’ung-k’ing                                       54


  CHAPTER V.

  FROM CH’UNG-K’ING TO THE CAPITAL OF SSŬ-CH’UAN.

  Fu-t’ou-kuan--The country and its products--Chinese New
  Year--Charcoal from bracken--Ramie fibre and grass-cloth--Down a
  tributary of the T’o--The T’o and its commercial importance--The
  salt wells of Tzu-liu-ching--Sugar and safflower--The Ch’êng-tu
  plain--Beggars--The capital of Ssŭ-ch’uan                       70


  CHAPTER VI.

  THROUGH LOLODOM AND THE VALLEY OF CHIEN-CH’ANG.

  A Tibetan criminal in a cage--The armed ruffians of
  Chiung Chou--A floating bamboo bridge--Brick tea for
  Tibet--Fraternizing with Tibetan pilgrims on the summit of the
  Flying Dragon Pass--Chinese originality--Over the Ta Hsiang Ling
  Pass--A non-Chinese race--Across the Ta-tu River under Sifan
  protection--In the country of the Lolos--Lolo language--Sifan
  language--Asbestos cloth--A dangerous country--Lolo rogues--Over
  the Hsiao Hsiang Ling Pass--Lolo women--The valley of
  Chien-ch’ang--Ning-yuan Fu                                      88


  CHAPTER VII.

  THROUGH CAINDU TO CARAJAN.

  Earthquakes--The reception of foreigners at Ning-yuan--The
  fertility of the Ning-yuan plain--Goître and the salt
  supply--Historical hailstorm--A Tibetan caravan--Crossing the
  Ya-lung River--A riot at Hang-chou--Reception at Yen-yuan and
  increased protection--Brine wells of Pai-yen-ching--Driven back
  by mountain barriers--The Yün-nan frontier--A sight of the
  Yang-tsze--Results of the Mohammedan rebellion--The Lake of
  the Black Mist--On the banks of the Golden River--A deserted
  town--The plague--First glimpse of the snow-capped Tsang-shan--A
  magnificent view--On the shores of the Erh Hai--Ta-li Fu at
  last.                                                          112


  CHAPTER VIII.

  TA-LI FU TO YÜN-NAN FU.

  A view from the walls of Ta-li--The Mohammedan rebellion--A
  dying patriot’s prayer--Tibetan dogs--Amherst pheasants--A visit
  to the marble quarries--False musk--Min-chia maidens--The Ta-li
  plain--Playful gusts from the Tsang-shan--Good-bye Ta-li--A
  folklore hunting ground--The Erh Hai and the Mekong--Trade
  with Upper Burmah--Canton peddlers--Hsia-kuan, or the “Lower
  Fortress”--Ruined cities--Wretched roads--Half-starved--The
  foreigner and the camel--Marked courtesy at Ch’u-hsiung
  Fu--Yün-nan salt wells--A sackful of mails--A roadside
  trial--Across the Yün-nan lake--Three days in Yün-nan Fu--Trade
  with Western China and the introduction of railways.           131


  CHAPTER IX.

  THROUGH THE WEST OF KUEI-CHOW TO THE YANG-TSZE.

  The advantages of scholars _en route_ to Examination--Highroad
  converted into a reservoir--Quartered in a chimney--Intolerable
  inquisitiveness--Travellers, beware of T’ang-t’ang!--The
  Yün-nan-Kuei-chow border--Lakes and their drainage--Again
  among the Miao-tzŭ--The valley of the Ch’i-hsing River--Bark
  paper--“Heaven’s Bridge” and its mining catastrophe--The copper
  traffic--Across the Ch’ih-shui River into Ssŭ-ch’uan--Over
  the Hsüeh-shan Pass--A child of nature--A refractory roadside
  deity--Down the Yung-ning River--A narrow escape--Down the
  Yang-tsze to Ch’ung-k’ing                                      147


  CHAPTER X.

  TO THE WHITE WAX COUNTRY, THE SACRED MOUNT O-MEI, AND THE
  HIGHEST NAVIGABLE POINT ON THE YANG-TSZE.

  An unfortunate start--North to Ho Chou--Chinese soy--Varnish
  and its collection--Young trees from the old--Light-hearted
  peasants--The garden of Ssŭ-ch’uan--Otter fishing--Man-tzŭ
  caves--A great sugar country--Glimpse of O-mei--Chief silk
  country in Western China--Ascent of O-mei--Sweet tea of
  O-mei--The Golden Summit--The Glory of Buddha--Pilgrims and
  their devotions--O-mei beggars--A difficult descent--Official
  obstruction--Sick followers--On the banks of the Ta-tu--Man-tzŭ
  raids--Down with fever--Guerilla warfare--Hard-up for food--An
  exhausting march--The welcome Yang-tsze--Its highest navigable
  point--Down the upper rapids--Death of my horse-boy--Back to
  Ch’ung-k’ing                                                   161


  CHAPTER XI.

  CHINESE INSECT WHITE WAX.

  References to Insect White Wax in Europe and China--Area
  of production--Chief wax insect producing country--The
  insect tree--The insect “buffalo” beetle, or parasite--The
  insect scales--The transport of insects to the wax producing
  districts--Method of transport--The wax tree--How insects are
  placed on the wax trees--Wax production--Collection of the
  wax--An ignominious ending--Insect metamorphosis--Uses of the
  wax--Quantity and value                                        189


  CHAPTER XII.

  THE TRADE OF WESTERN AND SOUTH-WESTERN CHINA.

  The waterways, trade-routes, condition, and commercial prospects
  of Yün-nan--Trade-routes to Kuei-chow and the mineral wealth
  of the province--The waterways of Ssŭ-ch’uan--General trade
  of Ssŭ-ch’uan--Foreign trade of Ssŭ-ch’uan and how it is
  conducted--The defects in the present system and the remedy--The
  rapids and the difficulties they present--Advantages to be
  gained from the opening of Ch’ung-k’ing--The Yang-tsze the only
  route--Trade bound to the Yang-tsze                            202


  CHAPTER XIII.

  THE PHÖ.

  Non-Chinese races of Western and South-Western
  China--Imperfect knowledge regarding them--A traveller’s
  difficulties--Phö language approaching extinction--The
  Miao-tzŭ rebellion--Relationship of the Miao-tzŭ tribes--Art
  among the Phö--Music and dancing--Characteristics of the Phö
  language--English-Phö Exercises and Vocabulary                 224


  Note on Opium Cultivation in China and India                   287




THREE YEARS IN WESTERN CHINA.




CHAPTER I.

UP THE YANG-TSZE TO WESTERN CHINA.

    Western China and the interest attaching to it--The way thither--An
    unsuccessful attempt to reach Ichang--Ichang at last--Difficulties
    of navigation--Commercial importance of Ichang--My native
    passenger-boat, opium-smoking skipper, and crew--The navigability
    of the Upper Yang-tsze by steamers--Dangers and difficulties of the
    Ching T’an Rapid--Up and down the rapid--The poppy--Ch’ung-k’ing.


The most interesting part of China, from a geographical and
ethnological point of view, is the West--geographically, because its
recesses have not yet been thoroughly explored, and ethnologically,
because a great part of it is peopled by races which are non-Chinese,
and one at least of which, though nominally owing allegiance to
the Great Khan, is in reality independent. It was my fortune to be
stationed in Western China from 1882 to 1884, and, during these three
years, I was enabled, in the performance of my duties, to collect
information regarding the country and its people; and it is in the hope
that this information may not be unacceptable that I venture to lay
the following pages before the public.

Reports of the journeys which I made in Western China during the above
years have already appeared in the shape of Parliamentary Papers[A];
but, written as they were without any idea of publication and intended
as mere trade notes, strung together from day to day on the march, they
are not sufficiently connected to present a fair picture of this remote
region.

[A] China, No. 1 (1883); China, No. 2 (1884); and China, No. 2 (1885).

That part of Western China, with which I am personally acquainted and
with which I propose to deal, lies to the south, and embraces the
provinces of Ssŭ-ch’uan, Kuei-chow and Yün-nan, which, interesting in
themselves, have become of considerable importance since the extension
of the Indian Empire to the frontier of China and the absorption of
Tonquin by the French.

[Sidenote: _THE WAY THITHER._]

The great highway to the West is the River Yang-tsze. By the Agreement
of Chefoo of September, 1876, the port of Ichang, situated on the
north bank of the Yang-tsze about a thousand miles from the sea, was
opened to foreign trade and foreign steam navigation; and, by the
same Agreement, the residence of a Consular Officer at the city of
Ch’ung-k’ing, in Ssŭ-ch’uan, to watch the conditions of British trade,
was provided for. It was to take up this post that I left Wuhu towards
the end of October, 1881. On arrival at Hankow, I discovered that the
steamer, which had for some years been employed to run to Ichang, was
undergoing extensive repairs at Shanghai, to better fit her for the
navigation of the Upper Yang-tsze, and that another and larger steamer
belonging to the same Company had just returned from Ichang with little
hope, owing to the sudden fall of the river, of being then able to make
another trip. A large quantity of cargo, however, which had accumulated
at Hankow, induced the Company, much against the captain’s will, to
send the steamer forward again; but, drawing only nine feet, she was
unable, after a day’s journey, to push her way through six feet of sand
and water, and had to return. After about a month’s delay, the smaller
steamer arrived at Hankow, and, laden to six feet, reached Ichang
with considerable difficulty on the 17th of December, the trip having
occupied eight days. On this section of the river, navigation commences
at daybreak, and, unless there is good moonlight, ceases at dark.
Owing to the shifting sands, which constitute the bed of the river,
the channel is constantly changing, and it is not uncommon to find the
passage, which the steamer took on the up passage, completely barred on
the down trip. The consequence is that soundings have constantly to be
taken, and delay is the result. This refers to the winter months only,
when the river is low, as, during high water, little difficulty exists,
and the distance has been covered in fifty hours.

The selection of Ichang as an open port has frequently been called in
question, and it has been pointed out that Sha-shih, a town farther
down the river and one of the six calling stations for steamers, would
have been a preferable choice. Much may be said for Sha-shih, which is
the principal terminus of the junk traffic between Ssŭ-ch’uan and the
eastern provinces of China, but statistics clearly prove that Ichang
has after all been a success. Although it is neither a producing nor a
consuming district of any importance itself, the net value of the trade
which has gravitated towards it has risen from £18,000 in 1878 to over
£1,000,000 in 1888. This, it should be remembered, represents the trade
in vessels of foreign build only.

After a few days bargaining at Ichang--passage by steamer being no
longer available--I succeeded in hiring a native passenger-boat to
convey myself, servants, and baggage the four hundred miles that still
lay between me and my destination for the exorbitant sum of one hundred
and eighty taels, or forty-five pounds. A larger sum was at first
demanded, and, there being only two or three boats of this class in
port, whose owners combined to “squeeze” me, I was ultimately obliged
to pay about a third more than the customary price. Travelling boats
on the Upper Yang-tsze are, as a rule, very roomy and comfortable.
They can usually be divided off into as many as four or five small
rooms by wooden partitions; and, travelling as I was in winter, I had
a stove fitted up, regulating the temperature by the windows which run
along the sides of what is really an oblong house placed on the boat’s
deck. In a good boat, the roof is over six feet in height, so that one
can walk about comfortably from end to end. A mast is shipped right
in front of and against the deckhouse, and this is utilized both for
sailing and tracking--the tracking line running through a noose fixed
near the top. In front of the mast is a broad deck, contracting towards
the bows, accommodating from ten to a dozen rowers, and convertible at
night into sleeping quarters for the crew. Over a well in the bows, and
attachable to the deck by a noose, hangs a long heavy spar by which the
boat can be speedily steered in any required direction--an absolute
necessity where, tracking being carried on, sunken rocks close in-shore
have to be avoided, or the tracking line gives way in a strong current.

[Sidenote: _SKIPPER AND CREW._]

In the agreement entered into between the skipper of the boat and
myself, it was stipulated that there should be seven of a crew and
fifteen trackers. The crew consisted of the skipper, the bowsman or
pilot, who stood at the bows all day long and sounded continually with
a long iron-shod bamboo, the steersman, three deck hands, and the cook,
who exercised his culinary art in a primitive kitchen constructed in an
opening in the deck near the bows.

[Sidenote: _AN AMUSING EPISODE._]

The skipper, being a confirmed opium-smoker, proved of little use; and
it was not until the second night from Ichang that I discovered his
smoking propensities. I lay with my head towards the bows and, being
awakened during the night by someone crying, I saw a light shining
through the chinks of the partitions. On calling my servant to see what
was the matter, I learned that the light was the light of an opium
lamp, and that the wife of the skipper was crying because her husband
would not come to bed. I got up and found him lying at full length
alongside his lamp. I bundled him into the little room which he, his
wife, and two children occupied over the stern, and blew out his lamp.

After this episode, the smoking was never carried on in any place
likely to attract my attention, although the sickening odour frequently
penetrated to my rooms from deck and stern, several of the crew
being also addicted to the drug. I had repeated conversations with
the skipper as to the craving he had contracted; and, one morning, I
overtook him on shore walking rapidly and in rather an excited state. I
asked him what was the matter, and he replied that the weather was so
cold that it was necessary to lay in a supply of coal at once, and that
in order not to delay the boat, he was hurrying to the next village to
make the purchase. I left him there and continued my walk.

On boarding the boat above the village, I asked my servant where the
coals had been stowed, when, to my surprise, he told me that no coals
had come aboard, but that the skipper had laid in a fresh supply of
opium, that his stock had been exhausted over night, and that he had
been dying all morning for a smoke! He fought shy of me for several
days after this, knowing that his tampering with the truth had been
discovered. Smoking had reduced him to such a state that he had really
no command over the boat or crew; when an accident happened--an event
of common occurrence--he used to crawl on to the top of the deckhouse
and find fault in a querulous voice, which was quickly suppressed by
the bowsman telling him to mind his own business. When high words
ensued, the cook, in addition to his own special functions, assumed the
part of mediator, and used to groan and plead for silence after each
explosion. When the trackers were on shore and the other hands were
all busy on deck, it likewise devolved on the cook to jump from his
lair and signal the trackers, who were nearly always out of calling
distance, by beating the small drum which lay at the foot of the mast.
The bickerings between the skipper and his crew sometimes reached a
climax. On one occasion, after dancing an angry jig on the roof of the
deckhouse to a stormy vocal accompaniment, he scrambled on deck and was
proceeding on shore to continue his harangue from _terra firma_, when
the plank gave way and he disappeared amid the boisterous laughter of
the crew, quickly reappearing like a drowned rat, and thoroughly cooled
for the rest of the day.

The trackers, too, deserve a word of mention. They were, with the
exception of the musician and the diver, almost all lithe young
fellows, always willing to jump on shore, never spending more than a
quarter of an hour over their rice and vegetables, and never out of
temper. The musician and the diver were somewhat aged. When there was
no tracking ground, and the oars had to be called into requisition,
the former used to sing his boat songs, the whole crew joining loudly
in the choruses, the echoes reverberating from cliff to cliff in the
gorges. If the tracking line got entangled among the rocks off the
shore, the diver would doff everything, slip overboard, and swim to
the rescue. I pitied this individual very much; he used to scramble
on board chattering with cold, and had no sooner got warm than his
services were again in demand. The boat was always moored before
dark, and, until supper was ready, the crew were busy rigging up the
roof-mats to form their night quarters. Then the beds with their coir
mattresses were produced from under the deck; and, with the exception
of two or three opium-smokers, these hard-working fellows dropped off
into well-earned sleep until daybreak, when the same round of toil
awaited them.

Such was the boat and crew with which I ascended from Ichang into
Western China, reaching Ch’ung-k’ing on the 24th of January, 1882,
after a passage of a month. It is unnecessary for me to describe this
journey in detail. Blakiston, Gill, Little, and others have given their
experiences; they have painted living pictures of the grand, majestic
gorges; they have brought the world within earshot of the hissing,
seething rapids; and it only remains for me to say a few words on a
subject which has of late years received no little attention--the
navigability of the Upper Yang-tsze by steamers. The question is about
to be put to the test in accordance with clauses in the Agreement of
Chefoo, which state that “British merchants will not be allowed to
reside at Ch’ung-k’ing, or to open establishments or warehouses there,
so long as no steamers have access to the port. When steamers have
succeeded in ascending the river so far, further arrangements can be
taken into consideration.”

[Sidenote: _NAVIGABILITY OF THE YANG-TSZE._]

Ever since I ascended the Upper Yang-tsze, I have not ceased, both in
China and England, to advocate the advisability, from a commercial
point of view, of steamers attempting the navigation of these waters.
Difficulties have been pointed out, but I have endeavoured to show
that these have been greatly exaggerated; and the “Upper Yang-tsze
Steam Navigation Company,” lately formed, would appear to be of like
mind. The obstacles that exist lie between Ichang and the Ssŭ-ch’uan
frontier, a distance of about one hundred miles: beyond the frontier,
all is plain sailing, not only as far as Ch’ung-k’ing but even to
Hsü-chou Fu, some two hundred miles further west. They consist of a
series of rapids, which prove very trying to native craft when the
river is low, that is, from the middle of November to the middle of
March or a little later--the very time when junks are best able to
ascend; as, during the rest of the year, the increased volume of
water, although obliterating the rapids altogether, flows with a
strong current, which renders tracking very difficult and frequently
impossible.

[Sidenote: _THE CH’ING T’AN RAPID._]

The season, then, that proves all but impossible for junks is the very
season when steamers could run, and _vice versâ_. During low water,
there is, in my opinion, one, and only one, insuperable obstacle to a
steamer--the Ch’ing T’an Rapid, the first serious rapid above Ichang.
It lies at the eastern entrance of the Mi-tsang or “Granary” Gorge.
When I passed down in the end of December, 1884, there were three
channels in the rapid--the chief or central channel never attempted
by ascending junks, and two side channels separated from the central
by masses of rock. The central was the only channel available for a
steamer, but it consisted of a clear fall of from six to eight feet.
The side channels were narrow, with a very much less volume of water
and fall. In ascending these, junks could be dragged over close to the
rocks, which would be impossible in the case of a steamer. In the
gorge itself, the current was very sluggish, and boats were passing
and re-passing just above the rapid. I stood a hundred yards to the
west of it, and saw junks disappearing one after the other. As their
masts are always unshipped in the down passage, they seemed to me to
be passing with their human freight into eternity. The strange sight
insensibly drew me to the rapid itself, and I stood facing it to watch
the movements of my own boat. It was pulled out into mid-stream, and
allowed to float stern down until about to enter the rapid, when it
was gently wheeled round and drawn into the fall. It is difficult to
describe what happened next: a sudden plunge, considerable confusion
on board, the junk herself floating helplessly stern down stream, the
skipper on the roof of the deck-house frantically waving his arms, one
of the three lifeboats, which are always stationed below the rapid,
approaching the boat and then rescuing the crew, the deserted junk
making for the scattered rocks which jut out from the right bank at
the second rapid two hundred yards below the fall, its safe passage
through the rocks and rapid, its salvage by our accompanying gunboat,
all presented a picture which will never be effaced from my memory.
The cause of the accident was thus described to me. In shooting the
rapid, several of the crew lost their heads and their oars, and the
others, unable to keep the bows down river or to control the boat, and
being afraid that she would be dashed against the rocks at the second
rapid, called for the lifeboat and abandoned her. Such accidents are
of frequent occurrence, and are very often accompanied with damage,
wreck, and loss of life. We were lucky in being able to continue our
journey after a couple of hours’ delay.

I have described the descent of the Ch’ing T’an Rapid in this place, in
order to show the different phases which it presents at the same season
in different years, for when I ascended it on almost the same day
(December 29th) in 1881, not a rock was visible above water, and we had
little difficulty, with the aid of some fifty additional trackers, in
being dragged over it. Were this rapid a race, as it is not, I should
have more hesitation in describing it as insuperable for a steamer
during low water; but I consider it extremely doubtful whether the
slow fall would be sufficiently powerful to raise a steamer’s bows off
the sunken rocks. It has been said that, if the Upper Yang-tsze were
navigated by steam, collisions would be of frequent occurrence, but not
more so than in the section between Hankow and Ichang. In ascending,
junks are tracked as close to the banks as possible, while in
descending, they keep to the middle of the river. In fact, collisions
should be of rare occurrence. West of the Ch’ing T’an Rapid, there is
nothing to interfere with the ascent of a steamer for more than five
hundred miles.

It was during my daily rambles along the banks of the river, that I
first made acquaintance with the poppy of commerce. Before entering the
province of Ssŭ-ch’uan, I spoke to the boatmen, and asked them to tell
me as soon as they saw the plant growing; and from Wan Hsien westwards
to Ch’ung-k’ing there was one continuous yell of _Ya-pien-yen_, which
means the opium! It shared the banks of the river with wheat, peas,
and beans. The spikelets were from four to five inches above ground,
and little did I think, when I looked at these tiny plants, that it
would be my lot at no distant date to wander through hundreds of
miles of beautiful poppy flowers. On arrival at the district city of
Yün-yang, I visited the picturesque temple that peeps through the dense
foliage which clings to the steep sides of the hill forming the right
bank of the river; and, in course of conversation with the head priest,
I remarked that there seemed to be less poppy here than farther east.
Raising his hand and pointing to the opposite hills, he replied, “There
is nothing but poppy beyond.”

[Sidenote: _THE CITY OF CH’UNG-K’ING._]

The city of Ch’ung-k’ing, in lat. 29° 33′ 50″ N. and long. 107° 2′
E., occupies the apex of the peninsula caused by the attempt of the
Yang-tsze on its north bank to pierce the sandstone cliffs under the
little walled town of Fu-t’ou-Kuan, and join its turbid waters with
the clear flow of the Chia-ling Chiang some four miles from the actual
junction of the two rivers. It is built on a slope which extends from
hill-tops overlooking the Chia-ling to the bed of the Yang-tsze.
Outside the walls there are no suburbs of any importance. A bird’s-eye
view from the opposite hills shows that there is scarcely a patch of
ground which is not built upon. One or two plots of vegetables inside
the north-west corner of the wall, and a few trees here and there,
are the only exceptions to the grey mass of buildings clinging firmly
to the hill-side. It contains a population estimated at some 200,000
souls, and may be described as the commercial metropolis of Western
China. This was the spot chosen for the residence of a Consular
Officer, to watch the conditions of British trade in Ssŭ-ch’uan; and
it was here that I took up residence in January, 1882. I do not intend
to weary my readers with trade statistics; those who are interested in
commerce will find some of the results of my enquiries and observations
in a subsequent chapter specially devoted to that subject. What I
propose to do is to carry them with me in my wanderings through Western
China, with Ch’ung-k’ing as a base, and endeavour to show them the
country and its people as they appeared to my eyes.




CHAPTER II.

CH’UNG-K’ING TO THE CAPITAL OF KUEI-CHOW.

    My overland caravan--Harvesting opium--Field-fishing--Wood-oil--The
    manufacture of paper--Salt carriers--Silk-worms and their
    food--Rice or Pith paper, and its manufacture--The Kuei-chow
    frontier--Minerals--First meeting with Miao-Tzŭ--Poetical
    description of Chinese inns--T’ung-tzŭ, its poppy valley and
    tunnelling--Ingenious bamboo water-wheels--Scant population
    amid ruins of fine houses--Coal-dust as fuel--The Wu Chiang
    river--Destruction of the iron suspension bridge--Northern
    Kuei-chow, a Miao-tzŭ graveyard--Opium-sodden inhabitants--The
    capital of the Province--An interview with the Governor of
    Kuei-chow.


[Sidenote: _MY OVERLAND CARAVAN._]

Having acquainted myself with my surroundings, perused the records left
by my predecessors, and gained an insight into the duties expected
of me, I resolved to make a journey into the provinces of Kuei-chow
and Yün-nan. To this end, I obtained a general passport from the
Viceroy of Ssŭ-ch’uan, and a special passport from the authorities of
Ch’ung-k’ing covering the ground to be traversed, and proceeded to
make arrangements for the trip. As the greater part of the journey
was to be made overland, it was necessary to organize a caravan of
chair-bearers and porters. However willing one may be to walk, Chinese
etiquette demands, in a civil official, the presence of a sedan; and,
in visiting the native authorities--a part of my programme--a chair
is a _sine quâ non_. Ch’ung-k’ing being well supplied with chair
_hongs_ or establishments, I had no difficulty in collecting about a
score of coolies to accompany me to Yün-nan and back. This included a
headman, whose duty it was to maintain order, and supply the places of
those who, from sickness or other causes, might fall out on the march.
The terms were three hundred large copper cash per man per day, two
hundred to be paid while travelling, the balance to be handed over on
our return to Ch’ung-k’ing. On resting days, a sum of only one hundred
large cash was payable. A contract to this effect was duly drawn up and
signed, and it only remained to adjust the loads and assign the men
their respective places.

Cash being the only currency in China, I had to take with me a large
supply of silver ingots, each of the value of about ten taels or
Chinese ounces, which had to be sliced, weighed, and exchanged _en
route_. This is one of the many annoyances of Chinese travel, as each
place has its own weights and its own exchange. For example, when I
left Ch’ung-k’ing a tael was worth 1,480 large cash; further south
it was equivalent to only 1,200, while on one occasion in Yün-nan it
rose to 1,580 cash. The risk of carrying silver could not, however,
be avoided, for it would have required the services of all my men at
starting to lift the equivalent in cash of the silver necessary to pay
their wages for the journey, not including the balance to be handed
over to them on our return.

Rice and vegetables, supplemented occasionally by a little fish, or
pork and sauce, constitute the daily food of the Chinese; but they do
not commend themselves to the European palate. To ensure a fair measure
of comfort, therefore, I took with me some tinned provisions, to be
broached as necessity demanded.

April the 19th was the day fixed for our departure, and at daylight we
groped our way through the mist which, in Spring, hangs continually
over the city, and descended to the Great River--the local name of
the Yang-tsze--across which we were ferried in a couple of large
flat-bottomed boats. The river at this point is about eight hundred
yards in breadth, and flows with a current of from four to five knots.
The most conspicuous objects on the south or right bank, which consists
of a range of hills from seven to eight hundred feet in height, are
the temple of Lao-chün Tung, nestling amidst a grove of trees, and
Blakiston’s “Pinnacle Pagoda,” crowning the highest peak of the range.
The high-road to Kuei-chow winds up the bank between them, and, after
a slight descent, enters a limestone valley beyond. The bank itself is
composed of coal and lime, both of which were being quarried for use in
Ch’ung-k’ing.

[Sidenote: _HARVESTING OPIUM._]

In this valley, which extends for miles, I first made acquaintance with
the poppy in full bloom. Fields of white and purple equalled in number
the patches of wheat, barley, and rape. Where the flowers had fallen,
the peasants, principally women and children, were busy harvesting
the juice. The tools used in the operation are simple but effective.
Towards evening, the peasants may be seen moving in the poppy fields,
each armed with a short wooden handle, from one of the ends of which
protrude three and sometimes four points of brass or copper blades,
firmly inserted in the wood. Seizing a capsule with the left hand,
the operator, with his right hand, inserts the points of the blades
near the top of the capsule, and draws them downwards to the stem of
the plant. From the incisions thus made a creamy juice exudes, which
gradually becomes of a dark brown colour. This is scraped off in the
early morning by means of a short curved knife, and deposited in an
earthenware bowl, the contents of which are afterwards fired or left in
the sun to dry. In this way, the weight is reduced about one half, and
the opium is then ready for boiling. The whole process is simple, and
may be accomplished by the women and children of the family, thereby
permitting the more able-bodied to attend to the other farm duties,
thus reducing the price of labour and consequently the cost of the
drug. The bleeding of the capsule is continued until the flow of juice
is exhausted.

The remainder of the valley was occupied by rice fields, submerged
in preparation for the summer sowing. Sometimes they are allowed to
soak for months, their surfaces being frequently covered with floating
water-plants, which are afterwards utilized as manure. They are
likewise stocked with fish; in the early spring, reeds and rank grass
are cut from the hill sides and made up into small bundles, which are
then strung on bamboos, laid down in shallow water in the Yang-tsze,
and weighted with stones. Here the fish spawn, and the ova adhere to
the grass and reeds, which are then taken up and sold. The grass is
afterwards scattered in the higher fields, between which and the lower,
water-communication is kept up by digging small outlets, which can
easily be filled up at a moment’s notice. Here the ova are hatched, and
good fishing may be had after a few months.

The _modus operandi_ deserves a short description. Neither line nor
hook is used, the requisite gear consisting of a long bamboo and a
round wicker basket, open at the bottom with a hole at the top. The
fisherman wades into the field, the water usually reaching to the knee;
grasping the bamboo in his right, he sweeps the surface of the water
in front of him with a semicircular motion until a silver streak and a
dash into the mud meet his eye, when he plunges forward and caps the
spot with the basket which he has been carrying in his left hand. He
then gropes for his prey through the basket, and is, I may say, rarely
at fault. The fish--some six inches long--is then tossed over the
shoulder into a smaller basket strapped to the back, and the farmer
recommences his field-fishing.

The wood-oil tree--_Aleurites cordata, M. Arg._--was scattered about
among the fields. It seems to prefer thin-soiled, rocky ground, being
met with in great abundance on the banks of the Yang-tsze west of
Ichang. It grows to a height of about fifteen feet, and has large,
beautiful, shady green leaves, which were lighted up as we passed
with bunches of small pink-white flowers. It produces a large green
fruit like an apple, the large pips or seeds of which contain the
oil for which the tree is famous. The fruit is gathered in August
and September. Primitive wooden presses with wedges are used for
extracting the oil, which is sent to market in wooden tubs with
tight-fitting lids, and is employed for a variety of purposes, such as
the manufacture of paint, varnish, waterproof paper, umbrellas, as well
as for lighting. The seeds, if eaten, cause nausea and vomiting.

[Sidenote: _THE MANUFACTURE OF PAPER._]

Between Ch’ung-k’ing and Ch’i-chiang Hsien, the first city of any
importance on the southern road to Kuei-chow, there are a number of
factories for the manufacture of the ordinary coarse Chinese paper.
Here, too, the process is exceedingly simple. There is an entire
absence of machinery for washing and shredding rags; there are no
troughs of pulp, chemicals for bleaching, resin for watering, wire
moulds for receiving, and drums for firming the paper as it comes from
the pulp-troughs. Bamboo stems and paddy straw are steeped with lime
in deep concrete pits in the open air, and allowed to soak for months.
When nothing but the fibre remains, it is taken out and rolled with a
heavy stone roller in a stone well until all the lime has been removed.
A small quantity of the fibre is placed in a stone trough full of water
and the whole stirred up. A close bamboo mould is then passed through
the mixed fibre and water, and the film which adheres to it emerges as
a sheet of paper, which is stuck up to dry on the walls of a room kept
at a high temperature. The sheets are afterwards collected and made up
into bundles for market.

Ch’i-chiang Hsien is a city somewhat irregularly built along the foot
and on the slope of a hill which rises from the left bank of a river,
a tributary of the Yang-tsze and bearing the city’s name. It is of very
considerable importance as a trade depôt for north-eastern Kuei-chow,
and, being in water communication with the Yang-tsze, it is a valuable
inlet for the Ssŭ-ch’uan salt trade with that province. Kuei-chow,
unlike Ssŭ-ch’uan and Yün-nan, is unprovided with salt wells within
its borders, at least they have not yet been discovered, and the Lu
Chou junks have their terminus at Ch’i-chiang, whence the mineral is
distributed on the backs of bipeds.

This latter was to me a painful sight. Men and boys (children, I should
rather say, many of them being not more than eight years of age)
staggered on with enormous loads of cake salt packed in small creels
and on wooden frameworks projecting above them. Walking in Indian file
along the pathway that served as a road, they halted every few yards,
resting their loads on a crutch which each carried in his hand, and,
uttering that half whistle, half sigh, which proclaims the body’s utter
weariness and its gratitude for a moment’s relief, scraped from their
brows and faces, by a ring of split bamboo attached to the load by a
string, the sweat that literally gushed from them. Of a surety they
earn their bread by the sweat of their brow!

One expecting to find amongst such men a splendid development of muscle
would be sadly disappointed. Like the brick-tea carriers on their way
to Tibet, of whom I shall have occasion to speak hereafter, they were
painfully wanting in leg. Yet the maximum load is about two hundred
and forty pounds. For carrying the salt the distance of one hundred
miles between Ch’i-chiang and T’ung-tzŭ, the first district city across
the Kuei-chow border, they were paid at the rate of ten cash a catty,
or one and a third pounds. As the journey occupied them ten days, and
the return, empty-handed except for their wages in cash, two days, the
strongest man earned not more than sixpence a day. But rice and lodging
are cheap, and they are more or less happy at the end of each day’s
weary toil.

[Sidenote: _SILKWORMS AND THEIR FOOD._]

The hills around Ch’i-chiang were thickly clad with scrub-oak, on
the leaves of which silkworms had been placed to feed. In Ssŭ-ch’uan
sericulture is a most important industry; every homestead, where
mulberry leaves are procurable, is engaged in it. Small market-towns
are thickly dotted over the whole province, and at each place a market
is held every five days. Thither agents resort and buy up cocoons and
opium at their respective seasons. Besides the mulberry and the oak,
the leaves of the _Cudrania triloba, Hance_, are much in demand
for feeding the young worms; and near Chia-ting, the very centre of
silk culture in Ssŭ-ch’uan, I was informed that these leaves are
particularly suited to the infant palate, and that the silk produced
from this diet is superior in quantity and quality. Frequently have
I seen small wooden tubs filled with white and yellow cocoons--the
produce of a single little homestead--exposed by the roadside for sale.
The duty of nursing, rearing and feeding the worms and of collecting
their food devolves on the women and children, the former hastening the
hatching of the eggs by wearing them in their breasts.

South of Ch’i-chiang, the wood-oil tree was very abundant, and banyan
and pumelo trees were dotted about here and there; firs, cypresses,
palms, bamboos, and the mulberry were also to be seen. Of growing
crops, wheat, beans, and hemp--_Abutilon avicennae Gaert._--were
conspicuous. The small patches of land, into which Chinese crofts are
divided, give ample scope for careful agriculture. It is, I believe, an
established fact that wheat planted at intervals of from nine to twelve
inches produces a heavier crop than wheat sown broadcast. By planting,
which is here and in China generally the rule, not only is seed saved
but sufficient room is given for tillering, whereas in sowing, the
intervals are irregular and tillering is cramped. The wild rose,
honeysuckle, and strawberry crept along our path.

It was on leaving Ch’i-chiang on the morning of the 22nd of April
that my attention was arrested by a large white bundle on two legs
approaching the city. As it neared us, it developed into what appeared
to be a huge mass of long white candles half enveloping a human being,
and rising four feet above where, under ordinary circumstances, the
individual’s head ought to be. Questioning the bundle, I discovered
from a series of sounds that issued from its centre that it was the
pith from which the far-famed “rice” paper is manufactured. It is the
pith of the large-leaved bush-like _Fatsia papyrifera, Benth._ and
_Hook._, which grows luxuriantly in the province of Kuei-chow, whence
it is brought to Ch’ung-k’ing to be made into sheets. The plant also
grows in Ssŭ-ch’uan, but the stems are not so fully developed as those
produced in the more southern province. I may as well now describe the
process of manufacture, and save my readers a further reference to the
subject.

[Sidenote: _THE PITH WORKER._]

On my return to Ch’ung-k’ing from the journey now described, I was
invited to visit a worker in pith after nightfall. Although somewhat
surprised at the hour named, I accepted the invitation. On arrival,
I was ushered into a badly lighted room, where a man was sitting at
a table with his tools in front of him. These consisted of a smooth
stone, about a foot square and an inch and a half thick, and a large
knife or hatchet with a short wooden handle. The blade was about a
foot long, two inches broad, and nearly half an inch thick at the
back. It was sharp as a razor. Placing a piece of round pith on the
stone and his left hand on the top, he rolled the pith backwards and
forwards for a moment until he got it into the required position.
Then, seizing the knife with his right hand, he held the edge of the
blade, after a feint or two, close to the pith, which he kept rolling
to the left with his left hand until nothing remained to roll; for the
pith had, by the application of the knife, been pared into a square
white sheet of uniform thickness. All that remained to be done was to
square the edges. If the reader will roll up a sheet of paper, lay it
on the table, place the left hand on the top, and gently unroll it to
the left, he will have a good idea of how the feat was accomplished.
It seemed so easy that I determined to have a trial. Posing as a
professional worker, I succeeded in hacking the pith, and in nearly
maiming myself for life. A steady hand and a keen eye are required
for the work, and hence it is that the so-called “rice” paper is
manufactured only at night, when the city is asleep and the makers are
not liable to be disturbed.

The third day from Ch’i-chiang brought us to the Kuei-chow frontier,
the road following for the most part the banks of the Ch’i-chiang
River. Coal and iron are here found in abundance, and the market town
of Kan-shui, which lies within the Ssŭ-ch’uan border, is famed for the
manufacture of the iron pans, without one of which no house can be
looked upon as properly furnished. Copper is also found at no great
distance, and specimens of the ore, which I forwarded to Shanghai for
analysis, contained thirty per cent. of metal.

It was near the Kuei-chow border that I first came in contact with
the Miao-tzŭ, the aboriginal inhabitants of that province. I was
sauntering along in front of my followers when, at a bend in the road,
I was suddenly confronted by a couple of neatly-dressed figures which
turned out to be two Miao-tzŭ girls, about fourteen and sixteen years
of age as far as I could guess, arrayed in short jackets and kilts of
a greyish-black woollen material, with turbans to match. They were
very good looking, and, although somewhat coy, did not show that
abject terror which, under similar circumstances, would have betrayed
the Chinese female. With heads erect and black eyes lighted up with
astonishment, they passed me by with no uncertain gait. Although the
Miao-Tzŭ are generally supposed to be confined to Kuei-chow, not a
few families are settled in this corner of Ssŭ-ch’uan. Those who are
interested in this people will find another chapter specially devoted
to them.

[Sidenote: _CHINESE INNS._]

Seas of bare rocky mountains met my eyes as I sat on the borders
of Ssŭ-ch’uan and Kuei-chow, and gazed southwards. It was like a
transformation scene. From smiling fields of poppy, wheat, and beans,
we were suddenly brought face to face with hill-side patches of the
same crops sadly stunted. The poppy, which to the north was being bled,
had not even burst into flower, and the scanty soil looked barren and
profitless. The rich valleys were still invisible, and the prospect
was very depressing; nor was the feeling in the least minimised by the
appearance of our lodgings for the night. So bad were they, indeed,
that I had to ask the local authority of Sung-k’an whether he could not
find me more decent quarters. Another room was hunted up, but I failed
to discover any great improvement. I have occupied hundreds of Chinese
inns in the course of my travels, and I think that, on the whole, a
Chinaman’s own description which I found written on the wall of a room
which I once tenanted in Ssŭ-ch’uan, errs on the side of leniency. In
English garb it runs thus--

    “Within this room you’ll find the rats
      At least a goodly score,
    Three catties each they’re bound to weigh,
      Or e’en a little more;
    At night you’ll find a myriad bugs
      That stink and crawl and bite;
    If doubtful of the truth of this,
      Get up and strike a light.”

It must have been the poet’s up-bringing or his being overpowered by
other ills that prevented him from finishing the work so well begun.
Let me endeavour to complete the picture--

    Within, without, vile odours dense
      Assail the unwary nose;
    Behind, the grunter squeaks and squeals
      And baffles all repose;
    Add clouds of tiny, buzzing things,
      Mosquitoes--if you please;
    And if the sum is not enough,
      Why, bless me, there are fleas.

[Sidenote: _BAMBOO WATER-WHEELS._]

To reach T’ung-tzŭ, a range of mountains over three thousand feet high
had to be crossed. The summit was dotted with smooth, hollowed-out,
limestone rocks, between which the scanty soil was being turned over by
the peasants. On the south side of the range, a narrow valley, about
nine miles in length, down which flows a stream, leads to the district
city. As the latter is approached, the valley expands from a quarter
to half a mile in breadth, and runs with the stream for another five
miles until it is blocked by a low range of hills, through which the
stream finds its way by a series of caverns. In the narrower part of
the valley, I noticed a very ingenious contrivance for irrigating the
fields. The stream flows about ten feet below the surrounding plots,
and drains instead of watering them. To utilize it, a large light
bamboo wheel, from forty to fifty feet in circumference, and two feet
thick, was erected. Layers of split bamboo were inserted at short
intervals in the outside edge as float-boards, and the water rushing
against them caused the wheel to revolve. Short bamboos closed at
the outer end were fixed on the rim at a slight angle. As the wheel
revolved, these bamboos were immersed and filled with water, and on
reaching the top poured their contents into a wooden trough raised
nearly to the height of the wheel. Bamboo pipes led the water from the
trough to the fields requiring irrigation. No care was required, and
wheel after wheel was doing its work silently and alone.

Rice is hulled by a somewhat similar process. An ordinary water-wheel
is fitted with a long axle, through the centre of which two planks
at either side of the wheel are inserted at right angles and project
several feet. As the wheel revolves, the planks descend, catch,
depress, and release a lever, the far end of which is weighted with a
heavy blunt stone about two feet long. When the lever is released, the
stone descends and plunges into a hollow, usually lined with concrete,
into which the paddy is placed. By a single revolution of the wheel the
lever is depressed and released four times and, when the hulling is
completed, the lever can be drawn aside and the contents of the hole
removed and winnowed.

I took advantage of a day’s rest at T’ung-tzŭ to follow up the stream
to the point where it enters the range of hills. The whole valley and
the hill-sides were one mass of poppies in full bloom--white, mauve,
and white tipped with pink being the chief colours. The capsules were
less rounded, but more elongated than those of the Ssŭ-ch’uan plant.
The Ku-lu, as the stream is called, enters the hill by three caverns,
emerges through a single cavern some distance beyond, crosses another
valley a few hundred yards in breadth and at right angles to the
T’ung-tzŭ valley, again enters the hills and, after leaving by another
single cavern, discharges itself into the Ch’ih-shui River. As might
naturally be expected, both valleys are liable to inundation during the
rainy season and, at the time of my visit, an attempt was being made to
cut a tunnel behind the first range and induce the surplus waters to
seek a nearer passage to the larger river. A mile of tunnel had already
been completed, but a part had fallen in and hindered the progress
of the work. As it seemed to me, the passage through the first range
must always be liable to be choked by an increase in the volume of the
stream and by floating débris, and little would appear to have been
accomplished beyond scattering to the winds £10,000 to £12,000, and
giving employment to a large number of men.

There is little of interest to attract the eye of the traveller
between T’ung-tzŭ and Tsun-i Fu, the next city of any importance
on the way to the provincial capital. The road runs over hills and
through valleys, past coal mines and through poppy-fields, until a
few miles north of the city the country opens out and shows the usual
crops. The population, as everywhere in Kuei-chow, is scant; and if
a field is wanted to relieve the congested provinces of the Empire,
Kuei-chow and Yün-nan can easily accommodate millions, and feel all
the better for the increase. With the exception of the Miao-tzŭ, who
have been driven into the south of Kuei-chow, the inhabitants consist
of immigrants from Ssŭ-ch’uan, Hupeh and Hunan, who, for the most
part, are satisfied with scratching small parts of the ground and
disposing of the opium which they themselves are unable to consume to
the eastern province of Hunan. A lazier set of people it would be hard
to find anywhere. The mountainous character of the country renders
overland transport excessively difficult, the consequence being that
the products of the soil are exceedingly cheap and living inexpensive.
Ruins of superior stone buildings are everywhere to be met with, but,
instead of repairing these, the inhabitants are content to raise wattle
and mud walls on the solid foundations, and turn the floors of the
superfluous houses into vegetable gardens. The Miao-tzŭ must, indeed,
have had a hot time of it. Where forests of oak once stood, only black
charred roots and columns of dressed granite now remain, to tell the
tale of a well-to-do Miao-tzŭ peasantry in hand to hand conflict with
better-armed opponents.

[Sidenote: _COAL-DUST AS FUEL._]

How to utilize coal-dust as fuel has always been a fruitful topic of
discussion where coal mines are worked. I notice that the most recent
invention in England is the admixture of pitch with the dust. Here and
elsewhere in China, clay is the ingredient used; and the mixture, after
being reduced to the necessary consistency by the addition of water,
is placed in moulds, whence it issues, about two pounds in weight, in
the shape of the base half of a cone, and is then exposed to the sun to
dry. This fuel is fairly tenacious, and will bear considerable rough
transit. From personal experience in Peking, I may add that ignition is
not a difficult matter, and that a powerful heat results.

The walls of Tsun-i, which we entered on the afternoon of the 29th
of April, are said to contain a population of 45,000 souls. It is
a manufacturing city. Wild silk, gathered from the scrub-oak in the
neighbourhood, is spun and woven into a coarse fabric, which is largely
exported through Ssŭ-ch’uan to the central and eastern provinces. It
is a peculiarity of Kuei-chow towns that there are no suburbs outside
the walls; but, when the struggles that have taken place within the
province and the consequent insecurity are considered, their absence is
not a matter for surprise.

About forty miles to the south of Tsun-i, we struck the left bank of
the Wu Chiang, which here flows with a swift current through a deep
limestone gorge in an east-north-east direction. Looking down into
the gorge, I could make out on the opposite bank a solid platform of
masonry, over which dangled a row of iron chains or rods into the
river. Descending through accumulations of building materials, we soon
reached a similar platform, where I discovered that a great catastrophe
had recently occurred. Seven months before our visit the chains or
hooked rods--each about a yard long--for supporting the roadway, had
been successfully stretched, built into the masonry on either side and
the ends fixed into the solid rock. The side suspension chains, which
were carried over stone turrets on either side of the piers, were
in process of being stretched, when the whole structure collapsed,
carrying with it a large number of workmen, many of whom were drowned
or fatally injured. Their graves are to be seen on the left bank of the
river. The turrets were all carried away, and nothing remained but the
piers, the severed chains, and many of the planks which had formed the
roadway. In manufacturing the chains, which was done on the spot--the
workshops were still standing--local iron, which appeared to be of an
inferior quality and to have been insufficiently malleated, had been
used. The bridge was rebuilt in the year of our visit (1882), but iron
from Yün-nan was employed.

[Sidenote: _THE KUNG-T’AN RIVER._]

The Wu Chiang, or, as it is called near its mouth, the Kung-t’an River,
after a course of about five hundred miles, enters the Yang-tsze at
the city of Fu Chou, seventy-two miles to the east of Ch’ung-k’ing.
Owing to rapids, it is unnavigable until it approaches the province of
Ssŭ-ch’uan; but even in its short navigable course of over a hundred
miles above its junction with the Yang-tsze it is an important trade
highway. By this route, north-eastern Kuei-chow is supplied with salt
from Ssŭ-ch’uan, sending in return gall-nuts and other minor products.
At one time it formed part of the great commercial highway between
Canton and Western China, which has practically ceased to exist since
the opening of the Yang-tsze to steam navigation.

A brief glance across the Wu Chiang warned me that there was no time
to tarry on the left bank, for the road could be seen zig-zagging
up a gulley on the opposite shore. Collecting our forces, which had
scattered on a tour of inspection, we descended to the river, a stream
sixty yards in breadth, and were ferried across by detachments in a
rickety old boat. A weary climb of two hours, past disused iron mines
overgrown with brushwood, brought us to the Kuan-ai Customs barrier,
perched on the summit of the range. Beyond the barrier we obtained a
splendid view of the country to the south; barren, treeless peaks,
on the same level as ourselves--three to four thousand feet--lay
before us, cheerless, uninhabited, lifeless. What a picture! Where are
the Miao-tzŭ that used to till these fields and tend their herds on
the mountain sides? They were butchered and their bones are rotting
underneath. Northern Kuei-chow is a huge graveyard, with no monuments
to mark the fierce struggle against extortion and oppression, of rude
weapons against foreign arms of precision. Justice is a fine thing to
talk about and inculcate, but a hard thing to practise.

[Sidenote: _ARRIVAL AT KUEI-YANG._]

Three miles from the river my followers clamoured for a day’s rest.
Although only a three days’ journey from Kuei-yang, the capital of
the province, where I proposed to make a short stay, I was compelled
to accede to their request. Twenty miles may seem a poor day’s work;
but my readers should bear in mind that roads, in the proper sense
of the word, do not exist, and that the mountain paths which we have
been travelling have been sadly neglected. During the whole of my time
in Kuei-chow I never once saw a cart, the entire trade--such as it
is--being conducted on the backs of bipeds and quadrupeds. A nearer
acquaintance with the country between the Wu Chiang and Kuei-yang
failed to leave on my mind a livelier impression than that derived from
the panorama of desolation as seen from the Kuan-ai barrier. During the
day here and there a hut or a poppy-patch was the only sign of human
existence, and at night came the miserable village full of lethargic
opium-sodden inhabitants.

Ten miles of grassy downs and fifteen miles of barren mountain sides
constitute the approach to the provincial capital. At the village,
which lies between, an escort of eight soldiers, two mounted officers,
and a host of runners from the Magistrate’s Yamên, awaited us to
protect me from the dangers of the wilderness. The occasional huts give
place to guard-houses, which would seem to imply that the country is
not so safe as it looks. Passing through an archway bridging the road
between two steep mountain peaks, where the officer at the receipt of
customs glared greedily at our caravan; and, rounding a mountain side,
we soon caught a glimpse of Kuei-yang lying in a plain far below us. On
the left is the graveyard of the city, its white stones like glittering
specks dotting the hill side. A white wall surrounds the town; and
numerous green trees rising above the house-tops were suggestive of
coolness and shade. But all is not gold that glitters, and there was
soon revealed to us an ordinary Chinese city containing the usual marks
of decay.

On the morning of the 6th of May--the day after our arrival--I spent
a very pleasant half-hour with the Governor of the province, who was
courtesy itself. His Excellency was deeply interested in the subject
of the navigation of the Upper Yang-tsze by steam, and showed complete
familiarity with the sayings of the Shanghai vernacular press. He
pressed me to stay a few days; but the heat was oppressive, and I
determined to push on to Yün-nan without delay. To His Excellency I
owe much; he was good enough to send orders along the route that I was
to be accommodated in the official rest-houses as much as possible, so
that I was enabled to get rid of the crowds which collect and gaze
with glassy eyes at the unfortunate foreigner. It is difficult to
satisfy a Chinese crowd; one may sit or stand before one’s room-door
in an inn for hours, yet the inquisitiveness remains unabated. Enter
the room, and every crack in the woodwork of the walls is occupied
by peering eyes, while the paper windows are quickly converted into
sieves by moistened finger-tips, and black glittering orbs are glued to
them. A boot deftly aimed gives momentary, but only momentary, relief.
Kuei-chow is not a chief sinner in this respect. In Western China,
Ssŭ-ch’uan undoubtedly takes the palm.

During the afternoon of my stay in Kuei-yang I made a flying
perambulation of the city. In the southern part, the shops were large
and apparently prosperous, and the streets, which were fairly broad,
were crowded. Foreign cottons brought from Hankow by way of the
Tung-t’ing Lake and the Yuan River were plentifully displayed. I shall
have occasion to refer again to this route, which was followed by the
unfortunate Margary on his way across China to Burmah.




CHAPTER III.

WESTWARD TO YÜN-NAN.

    White wax insects--Terrible hailstorm and its effects--Miao-tzŭ
    houses and women--An-shun Fu--Limestone cave--Pai-shui
    waterfall--Reception at Lang-t’ai T’ing--Lang-wang Mountain and
    the “Cave of the Spirits”--Caught in a thunderstorm--The pebbly
    strand of the Mao-k’ou River--Pack-animals and their treatment--The
    Yün-nan frontier--A cart at last--Exploring a cave--Underground
    rivers--Exceptional courtesy--Goître--Breeding ground of the
    Yün-nan pony--Trade route to Tonquin--Marching knee-deep in mud
    and water--Poverty of inhabitants--Queen’s birthday dinner in a
    back-yard--Chinese inquisitiveness--The Sung-ming Lake--A local
    escort--A glorious view--Yün-nan Fu.


On the morning of the 7th of May, we turned our faces westwards towards
the province of Yün-nan, the capital of which I hoped to reach before
the end of the month. Soon after leaving the west gate of Kuei-yang, we
met a number of carriers with long round baskets slung at the ends of
poles in the usual Chinese manner. The exceptional speed at which they
were going tempted me to examine their loads, and most unwillingly did
they submit, for they were bearing eastward to Hunan burdens of living
insects of great industrial value. They were white wax insects in their
scales, which had been collected in the An-shun prefecture further
west, packed in layers of trays to ensure a free current of air and
thus prevent their escape during their long journey. The lamps which
the owners, who accompanied the porters on foot, carried, told me that
the tiny insects were being hurried night and day to their destination.
The whole subject of white wax insects and their valuable product will
be found detailed in Chapter XI.

[Sidenote: _TERRIFIC HAILSTORM._]

Ten miles west of Kuei-yang is the main coal-field for supplying the
provincial capital with fuel. The road winds among and over low hills
untouched by the hoe of the peasant; rank grass and brushwood tell
the tale of a meagre population content to exist on the produce of
the narrow valleys--patches of barley or wheat, and poppy and rice in
their season. Beyond the hills, a valley leads to the district city of
Ch’ing-chên, and here a surprising sight met the eye. Up to the very
walls of the city stretched an immense poppy-field, the stems fresh
and erect, but hardly a capsule remaining. Here at last, thought I,
have the authorities in a fit of virtuous indignation advanced beyond
issuing proclamations laden with threats of punishment; here surely
must be a Magistrate who has a will of his own and the courage to carry
it into effect. Alas! I wronged him. ’Twas another celestial authority
that did the deed. On the night of the 2nd of May, a terrible hailstorm
burst over the district, destroying not only the growing crops but
even playing havoc within the walls. The streets were full of broken
tiles, many of the roofs having succumbed to the hailstones, which were
described to me as weighing as much as seven and even eight ounces. The
capsules, which were scattered on the ground, had all been collected
for the sake of the sweet cooking-oil which is obtained from the seed,
and of the cakes which are manufactured from the seed itself. Six miles
by six represented the area over which the hail had descended. The
stems and branches of the roadside trees, which were all but denuded of
leaves, looked as if they had been hacked with a blunt axe. Rapeseed,
beans, wheat, and barley, which were growing in scant patches to the
west of the city, were flattened with the ground.

In this part of the country, cultivation is confined to the
neighbourhood of towns and villages. The distance between Ch’ing-chên
and An-p’ing, the next district city, is twenty miles; and, if we
except the poppy which was growing abundantly near the latter, there
was no cultivation worthy of the name. Grass-covered plains, once
smiling fields, intercepted by curious conical hills partly clad with
brushwood and bracken, are happy hunting grounds for herds of tame
buffaloes. Truly, the land of the Miao-tzŭ was devastated, and its
inhabitants butchered and scattered. Poverty reigns along the highroad.
Three miles west of Ch’ing-chên, we stopped for breakfast at a hamlet
overlooking a tributary of the Wu Chiang. Neither chair nor table was
procurable; but they were hardly necessary, for it did not take long
to put away the remains of my dinner of the previous evening. Here I
found that the knowledge possessed by the local escorts is not above
suspicion. Sitting on the stone bridge which spans the stream just
mentioned, I asked them the name and destination of the latter; but I
failed to receive a satisfactory answer. One of the soldiers, however,
who volunteered the statement that the bridge on which I was sitting
had nine arches, was somewhat non-plussed to find, on being sent to
count, that it was two short of the number he gave.

An-p’ing has not yet recovered from the ravages of the civil war;
the walls are in a state of decay, and many of the houses which they
encircle are represented by heaps of ruins. The surrounding country is
almost entirely inhabited by Miao-tzŭ, whose hamlets are perched on
inaccessible hill-tops--stone refuges occupying the commanding heights.
When hard pressed, they drove their cattle into the latter for safety
and, sheltering themselves behind the walls, bade defiance to their
assailants.

The villages, through which the road passes between An-p’ing and
An-shun, are of a non-Chinese type. The walls of the houses are built
of loose stones and are very thick, the roofs being composed of broad
stone slabs. The inmates appeared to be of a degraded race, and have,
in all probability, a strain of Miao-tzŭ blood. The men were dressed in
sombre Chinese clothes, while the women were inclined to gaudy colours.

At one of these villages it was market day; herds of oxen, horses, and
pigs were on the ground, and the women, arrayed in all the colours of
the rainbow and ornamented with silver earrings, bangles and rings,
were hurrying in with baskets of eggs and vegetables. In the market
were four slender, sinewy Miao-tzŭ men, somewhat curiously dressed.
Black cloth bands encircled their foreheads, loose gowns of similar
material, fastened with girdles, covered them from neck to ankle, huge
silver earrings swung from their left ears and their feet were encased
in straw sandals. Bowls of opium were being hawked about the village,
and I was told that the Miao-tzŭ, although extensive cultivators of the
poppy, do not themselves smoke the drug.

[Sidenote: _AN SHUN-FU._]

An-shun is approached through a long valley, which contracts as the
city is neared. At the eastern end, the road, which is lined with
memorial stone archways, ascends a gentle slope--the graveyard of the
town--to the walls. From the gate we looked down into a broad street,
crowded with people engaged in business. On stalls at either side,
goods of all kinds were plentifully displayed, and the shops behind
them were large and apparently prosperous. Ponies laden with salt
jostled us in the gateway, and I found, on enquiry, that An-shun is
supplied with this necessity of life by way of the Yung-ning River,
which enters the Yang-tsze at the district city of Na-chi, and is the
most important trade highway to Western Kuei-chow. This route, which I
followed in 1883, will be found described in a subsequent chapter.

The main roads of China are each divided into stages, only one of which
can, with convenience and comfort to the traveller, be accomplished
in a day. The plan which I followed was invariably as follows. Rising
at daybreak, I had a cup of coffee or tea, pushed on to the first
hamlet or village, where we all breakfasted, travelled till noon when
we lunched at the most convenient spot, and arrived at the end of the
stage about four or five o’clock in the afternoon. Inns were not
always available during the day, and at our first halting place after
leaving An-shun, we took possession of a house which we shared with a
couple of carriers, who seemed to prefer a whiff of the opium pipe to
eating. On one occasion only, as far as I can recollect, was I refused
temporary lodgment, the inmates, as a rule, being only too willing to
shelter us for a few cash. As a matter of fact, they had little to
fear, for they had nothing to steal.

Chên-ning Chou, which was the end of the stage on the 10th of May, is
a poor city, built on a hill slope, and consists of one decent street
and a number of dilapidated thoroughfares. It lies at the western end
of a valley, which was filled with yellow wheat and barley, submerged
paddy-land, and poppy-fields. Our landlord told me that, previous
to the rebellion, the walls sheltered from seven to eight thousand
families, now, however, reduced to a thousand. A mile to the west of
Chên-ning we came upon a cave close to the highroad. It was formed of
a single limestone dome, which has been converted into a temple. To us
it presented the appearance of a poorhouse, for our entrance aroused a
crowd of squalid beggars, who had taken up their quarters in its cool
shade. They did not look as if they had a very close acquaintance with
the clear, limpid stream which flows through it and enters a limestone
hill fifty yards beyond. We were no longer the only travellers going
west; a number of men were carrying silver to Yün-nan to purchase
opium. The value of the drug, its small bulk and superiority, enable
it to be carried across the province of Kuei-chow to Hunan and other
provinces at a profit.

[Sidenote: _THE PAI-SHUI RIVER._]

The Pai-shui, or “White Water” river, spanned by a stone bridge of
five arches at the eastern end of the village of Huang-kuo-shu, goes
south to join the northern section of the Canton or West River. It is a
shallow stream thirty yards in breadth and forms a beautiful waterfall
in the rear of the village, creeping leisurely over the brown rocks and
falling about a hundred feet. In the temple of the “Dragon Prince” we
spread our mid-day meal, having had to fast since daybreak, the hamlets
on the road west of Chên-ning being unable to supply us even with a
single egg. A series of weary ascents and descents ultimately landed us
in the small village of P’o-kung, which had recently been the scene of
a conflagration. Ten days before our arrival it was all but consumed,
and the inhabitants were huddled together amidst its charred remains,
still wanting in courage or in funds to re-erect their homes.

Is there no level ground anywhere in the province of Kuei-chow? This
was the question that suggested itself to me as I gained the ridge
that rises to the west of P’o-kung. The answer lay ahead. Waves of
conical hills and mountain ranges beyond seemed to block the passage
to Yün-nan. Down and up, and down again, brought us to a valley,
extending for miles, at the far end of which rests the prosperous city
of Lang-t’ai T’ing, famous for the superiority of its opium. Some miles
from its walls we were met by two escorts, one sent by the Sub-prefect,
the other by the Colonel. As we approached, they dropped on their knees
and bade me welcome. The military escort, which was composed of five
soldiers armed with matchlocks and four with banners, had evidently
taken advantage of their excursion to do a little shooting. One man had
bagged half a dozen pigeons, and a bird of about the same size with a
perfect yellow plumage, which I failed to recognize. As every one is
aware, the Chinese do many things in a way the exact reverse of what we
consider right and proper. How should a soldier carry his musket? Is it
easier to carry the stock or the barrel over the shoulder? My escort
preferred to handle the barrel.

On arrival at Lang-t’ai, the Colonel, to whom I sent a message of
thanks for his foresight and precaution, pressed me to stay and
witness a review that was to be held in a couple of days; but the
comparatively cool weather, and the fact that I had already seen enough
of his soldiers and their little ways, decided me to decline the kind
invitation.

Lang-t’ai lies low, and by the eastern approach nothing is visible but
a part of the wall, the town itself being obscured by dense foliage.
A thick mist concealed everything from view as we left the following
morning. After struggling for two hours among the hills that overlook
the city on the north-west, we cleared the mist and entered a coal
district where the miners were hard at work. A splendid view was
obtained from the Wang-shan temple on the ridge where we breakfasted;
the Lang-wang Shan, the highest mountain in the province, towered
on our right. Under the summit, which is of bare rock, there is a
cave--the “Cave of the Spirits”--which has a very wide reputation, and,
as a consequence, is much visited by devotees. As we passed, pilgrims
were burning joss-paper far below it. Half-way down on the western
side we were overtaken by a terrific thunderstorm, which continued
far into the night. When we reached the grass-covered plain that lies
below, I took refuge in my chair; but the violent gusts of wind, which
accompanied the sheets of descending water, soon wrenched off the rain
covers and exposed us to the full blast of the storm.

[Sidenote: _THE VILLAGE OF MAO-K’OU._]

Wet to the skin we entered the village of Mao-k’ou, which consists
of one street, with numerous gardens surrounded by hedges of cactus,
on the left bank of a stream fifty yards in breadth, which issues
from a gorge a few hundred yards above the village. Here there was
no resisting the appeal for a day’s rest which was at once made to
me. A carrier’s luggage is of the lightest possible description; the
single suit of clothes in which he stands is, as a rule, all that he
possesses, and when that is reduced to a pulp, it has to be washed and
dried before he can again venture out.

I spent the morning of our day of rest on the pebbly strand of the
Mao-k’ou river, which goes south to swell the upper waters of the north
branch of the West River, in the province of Kwang-si. Numerous fossils
are to be found here, and I purchased three different specimens from
the landlord of our inn. The current of the river is very rapid.

On leaving Mao-k’ou on the following morning, we ascended its left bank
five hundred yards before attempting the crossing; our boats did not
reach the right bank until we were opposite the village. An undulating
upland stretches westward, covered with rank wild grass, affording
excellent cover for game, which was plentiful. Pheasants crowed all
round us, and took wing when we approached too close. In the middle
of this grassy waste we were caught up by a caravan of twenty ponies,
laden with bamboo hats, on their way from Kuei-yang to Yün-nan Fu. They
were strong, hardy little animals, game to the very last. Each had a
load of three hundred and sixty hats; and I found, when I afterwards
saw them turned loose to graze, that not one had a whole back. One
poor beast was a pitiful sight; it had a sore at least a foot long,
and down almost to its ribs. The flies, attracted by the smell in a
temperature of 90° F., rendered its life miserable, and I offered to
buy it at a reasonable price and put it out of agony, but the owner
was devoid of the least spark of humanity and would not listen to my
entreaties. He even grumbled loudly when I made him take off half the
load and distribute it amongst the others. The greed of the ordinary
Chinese leaves little room for kindness to man’s humbler assistants.
An instance occurs to me at the moment. I once visited the Great
Wall, and, as visitors do, hired a donkey to carry me up the rough
Nan-k’ou Pass. I had not proceeded far when a horrid stench assailed my
nostrils; its continuance baffled me until a sudden lurch of the saddle
revealed a sickening sight. Needless to say, I walked the rest of the
way.

Towards the western end of the grassy upland, the fir and the oak
are dotted about and relieve the monotony of the barren undulations,
which are succeeded by a coal-producing valley and two mountain ranges
following closely on each other, being separated by only a few rice
fields. The village of Kuan-tzŭ-yao, which lies behind the ranges,
marks the boundary of the bare, uncultivated hills. A reddish tilled
soil now covers immense carboniferous deposits. If my reader is as
tired of hearing of these uninteresting mountain ranges as I was in
crossing them, he will be relieved to know that the plateau of Yün-nan
will soon be reached.

[Sidenote: _THE YÜN-NAN FRONTIER._]

A journey of three days and a half from Kuan-tzŭ-yao along cultivated
valleys, and including two more ascents and descents, brought us early
in the afternoon of the 20th of May to the Yün-nan frontier. During
this time two new crops put in an appearance--buckwheat and oats. I
saw, too, a new method of manuring the fields. For some days I had
been puzzled to account for the peculiar growth of certain trees whose
branches were very short, and for which I could obtain no satisfactory
explanation; but all at once I came upon a peasant hacking off the
branches, and another ploughing them into the rice fields. A barren
waste leads up to the frontier town of Shên-ching-kuan, where we
were received with the usual Chinese salute of three guns. Stopping
for a rest, I discovered that the little town possesses, besides its
two memorial archways, four stone lions, two facing Kuei-chow, with
imitation scales to represent the rainy character of that province, and
two facing west, with imitation scales and dust, indicating the rainy
as well as the windy reputation of Yün-nan.

My Ssŭ-ch’uan followers entertained a wholesome dread of the latter
province. For some days they had been talking of the miseries that they
would have to endure in the matter of food and lodging, and they had
come to the conclusion that the only possible reason that could have
tempted me to travel in that remote region was to _chih Yün-nan k’u_,
or partake of the bitterness of Yün-nan. Often did they discuss, in my
hearing, the motive which led me to question everybody and everything,
and transfer the answers to my note-book; but all they seemed able to
arrive at was that I was not doing it for nothing.

The excitement of entering a new province raised the spirits of my
bearers, who hurried me along the red sandy road, which slopes past
several nullahs to a plain only partly cultivated, because liable to
inundation. Could it be possible? It seemed almost too good to be true.
Lumbering towards us came a couple of bullocks, dragging an apology
for a cart behind them. The faces of my men were a study; with one or
two exceptions, they had never seen this method of transport, and they
stood and gazed at this thing on wheels, which, proud as they were
of their province, was not in use among their Ssŭ-ch’uan hills. Rude
though the vehicle was, it was a welcome innovation, for it presaged
better roads and a level country. Two low, thick wooden wheels, joined
together by a ponderous beam, supported a small platform of planks
encircled by a framework about two feet in height, while a single short
shaft projected from the platform in front.

P’ing-i Hsien, the first district city across the Yün-nan frontier,
is built on the south face of a low hill overlooking an extensive
well-watered plain, which was covered with wheat, nigh unto harvest,
and poppies. It is a great wheat country, and the district is one of
the chief feeders of the provincial capital. Oats, too, were growing on
the hills which bound the plain on the eastern side; but there was a
decided want of straw, for the stalks had only shot a couple of inches
above ground.

[Sidenote: _EXPLORING A CAVE._]

Less than a mile beyond the city we came upon the cave mentioned by
Margary in his journal. Lighting our lamps, we explored it for a few
hundred yards in a straight line, from its mouth to the point where
it branches off to the right. In the far interior, huge stalactites
hung from the roof. The utter silence of the cavern, broken only by
our stumbling over the rough floor, and the weird appearance of the
contorted limestone lighted up by our dim lamps, did not tempt us to
tarry in the dank and cheerless atmosphere. It had thundered and rained
heavily over-night; and, about a mile and a half to the west of the
cave, the high-road was blocked by a deep, raging torrent, twenty yards
in breadth. My followers, always intent upon a rest, advocated a return
to P’ing-i, until the violence of the torrent had abated; but to this
I would not listen. Fortunately, a native of the place soon came upon
the scene, and mildly suggested that there was a path across some hills
farther east. Scouting the statement, they clamoured all the more for
a return to dry quarters. Seeing, however, that he was in earnest,
I resolved to try the hills, and told my men to follow me or remain
where they were till able to ford the torrent. As the rain increased
in violence and the atmosphere became sensibly colder, they agreed to
accompany me, stating, at the same time, their firm conviction that we
were going on a fool’s errand. The native proved to be right, however,
for we found an excellent pathway, and from the ridge overlooking the
other side of the plain I tried to make out the raging stream that
had just baffled us. It was nowhere to be seen, and I soon learned
that we had already crossed it by a natural bridge, for it entered a
cavern only a few hundred yards from the high-road, the entrance being
concealed by a bend in the hills. This adventure cost us our breakfast,
as it was noon ere we reached the first hamlet. These underground
rivers are very numerous in Kuei-chow and Yün-nan; the composition of
the rocks, which are of lime and sandstone, facilitates the drainage of
the valleys and plains, which would otherwise be converted into lakes.

In the hills to the west of the plain, coal is found in abundance, the
interstices in the walls of the houses being frequently filled with
black lumps instead of stone. The villagers told us that snow falls in
winter, and that the climate is exceedingly cold. On the bare treeless
highlands beyond, potatoes, buckwheat, oats, and a little poppy, were
being cultivated.

As a rule, a Chinese has little to gain by showing civility to a
foreigner, be he official, merchant, or missionary; and courtesy, even
of the barest description, is thoroughly appreciated in a land where
stone-throwing, mobbing, and threatening are too often indulged in with
impunity. The marked attention paid to us at Pai-shui, the end of the
first stage from P’ing-i Hsien, was a very pleasant surprise. The small
local officials, with an escort, met me some miles from their village,
and hurried on to receive me at the gate. A Taotai, who had been
travelling in my company on his way to Western Yün-nan, and with whom
I had afterwards a pleasant chat about those terrible Kuei-chow roads
and our struggles to get the best inns, had just preceded me, and taken
up his quarters in the official rest-house; but a comfortable room was
quickly procured for me, the authorities, much against my will, having
gone the length of ejecting a number of occupiers. As we left early
next morning, the authorities awaited us at the opposite gate of their
once-walled village, to speed us on our way. It would greatly lessen
the misery of travelling in China if such courtesy were more frequently
forthcoming.

[Sidenote: _THE TRANSPORTATION OF COPPER._]

The people in the neighbourhood of Pai-shui are very much afflicted
with goître, especially the women, and the idea is prevalent among them
that the impurities contained in the salt which they consume is the
cause of the malady. Here we came across a consignment of red copper
for the metropolis, transported on the backs of nearly four hundred
mules and ponies from the mines of Tung-ch’uan Fu to Pe-sê T’ing, the
head of navigation of the West River, in the province of Kwang-si. It
seemed a roundabout way of sending copper north, but I was informed
that on one occasion, when shipments used to be despatched by way
of the Yang-tsze, a great storm arose and overwhelmed more than a
hundred junks and their cargoes. I heard afterwards that peculation had
probably more to do with the loss than a storm.

The city of Chan-i Chou, fifteen miles to the west of Pai-shui, lies
in the north of an immense plain, famous throughout Western China as
the breeding ground of the sturdy Yün-nan pony. Brood mares and their
foals were grazing on the large grass fields, which occupied no mean
part of the plain. A stream, spanned by a good three-arched stone
bridge, flows south past the east gate of the city on its way to join
the northern branch of the West River. It was at one time a section
of the route by which lead was carried from the north of Yün-nan to
Tonquin. Consignments were conveyed by boat from Chan-i Chou to Ma-kai,
a place fifty miles to the south, and thence overland to Mêng-tzŭ
Hsien, on the head waters of the Song-koi, now the residence of a
French Consul.

Rain descended in torrents during the night of our stay in Chan-i, and
the dawn of the 23rd of May was not accompanied by the usual movements
and noises that betokened an early start. On the contrary, I was soon
waited upon by a deputation, which begged me, on account of the rains,
to defer my departure for a day; but the fact that I was almost in the
presence of my goal compelled me to resist their demand. After two
hours spent in arguing, we trooped sullenly out of the city. The plain,
which on the previous afternoon was bright with its golden crops of
wheat and barley, was now cold and cheerless; the road was one mass
of mud in which we sank to the knees; a great part of the surrounding
country was under water; and the rain fell in sheets.

The hamlets in the neighbourhood were poor in the extreme. Stopping for
breakfast, we borrowed a room and despatched a youngster to forage for
a table and eggs. The way in which these people live is astounding:
they occupy rooms begrimed with smoke--chimneys are considered
superfluous--willingly sharing them with dogs, pigs, fowls, and insect
pests.

The unceasing downpour obliged us to abandon the idea of completing a
day’s stage, which we broke at the market town of Mien-tien, having
accomplished only twelve miles, or half the distance necessary to
ensure decent accommodation. We were quartered in a loft over a stable,
where a dozen ponies, unable like ourselves to proceed farther, were
installed.

[Sidenote: _QUEEN’S BIRTHDAY DINNER._]

As the morrow was the anniversary of Her Majesty’s Birthday, I
determined to secure a good dinner for the occasion; my tinned
provisions had long since given out, and I was entirely dependent on
local supplies. I succeeded in purchasing a fowl and a few potatoes,
which we carried with us over the plain of yellow-ochre soil which lies
between Chan-i and Ma-lung Chou.

At the latter city, I experienced very considerable civility at the
hands of the chief civil official, who paid me a visit, and, being a
native of Ch’ung-k’ing, plied me with many questions regarding his
Ssŭ-ch’uan home. He also added considerably to our larder, which
was now in a very prosperous condition indeed. He complained of the
poverty of his jurisdiction, stating that the people over whom he ruled
were nearly all poor immigrants from Ssŭ-ch’uan, who, owing to the
barrenness of the soil, could hardly earn enough to keep clothes on
their backs.

We halted for the night at a hamlet ten miles from Ma-lung, where we
secured a single room for our whole party. After I had had a corner
of it partitioned off by a mat, the cooking of the dinner commenced;
but, there being no chimney, the interior soon became so thick as to
necessitate a removal into the fresh air. A table was brought and
placed outside a back door, and the meal spread under Heaven’s starry
vault. Here my little dog and I thoroughly enjoyed ourselves; and even
now, after the lapse of some years, I have very pleasant memories
of that sumptuous dinner, probably because I took special care in
the catering. If there is a bitterness in the memory, it is that the
little, fearless, faithful, intelligent, amusing sharer of that repast,
the companion of all my travels, is no more.

The inquisitiveness of the Chinese is hard to bear with equanimity. I
sat down to breakfast the following morning in what I took to be an
uninhabited house, for it consisted of two gables and a roof without
a stick of furniture. The necessary chair and table we had, as usual,
borrowed. No sooner was the cloth spread, than all the goîtred old
women of the village trooped in, each carrying a tub of old garments
steeped in water, and proceeded in the most matter of fact way to
wash. The splashing and watching were endurable; but when one of them
proceeded to light a fire on the floor, I felt that we had reached the
last straw, and bundled them out without ceremony, tubs and all. They
looked upon the climax as a good joke.

Following the road over weary red highlands only partly cultivated, we
sighted, on the afternoon of the 26th of May, a large sheet of water,
which, as we approached, we found to be swarming with wild duck. At
Yang-lin, which is built on the south-western margin of the Sung-ming
Lake, we occupied a room in a new inn, and were regaled with excellent
fish from the clear water we had just passed. How easy it is for a
Chinese official to show his contempt for a foreigner. On the way to
Yang-lin, I was provided with an escort in the shape of a small boy of
thirteen, wearing a sword nearly as long as himself, who turned out to
be fonder of bird-nesting than of affording protection and assistance!

[Sidenote: _A GLORIOUS VIEW._]

A broad stone road, in excellent repair, leads from Yang-lin to the rim
of the plain in which lies the capital of Yün-nan. Half-way we caught
a glimpse of a lake to the south-west; but it was not till the rim
was reached that the glorious expanse of water, backed by a mountain
range, burst upon our view. The city itself was still concealed by
the north-eastern continuation of the rim, which juts into the plain,
dotted with houses and trees. Yün-nan Fu lies near the northern shore
of the Lake; and, after descending the low rim, we followed the road
westward for a short distance, then turned due north, and, after a
couple of miles, struck the south-eastern corner of the wall. No escort
met us; no attention was paid to us, beyond a demand for my card, as we
entered the south gate.




CHAPTER IV.

THROUGH NORTH-EASTERN YÜN-NAN TO THE YANG-TSZE.

    The city of Yün-nan Fu--P’u-êrh tea--Opium-smoking chair-bearers
    and personal care--Exposure of robbers’ heads--Chinese
    school--Rainbow superstition--Entertainment at Tung-ch’uan Fu--A
    successful ruse--Stopped by a mountain torrent--Lodged in a
    byre--On the banks of the Niu-lan River--The Chao-t’ung plain and
    its lakes--Stories of Lolo bloodshed--Down from the plain--Narrow
    escape of a porter--Back to Ssŭ-ch’uan--Descent of the Nan-kuang
    River--Down the Yang-tsze to Ch’ung-k’ing.


Yün-nan Fu is a walled city, over three miles in circuit, 6420
feet above the level of the sea and at a short distance from the
north-eastern shore of the lake, with which it was formerly connected
by a canal. The southern half of the square is thickly populated,
while the northern half consists of swamp and vegetable gardens. The
city was shorn of its ancient glory by the outbreak of the Mohammedan
rebellion, which raged for years round it and in the northern part
of the province. The old and extensive suburbs are gradually being
rebuilt from their ruins. Outside the south gate (there are six gates)
there is now a long street of depôts for the salt, which comes from
the wells to the north-west. The city itself is kept decidedly clean;
bullock carts daily go round and collect the garbage from the streets,
which are fairly broad for a Chinese town. What strikes the traveller
most, in passing through these streets thronged with well-dressed
and evidently well-to-do foot-passengers, is the large admixture of
non-Chinese features. Here Mohammedans, Chinese, Shans, and Lolos, and
mixtures of these races, jostle each other in the market place and in
the daily business of the world.

[Sidenote: _COURTESY OF MISSIONARIES._]

During my two days’ stay in the city, I received every possible
kindness at the hands of the members of the two missionary bodies at
work there--Les Missions Etrangères de Paris and the China Inland
Mission. At the handsome palace of the French Bishop, I met a Father
from Ta-li Fu, who gave me such a glowing account of Western Yün-nan,
that I at once made up my mind to visit that part of the province on a
future occasion, a resolution which I was fortunately able to carry out.

The good Bishop handed me a letter which he had just received from
Mr. Colquhoun, from P’u-êrh Fu, stating that his funds were all but
exhausted, and requesting a loan to enable him to proceed from Ta-li,
whither he was bound, to Bhamo. I at once arranged with the Bishop to
despatch a messenger with sixty taels of silver; but Mr. Colquhoun
succeeded in obtaining funds from the China Inland Mission at Ta-li,
and, ere my messenger reached that city, he and his companion, Mr.
Wahab, had left on their westward journey.

To speak of Yün-nan Fu without a reference to the famous tea, for
which it is the entrepôt, would be a serious omission. P’u-êrh tea, so
named from the department in which it is widely grown, is the leaf of
the _Camellia thea Link._, and for purposes of transit is steamed and
made up into cakes, which find their way to the remotest parts of the
Empire. Much of the leaf, however, is brought to the city of P’u-êrh
from the Shan States, beyond the southern frontier of Yün-nan. It
varies in price, according to quality, from tenpence to one shilling
and fivepence a pound; but the cost of overland transit is so great as
to virtually exclude it from the foreign market.

The lake, known in books as the Tien Ch’ih, and colloquially as the
K’un-ming--the name of the district in which the city of Yün-nan
is situated--is a fine expanse of water, said to be seventy miles
long, and in some places to attain a breadth of twenty miles. These
figures are, however, very much exaggerated. The lake drains into the
Yang-tsze, an artificial channel having been cut, to prevent flooding,
from a point on its south-western shore to the river which flows past
An-ning Chow, a city to the west of the provincial capital. Junks and
passenger boats of fair size navigate the lake between the cities and
villages that lie on and near its shores. In 1883 it was my own fate to
be a passenger on its waters.

At Yün-nan Fu a number of trade routes converge and connect it with the
Yang-tsze, Burmah, the Song-koi, and the West River; but I will not
dwell upon them now. They will be found discussed at some length in
Chapter XII., which is specially devoted to the trade of Western and
South-Western China.

I had now reached the place which I had fixed upon as my farthest
point, and, having attained the object of my journey, I resolved to
strike the Yang-tsze at Hsü-chou Fu, following in the main the route
traversed six years before by the Grosvenor Mission on its way to
Yün-nan Fu to enquire into the death of Margary. With an _au revoir_
to the city on the morning of the 31st of May, we began to retrace our
steps to Yang-lin, where the Kuei-yang and Hsü-chou roads to Yün-nan Fu
meet. For some days previous to our arrival in the provincial capital,
rain had considerably interfered with our progress, nor, when we
proceeded to return to Yang-lin, did the province belie its reputation.

[Sidenote: _A PRUDENT CHAIR-BEARER._]

It was during one of these downpours that an incident occurred which
deserves a passing notice. Several of my followers were opium smokers,
and one of my bearers had contracted a great craving for the drug.
He was somewhat disreputable in appearance, but a willing worker.
His baggage consisted of the clothes on his back and a small bundle,
containing his opium pipe and the necessary paraphernalia for smoking.
I observed when leaving Yün-nan Fu that the bundle had assumed larger
dimensions; but certain speculations which I had made as to its
contents were soon proved to be erroneous and altogether wide of the
mark.

A few miles to the west of Yang-lin, a halt was called for a rest and
the cakes on a roadside stall were quickly bought up and devoured.
Sitting apart on the edge of the stone road the opium smoker thus
addressed another of my bearers:--“How is it that you are all eating
and drinking, and I haven’t a single cash to follow your example?” The
other put his thumb to his mouth and, pretending to inhale, pronounced
the single word “Opium,” at which the smoker smiled and was silent.
Next day we were suddenly overtaken by a sharp rainstorm, and, when
the other bearers were searching for shelter, the smoker solemnly
produced his bundle and, gravely undoing the cover, unfolded and
donned a first-class waterproof coat which he had wisely purchased in
the capital. The astonishment visible on their faces, and the look
of triumph in which the smoker indulged, were a study. The latter,
notwithstanding his misfortune, had more respect for his back than his
belly.

An immense plain, beautifully irrigated, stretches north from Yang-lin;
and, as we passed through it northwards on the 2nd of June, it was
teeming with life. The numerous villages, nestling among trees which
dot the plain, had sent forth their able-bodied men and women to pluck
up the paddy shoots from the nurseries, make them into bundles, and
carry them to the submerged rice-fields, where they were being planted
out in rows. Truly a happy, sunny picture. Not cloudless, however;
for what are those high upright posts with balance beams near their
tops, which occur at somewhat regular intervals along the plain? They
are intended for suspending cages containing the heads of highwaymen,
who waylay travellers and traders and rob and murder without mercy.
Nor were the cages all empty. Two ghastly heads adorned the entrance
to the village, which sheltered us at the end of the first stage from
Yang-lin.

In the northern part of the plain, which is stony and unsuitable for
rice and which ultimately merges in the red-soiled uplands already so
familiar in the west of Kuei-chow and the east of Yün-nan, the potato
was growing abundantly between rows of withered poppy stems. Yellow
wheat and barley were being plucked up by the roots, for not even
the sickle was here in use. Patches of buckwheat and oats completed
the cultivation. Much of the land, however, was covered with wild
grass, on which herds of swine, goats, sheep, ponies, and oxen were
feeding. The whole country, from the immediate north of Yang-lin to the
southern edge of the large plain, wherein lies the prefectural city of
Tung-ch’uan Fu, may be described as a series of valleys barred by red
uplands, mountain ranges stretching away to the west to the Yang-tsze
and the home of the Lolo. The road is frequently the bed of a mountain
torrent, which has to be crossed and re-crossed many times a day.

[Sidenote: _INSECURITY AND DISTRUST._]

The people along the route seemed to entertain the greatest distrust of
us; small wonder, when robberies are of such frequent occurrence. They
even refused us house-room for our meals, which had often to be spread
in the shade of a pine tree. At one village we borrowed the public
school-room, an act which, I fear, gave a half-holiday to the scholars
who, five in number, divided their attention for a time between writing
their characters and watching the frolics of my dog. The master
himself disappeared, and the scholars were not slow to follow his
example, each, however, preparatory to leaving, carefully depositing
his books, paper, pens, and ink in his own basket hanging from a bamboo
partition in the room. A sixth basket was for the discarded written
characters.

It was just before entering this village that I was witness of a
curious superstition. We were caught in a drizzle, and, as the shower
clouds with a vivid rainbow approached us, my followers covered their
mouths with their hats, fearful of the poisonous vapour which, they
said are given forth by rainbows. I laughed at their superstition, and,
as luck would have it, was seized, a few hundred yards beyond, with a
sudden fit of vomiting. I received no sympathy, and my sickness gave
strength to their theory.

The city of Tung-ch’uan lies five miles from the edge of the plain,
down the west of which, through one of the most fertile fields of
Western China, flows the I-li River on its way to join the Yang-tsze.
The plain was one mass of green tints, from the light green of the
paddy in the nurseries to the dark green of the more matured shoots
in the fields. The town, which is nearly eight hundred feet above the
Yün-nan Fu plain, is not at all imposing, consisting, as it does, of
one main street; but the hills to the west impart to it its reputation
of being one of the wealthiest prefectures of the province. They
contain the most celebrated copper mines in the Empire.

A French Father, who resided here, welcomed me as if I had been a
compatriot, and insisted on my spending the whole of the 8th of June
in his company. He had a regular battery of rifles and fowling pieces,
and turned out to be a keen sportsman. He had a stable of two splendid
ponies, on whose backs we spent nearly the whole day careering through
the Tung-ch’uan plain. None but those who have spent years in solitude
in a strange land can realize what it is to meet a fellow European.
China was entirely forgotten in the discussions of French and British
politics, and it was with the greatest difficulty that I could tear
myself away from his kind hospitality on the following morning. All
honour to men of surpassing ability who give up their lives for
heart-breaking work in China!

[Sidenote: _A SUCCESSFUL RUSE._]

On entering the hills which bound the Tung-ch’uan plain on the north,
and which were almost devoid of human habitations, we were overtaken by
a rainstorm, which continued throughout the day, and compelled us to
abandon the hope of reaching the end of the stage that night. The road
was soon reduced to a mass of pulp, bordering yawning chasms, whose
circumvention by chairs was a source of difficulty and delay. The roof
of the room in which we huddled together, in the wretched hamlet of
Pan-pien-ch’ing, leaked at every tile, and necessitated the erection of
a tent with our india-rubber sheeting. My troubles were only beginning,
however, for, the rain still continuing on the following morning, my
men refused to stir. My appeal that they were daily nearing Ssŭ-ch’uan,
and that they had just rested a whole day in Tung-ch’uan, moved them
not; and, seeing that the limit of concessions for their convenience
had been reached, I took up the small iron box containing my supply of
silver, and, calling my dog, set out alone. Plodding through a shallow
mountain torrent, which now occupied the valley, I proceeded until I
was out of sight of the hamlet, when I sat down upon a rock to wait the
issue of events. The ruse was thoroughly successful; in half an hour
the whole caravan turned up in the sullenest of tempers.

As luck would have it, our difficulties were just beginning. The
torrent was soon blocked by hills, its waters obliterated the
high-road, and we had to take to the hills on the left before it could
be regained. We had not proceeded a mile, after a late breakfast, when
we found the road effectually cut off by a raging torrent thirty yards
in breadth and reaching above the waist. A whole hour was wasted in
trying to find a shallow crossing, but in vain. The village of “Natural
Bridge” (what a mockery!) lay on the left bank, and we called in eight
of its most able-bodied to strip and assist in carrying our chairs
across.

The sensation of fording was not a pleasant one. Twelve men with hands
joined shouldered my chair, which rocked about like a boat in a stormy
sea, now up, now down, as this or that man was washed off his feet.
One of my servant’s bearers was carried away for a distance of thirty
yards, and was ultimately rescued more dead than alive by a cordon of
men from the opposite bank. Several strings of cash which he had round
his neck acted as an anchor to his head, and it was only when they
disappeared in the current that he was able to regain his footing.
Another who attempted to cross with the assistance of a pole had also
to be dragged ashore.

[Sidenote: _CHINESE HOSPITALITY._]

On a ridge five miles beyond is the hamlet of Liang-shui-ching,
which, as the name implies, is provided with a splendid well of cold,
clear water. Here the inhabitants had turned the middle of the road
into a kitchen, where sundry messes were being cooked for hungry
wayfarers. Sitting round a stove, presided over by a buxom young lady,
my followers regained their good humour in recounting the adventures
of the day; and, when a complaint was raised because salt was not
forthcoming, the beauty laughingly told them that travellers by this
route did not care for salt!

It is a trite but true saying, that misfortunes never come singly.
Owing to the numerous delays that had occurred during the day, it was
late in the afternoon before we reached the hamlet of Shan-hu-shu,
where, notwithstanding its uninviting appearance, we found it necessary
to put up for the night. There was no inn, and every room was already
occupied by its legitimate owners. The quest seemed hopeless when
I stepped into a mud hut of two rooms, one tenanted by a crowd of
natives, the other by a couple of cows and a pig. After a considerable
expenditure of argument and less money, we induced the owners to remove
and fraternize with their cattle for the night, and hand over the byre
for our accommodation. The pig was the only one who offered any serious
objection; his gruntings over-night and attacks on the intervening door
somewhat disturbed our slumbers, while sundry squeals told me that my
men found his familiarities too pronounced.

Trade had now begun to assume formidable dimensions; hundreds of
ponies, mules, and donkeys, laden with native cottons from the central
provinces and salt from Ssŭ-ch’uan, were daily hurrying southwards,
while P’u-êrh tea and lead kept us company. It was no great surprise
to us, when crossing the cultivated hills to the north of Shan-hu-shu,
to come upon carcases of beasts of burden that had succumbed to the
hardships of the route. Strong as these little ponies are, there comes
a time when they are tried beyond their strength by their merciless
drivers, and fall down never to rise again.

[Sidenote: _CHAIN BRIDGE OVER THE NIU-LAN._]

The delays that occurred during the first day north of Tung-ch’uan,
threw our marches into utter confusion; instead of striking the Niu-lan
River on the 11th June and resting for the night on its left bank, we
were compelled by darkness to stop at the hamlet of Tu-kê-t’ang, where
I occupied an underground mud chamber, certainly not an improvement on
the byre of the previous night. This was our consolation after a march
of thirty miles, begun at four o’clock in the morning and continued
till dark. Part of the road was exceedingly precipitous, and had to be
accomplished on all fours. Loud were the lamentations of my followers
when we attained the ridge overlooking the Niu-lan River; the road
zigzagged down a deep precipitous valley strewn with huge boulders,
while opposite rose an equally steep range of mountains, which had to
be overcome during the day. The Niu-lan rushed north-west, hurrying to
the Yang-tsze between two steep mountain ranges, which are connected at
the village of Chiang-ti, where we would fain have tarried for the day
and gazed into the roaring torrent from the windows of a promising inn,
by the chain bridge of “Eternal Peace.” Ten rows of iron rods linked
together are built into twenty yards of solid masonry at either end
of the bridge and into stone piers, one distant twelve yards from the
Chiang-ti, the other twenty yards from the opposite shore, leaving a
central span of thirty-five yards. Planks placed on the chains formed a
roadway four yards in breadth, and slight iron supports were suspended
on either side from a row of thick linked rods stretched over stone
supports erected on the piers. Thankful were we for the rest-houses
that dotted the opposite bank, which proved the steepest and most
difficult ascent we had yet encountered; and grateful we were for the
beverage compounded of water and brown sugar exposed to allay the
thirst of weary wanderers. Talk of railways by this route--as well talk
of railways to the moon! Both are equally feasible.

To compensate man and beast for their struggles on the banks of the
Niu-lan, a spring of deliciously cold water gushes from the highest
ridge that separates the river from the Chao-t’ung plain. It rises out
of an extensive coal-field. Beyond the spring a glimpse of the plain,
with several sheets of water, is obtained, and eagerly did we commence
the descent, which is comparatively easy. The city of Chao-t’ung Fu,
which is 6580 feet above the level of the sea, lies nearly twenty
miles from the southern edge of the plain, which ultimately stretches
westward and is bounded eight miles to the north of the city by low
hills. Flourishing villages dotted the plain, and the city itself
showed signs of being a great trade centre. Traffic was no longer
confined to man and beast, for the level ground had called the cart
into requisition. To reach the city with greater despatch we engaged a
number of small skiffs and crossed a large lake--shallow, and, to judge
from dykes appearing here and there, occupying former paddy land. These
lakes are numerous, and well stocked with fish.

The hills to the north of the plain are inhabited chiefly by Lolos,
who have not a very honourable reputation. Stories of bloodshed and
robbery committed by them poured from the lips of the villagers who
dwelt by the roadside, and an idea that I entertained of spending a day
with this degenerate branch of the tribe had to be abandoned. There
would appear to be some foundation for these roadside statements;
villages, and even single residences, were provided with watch-towers
and refuges, and ammunition in the shape of stones was piled on the
battlements to resist attacks.

The descent from the Chao-t’ung plain commences in earnest thirty miles
to the north of the city. In company with a caravan, consisting of one
hundred ponies laden with P’u-êrh tea and tin, we zigzagged in a dense
fog down the northern face of the plateau, over a stone road, rendered
all but impassable by over-night rain. In many places it skirts deep
chasms, down which mountain torrents were leaping and roaring. On the
edge of one of these a carrier narrowly escaped destruction; he lost
his footing, and was just in the act of falling over with his load,
when I succeeded in grasping the end of his carrying pole and dragging
him back to the pathway.

[Sidenote: _CITY OF TA-KUAN T’ING._]

On the afternoon of the 15th of June, we entered the sub-prefectural
city of Ta-kuan T’ing, which is barely 3000 feet below the plateau.
The tinkling of many bells, issuing from the inns which we passed on
the way to our hostel, announced that several caravans had already
taken up their quarters for the night. These bells are fixed in rows on
broad leather straps, which run over the necks and down the breasts of
the pack animals. In some caravans, only the leader is provided with
such a circlet. The head waters of the Hêng River, which we had struck
soon after our steep descent, flow northwards to the west of the city;
but, the current being very rapid and the bed strewn with boulders,
navigation is out of the question. Another descent of 2500 feet had
to be made before boat traffic commenced, the river meantime being
considerably augmented by an affluent from the west.

The road, which was execrable, follows the banks of the river to the
market-town of Lao-ya-t’an, or Lao-wa-t’an, which lies on the right
bank, and is the point of junction of the two trade routes from
Hsü-chou Fu, in Ssŭ-ch’uan, to Yün-nan Fu, by way of the Hêng and
Nan-kuang Rivers, which enter the Yang-tsze, the one to the west and
the other to the east of the former city, respectively. Lao-wa-t’an
is entered over a fine suspension bridge, the road following for
about sixty miles the left bank of the river through scenery of
considerable grandeur, resembling at some spots, though on a less
magnificent scale, the gorges of the mighty river it helps to swell.
Four, instead of two, suspension chains divide the bridge into a like
number of alley-ways, each of sufficient breadth to admit of the
passage of a single chair only. As the Grosvenor Mission had followed
the land route, by the banks of the Hêng River from the Yang-tsze to
Lao-wa-t’an, I resolved to strike east, cross the Yün-nan-Ssŭ-ch’uan
frontier and descend the Nan-kuang River. Only one range now lay
between us and Ssŭ-ch’uan, and from the summit we looked north-east on
range after range of mountains, which, happily for us, we had not to
cross.

[Sidenote: _RETURN TO CH’UNG K’ING._]

My men, who for the last few days had been unable to procure rice,
and had subsisted for the most part on bean-curd, rejoiced to find
themselves in a valley of their own province where paddy, maize,
tobacco, hemp, and beans were well advanced, where silk was being
reeled and tea-plantations abounded. A streamlet flows north-east down
the valley, and following its course for two days, we found ourselves
on the 24th of June in the village of Huang-shui-k’ou, where we soon
engaged a long empty cargo boat; and, shipping our whole caravan, sped
down the Nan-kuang River. On its upper course it is confined by rocky
hills, some eight hundred feet in height, and little wooded, while huge
boulders coop up its waters and cause numerous rapids, down which our
craft, guided by stern and bow sweeps, dashed four and five feet at a
bound. In its lower course the country opens out, and the boulders and
rapids disappear. A bed of rocks, over which the river falls, obstructs
navigation within a few hundred yards of its mouth, and we landed on
the 25th at the market town of Nan-kuang on its left bank, whence the
river derives its name. Had my followers known how to cheer they would
have made the welkin ring, when, just beyond Nan-kuang, the mighty
Yang-tsze in full flood burst upon us. For the present their work was
done; and, instead of carrying, they were now to be carried back to
their homes in Ch’ung-k’ing. Crossing in boats to Hsü-chou Fu, which
lies on the north bank at the junction of the Chin-sha Chiang--the
upper waters of the Yang-tsze--and the Min river, we at once proceeded
to hire a large travelling boat, and at 1 P.M. the following day we
were gliding eastwards to Ch’ung-k’ing, which we reached on the evening
of the 28th of June after an absence of sixty-eight days.




CHAPTER V.

FROM CH’UNG-K’ING TO THE CAPITAL OF SSŬ-CH’UAN.

    Fu-t’ou-kuan--The country and its products--Chinese New
    Year--Charcoal from bracken--Ramie fibre and grass-cloth--Down a
    tributary of the T’o--The T’o and its commercial importance--The
    salt wells of Tsŭ-liu-ching--Sugar and Safflower--The Chêng-tu
    plain--Beggars--The capital of Ssŭ-ch’uan.


In February, 1883, I found myself at liberty to carry out the
resolution which I had made to visit Ta-li Fu and the west of
Yün-nan--all that remained for me to do was to decide what route I
should follow. Mr. Baber’s admirable description of that part of
Western Ssŭ-ch’uan which he had explored, induced me to endeavour to
penetrate Yün-nan through the valley of Chien-ch’ang, and accomplish
the journey which Baron von Richthofen had attempted, but, owing
to an unfortunate accident, had been compelled to relinquish. As a
preliminary to the execution of this scheme, it was necessary to reach
Chêng-tu, the capital of Ssŭ-ch’uan, and the present chapter will be
devoted to a description of the products and industries of the country
lying between Ch’ung-k’ing and that city.

My caravan was, owing to the length of the proposed journey, somewhat
larger than on the previous expedition. There was one pack animal
which, however, succumbed to the hardships of the route.

[Sidenote: _FU-T’OU KUAN._]

The small walled town of Fu-t’ou-kuan, some four miles to the west of
Ch’ung-k’ing, is perched on the sandstone shoulders of the peninsula
which divides the Yang-tsze from its northern tributary, the Chia-ling.
Midway, and near the entrance to the village of Hsin-p’ai-fang, is a
large Mohammedan cemetery, sloping towards the left bank of the Great
River. In Ch’ung-k’ing, the followers of the Prophet are reckoned by
thousands, and it is to their presence that the foreign resident owes
one or two of the daily luxuries--in more civilized parts of the world
they would be called the necessities--of life. With the exception of a
spacious temple, erected in honour of the Goddess of Sericulture, with
extensive grounds crowded with mulberry trees, just inside the west
gate, Fu-t’ou-kuan has little to boast of in the way of architecture;
but outside the gate a number of fine memorial stone portals arch the
roadway, which is also edged at short intervals with stone tablets
recounting the virtues of deceased officials, and acts of filial
affection.

To the west of Fu-t’ou-kuan the country is somewhat broken; low hills
alternate with plains dotted with farm-houses, nestling amid clumps
of bamboo--a proof that here at least there is security for life
and property. Nor are villages and market-towns wanting. The latter
frequently vie with walled cities in commercial importance. In the
plains, wheat, beans, rape, poppy, and peas were growing luxuriantly,
while many plots of paddy land were submerged in preparation for the
summer sowing. The hill-sides were also covered with beans, which seem
to thrive well on a scanty soil. The low, umbrageous wood-oil tree
was likewise scattered thickly on the rocky ground. Beneath the huge,
dark-green, spreading banyans by the road-side, houses and restaurants
spring, mushroom-like, and invite the traveller to tarry for a moment
and enjoy their cool shade. As pack animals are usually turned loose to
forage for themselves, the peasantry, whose lands adjoin the high-road,
have hit upon a novel plan to prevent their depredations. Wheat and
beans were thickly sprinkled with feathers, which, as might naturally
be supposed, are not a pleasant sauce.

For some days at the Chinese New Year, business of every description
comes to an absolute stand-still; houses and shops are shut, and in
semi-darkness the inmates eat, drink, and make merry. As we started
from Ch’ung-k’ing on the fourth day of the first moon (February 11th),
we found that the people were still bent on pleasure, and that dice and
theatrical performances were dividing the attention of those who had
escaped from their New Year’s imprisonment.

Although coal is found in abundance near the district city of
Yung-ch’uan--some sixty miles to the south-west of Ch’ung-k’ing--I
noticed in the streets large quantities of charcoal, prepared from the
stems of bracken. These are placed in a pit and covered over, so as to
prevent blazing after ignition.

[Sidenote: _CHINESE CLOTH MAKERS._]

The district city of Jung-ch’ang Hsien lies on the left bank of a
tributary of the T’o River, which enters the Yang-tsze at the city
of Lu Chou. It is distant forty miles west by north from Yung-ch’uan,
and is approached through the same broken hilly country. It is famous
for its breed of pigs, and is noted as a centre for the manufacture
of fans and grass-cloth. The bamboos, of which the framework of the
fans is made, are carefully cultivated along the banks of the river,
while the cloth is manufactured from Ramie fibre, _Boehmeria nivea_,
grown extensively in the district. The Chinese, unlike the home
manufacturers, have not yet been inflamed with the desire to possess
machinery capable of separating the fibre, and at the same time
preserving the silky gloss which adds so much to the beauty and value
of the cloth. Here it is entirely hand labour. The stems are cut down
in the fields and carried home for manipulation. The skin or bark is
first removed from the stems by hand and the branches and leaves from
the bark, which is steeped for a few minutes in water. The strips are
then taken one by one by the operator, who is provided with a thick
broad iron thumb ring on which a short blunt blade is fixed and a
curved knife equally blunt, and passed rapidly between the two blades,
which are held in the left hand. By this means the green or outer bark
is removed and the inner white fibre remains. The latter is afterwards
handed over to women, who shred and twist it into thread ready for
weaving.

The process of removing the bark from the stem has reached a higher
state of development in the seaboard provinces, and merits the
attention of cultivators in other countries. In the province of
Chê-kiang, where I am now writing, decortication is effected in the
field. The workman grasps the plant between the finger and thumb of his
left hand, about six inches above the ground, and drawing it slightly
towards him, seizes it two inches or more higher up, between the thumb
and forefinger of his right hand. A smart forward push with the right
at once causes a compound fracture of the stem; the forefinger of the
right hand is inserted at the point of fracture and drawn up to the
top of the plant, separating the bark on the left from the bark and
broken stem on the right; the bark on the left is then drawn down
and is easily detached at the root, the bark and stem on the right
being treated in the same manner. The stem is removed with ease, and
the branches and leaves give way when the strips of bark are passed
through the right hand. By this means a much longer fibre is obtained,
and the branches and leaves remain on the field to assist in manuring
the second and third crops. Care must be taken not to twist the plant
in giving the forward push; I spoiled at least a dozen stems before I
succeeded in causing the necessary compound fracture. In Chê-kiang, a
flat piece of wood takes the place of the blade on the thumb-ring, and
the curved knife is supplanted by an instrument resembling a shoe-horn
made of iron. The cloth, after it leaves the loom, has to undergo a
considerable amount of bleaching, before it attains the beautiful white
colour which it presents in the piece. It is of various qualities,
and ranges from one pound to two shillings and sixpence per piece of
forty-six Chinese feet long and eighteen inches broad.

Instead of crossing the handsome stone bridge of seven arches, the
“Lion’s Bridge,” which spans the river to the west of the city, we
took boat and dropped westward with the stream for a distance of five
miles. The river frequently expands to a breadth of one hundred yards;
but even in the short space it bore us, rocks project into it at two
places from the left and right bank respectively, leaving only a very
narrow channel just sufficient for one of these small boats to pass.
A little above our landing place on the right bank, a stone bridge of
thirty-eight arches runs across the river, rocks showing everywhere.
The arches are very low--only one is available for boat traffic--and
we slipped through with very little to spare between the roof of the
arch and the tops of our chairs. Excellent coal in large quantities was
being carried up river to Jung-ch’ang.

[Sidenote: _THE CITY OF LUNG-CH’ANG._]

On the afternoon of the 15th of February we entered the city of
Lung-ch’ang, which presented a picture of business both outside and
inside its walls. It is also famed for its grass-cloth. It lies in the
centre of a carboniferous region, about a hundred mines existing in the
neighbourhood. Many of them, however, have suffered that fate which
attaches to most mining industries in China: they have been flooded,
and the workmen are not supplied with the necessary appliances called
pumps.

The immense salt traffic, which we met going east, tempted us to leave
the main road to the capital and pay a visit to the celebrated salt
wells of Tzŭ-liu-ching, farther west. Two stages lay between us and the
wells, and we spent the first night on the left bank of the T’o River,
probably the busiest stream of its size in Western China. Rising to
the north-east of the provincial capital, it flows through the great
sugar region of the province, and to the south of the district city of
Fu-shun it is joined by a tributary which connects it with the salt
wells. In return for its salt and sugar, it absorbs enormous quantities
of raw cotton and cotton cloth, so that there is one continuous stream
of traffic on its waters. The sugar factories to the west of the river
were indeed merry; the din that came from them resembled very much the
music from an iron foundry, only louder.

On the following day we struck the left bank of the tributary, took
boat for a short distance, and again landed on the left bank before
ascending the low hill, on the slope of which the town of Tzŭ-liu-ching
is built.

This great salt belt stretches west to the left bank of the Min River
and south towards the Yang-tsze. In the Shê-hung district, a hundred
miles to the north-west, salt beds are also found and worked; but it is
from the former that the greater parts of the provinces of Ssŭ-ch’uan,
Kuei-chow, and the north-east of Yün-nan are supplied. I spent a whole
day in visiting the larger wells, which are situated inside the town,
and a short description of one of the greatest industries of Western
China cannot fail to be of some interest.

[Sidenote: _SALT WELLS._]

When I had prevailed on the immense crowd that accompanied me on my
round of sight-seeing, to leave an open space, so that I might be
observed to greater advantage, and that I might catch a glimpse of
what I had come so far to see, I found myself seated--a settle had been
procured for me--beside a square stone embedded in the ground, with a
central hole a few inches in diameter. From the hole there was issuing
a hempen rope, about an inch thick, which, ascending, passed over a
movable wheel fixed at the top of a staging some sixty feet high and
bearing a striking resemblance to the shears at a dockyard. On leaving
the shears, the rope descended and passed under another wheel fixed
a few feet above ground, whence for the moment it escaped from our
range of vision. After the lapse of a quarter of an hour, the top of a
tube, from nine to ten inches in circumference, attached to the rope,
made its appearance and was drawn up to within a foot of the wheel.
Meantime a workman, stationed at the mouth of the wheel, had thrown a
rope round the tube, which was composed of the stems of a number of
bamboos fixed together, and, immediately the lower end appeared, he
drew it to one side and over a wooden reservoir built into the ground.
Embracing the tube with his left arm, he plunged an iron rod which he
held in his right hand into the bottom, and raising a leather valve,
which was there adjusted, allowed the contents, consisting of black,
dirty-looking water, to escape into the reservoir. This was the brine.
The tube was again placed over the well, and descended with great
rapidity. Whence the motive power that raised the brine? Following the
rope after it left the second wheel, I found that it entered a large
shed, the floor of which was several feet underground. In the centre
of the building was an enormous bamboo wheel or drum, twelve feet in
height and sixty in circumference, placed on a vertical axis, to which
the rope was attached six feet from the ground. As I entered, four
huge water-buffaloes were being harnessed, at equal distances, to the
circumference of the drum; each buffalo had a driver, whose duty it
seemed to be to belabour the animal with a short, stout hempen rope to
induce it to break into a trot. As the drum revolved, the rope coiled
round it at a sufficient height not to impede the buffaloes. For a
quarter of an hour, that is, until the tube had been again raised,
this unmerciful beating went on, when the poor beasts, exhausted and
white with froth, were unharnessed and led back to their stable, whence
a fresh relay was brought. When the animals were unharnessed and the
signal given, the drum reversed with great velocity, creating a violent
wind all round. Forty animals were employed at this well, and each
relay raised the brine about ten times every twenty-four hours. They
are specially selected for the work, and cost from forty to fifty taels
apiece. The specimens I saw were fat and in excellent condition; but,
although they are carefully fed and attended to--each costing three
hundred cash a day--their staying power does not exceed five years.
Many even fail within the first year; nor is this to be wondered at,
for the make of the animal fits it for a slow plodding life only.

[Sidenote: _PROCESS OF EVAPORATION._]

Retracing my steps to the large reservoir by the well, I found that
the brine was being carried off in bamboo pipes laid down between it
and smaller wooden reservoirs in the evaporating sheds, which I next
visited. On the floors of the latter, rows of brick furnaces with
round openings at the tops were built. On each furnace rested a round,
shallow, iron pan, about four feet in diameter, filled with brine
conducted in open bamboo pipes from the reservoirs, which occupy one
side of each shed. Where was the fuel? Under each pan was a flame
blazing from a bamboo tube coated with lime and fitted with an iron
burner, while all round flames burst from smaller upright tubes and
lighted the sheds, for there is no cessation, night or day, in the work
of evaporation. I was next conducted to the “fire-well” whence the fuel
is procured. It was quite close to the brine well, and was carefully
built over, bamboo tubes covered with lime to prevent escape ramifying
from the cap covering the mouth to the evaporating sheds. There can
be little doubt that the “fire wells,” which are nearly all situated
within the town, contain petroleum from which the vapour or gas arising
supplies the natural fuel. They have, however, never been worked for
the oil. The stench which permeates the whole town reminds one forcibly
of a gasworks, but the gas has not, as in some parts of Ohio, been
utilized to light the streets. All the wells, which are worked by
private companies, are now under Government control, and there is an
office established at Tzŭ-liu-ching through which all salt transactions
are carried on. The actual cost price of the salt is thirteen to
fourteen cash a catty, but the Government manages to extract from
buyers twenty-two to twenty-three cash.

[Sidenote: _THE WORKING OF THE SALT WELLS._]

The salt is of two kinds--pan or lump, and granular salt. The former is
from two to three inches in thickness, and is of the same shape and
size as the evaporating pans. In preparing the latter, bean flour is
used to give it a whiter appearance. The work of evaporation occupies
from two to five days, according to the strength of the gas-flame. As
the salt wells number over a thousand, and the “fire wells” only about
a score, much of the brine is carried into the town for evaporation.
Pans are leased by the year, the privilege costing about forty taels
each. A contractor supplies the pans, which weigh 1600 lbs. apiece,
for from thirty to forty taels a year each--the old pans, which are
changed about once a fortnight, being the property of the contractor.
Brine is found at depths varying from 700 to over 2000 feet, and from
a dirty yellow in the shallower, becomes a deep black in the deepest
wells. Twice as much salt is evaporated from the black as from the
yellow brine--the deeper the well the stronger the solution. As the
region in which the wells are situated is of sandstone formation, the
difficulties of boring to these great depths, even with primitive
machinery, are not very great. A bamboo lever is erected over the
spot where the operations are to be carried on; an iron jumper over
one hundred pounds in weight is attached by a bamboo rope to the thin
end of the lever; on both sides of the thicker end, scaffoldings with
plankways are built; several men jump simultaneously from the planking
on one side to the planking on the other, using the lever as a stepping
stone; and the jumper is raised, released, and falls crushing the
stone, a rotary motion being imparted to the weight by a man who stands
by the mouth of the well, and twists the bamboo rope as the lever is
about to drop. The rope is lengthened as required by adding strips
of split bamboo. I have heard doubts expressed as to the depths of
these wells; but the figures given are unimpeachable. The well which I
visited was over 2000 feet in depth, and I arrived at this result by a
very simple calculation. The drum was sixty feet in circumference, and
thirty-four coils of rope were wound up before the tube reached the
mouth of the well. In boring in the vicinity of the town, at least, it
is impossible to predict whether petroleum or brine will be struck; but
as both are valuable, the result is always satisfactory.

The workmen presented a very worn and unhealthy appearance, and, to
judge from the alarming number of beggars in the town, life at the
wells must be very trying and short. Their wages range from 1200 to
1300 cash per month, with board--not a large sum for labour amid
noxious gases which permeate the whole place.

The history of this great industry is lost in antiquity; but salt is
said to have been worked at Tzŭ-liu-ching as early as the Minor Han
Dynasty, which was established in Ssŭ-ch’uan, A.D. 221-263.

We had found the inns on the main road comparatively comfortable; on
the branch road to Tzŭ-liu-ching we were confronted with wretched dens
specially intended for the accommodation of salt carriers. A bed-room
is easily described. A trestle framework, two feet high, ran the length
of the narrow cell; on the top was spread a straw mattress, an inch and
a half thick, covered with a rush mat. During the day the bedding,
which consisted of a long bag padded with cotton, was stowed in the
office, and was not issued till payment of the few cash necessary to
ensure a night’s lodging.

Daylight of the 19th of February found us marching northwards to regain
the high-road to the provincial capital. On leaving the salt area the
road winds round low hills terraced and cultivated, each terrace rising
above the other and faced by a wall of dark, bare sandstone. So much
did they resemble circular forts, that one felt inclined to look for
the embrasures and guns. These rocks were, however, fast crumbling
into soil, their colour being easily distinguishable in the adjacent
fields amid the beans and peas springing up from the old cane-brakes,
and the rape and wheat which occupied the rest of the arable land.
Farther north the yellow soil showed that hills had been entirely
disintegrated by the weather, assisted by the hoe. In other places the
hills were partly clad with stunted pines, while clumps of bamboo and
an occasional pumelo and banyan were to be seen. The poppy was not at
all prominent--it prefers a heavier soil than sandstone. The 20th of
February broke dull, and by noon, when we struck the right bank of the
T’o River, opposite the city of Tzŭ Chou, the day had fairly broken
down; and on a vote being taken whether we should proceed or spend the
afternoon and night within the walls, my followers to a man--just as I
expected--preferred the latter course. The river was of no great depth:
a bamboo proved sufficient to guide the movements of the small boats in
which we were ferried across.

[Sidenote: _SUGAR AND SAFFLOWER._]

Tzŭ Chou is an inviting city; it possesses broad streets of large,
prosperous-looking shops, and its numerous blue-brick houses give it
an air of substantiality. The district in which it is situated is a
great producer of sugar; while the soil, being light and sandy, is
likewise favourable to the growth of the ground-nut, _Arachis hypogæa
L._, whence a sweet cooking-oil is extracted. Coal is also found in the
immediate hills. The distance from this city to the provincial capital
is reckoned as four stages; but, although we succeeded in accomplishing
the first without mishap, rain and snow compelled us to distribute
the remainder over four days. Beyond the weather, no other difficulty
presented itself. The sandstone country extends a little to the
north of the district city of Tz’ŭ-yang Hsien, which, like Tzŭ Chou,
stands on the right bank of the T’o River, whose course the high-road
follows in the main. Bare, red hills then put in an appearance, and
cultivation, except at their bases, stops. This belt of hills extends
for twenty-five miles, when it gives place to a long, wide plain--the
plain of Chien Chou--famous for its opium. It is interesting to watch
the effect which one foreign industry has had on this remote spot.
Previous to the introduction of aniline dyes into China, the department
of Chien Chou was widely famed for its safflower, _Carthamus tinctorius
L._, which, with that grown within the Shun-ching prefecture, not
only sufficed to meet the wants of the province, but was annually
sent eastward in large quantities. All is now changed. Safflower has
been supplanted by “Pure Soluble Scarlet” in bottle, and the plain
of Chien Chou has been converted into a poppy garden. The plant is
still cultivated, but in very small quantities and almost entirely for
local use. The plain, which was dotted with farm-houses and homesteads
peeping out from bamboos and cypresses, runs due north and south. In
the north lies the city of Chien Chou, the approach to which is marked
by three pagodas, one of them thirteen storeys high. It occupies the
right bank of the river, which is joined to the immediate north of the
city by a tributary from the west. Crossing the latter by a five-arched
stone bridge, we followed the main river through orange groves and
copses of bamboo and cypress, which would have met with admiration but
for a low thermometer, a piercing north wind, and a drenching rain. A
few salt wells to the north of the city were being worked, charcoal
being the fuel used in evaporation.

[Sidenote: _A STARTLING CONTRAST._]

Leaving the river we struck west by north through the belt of low
hills which separates the Chien Chou and Ch’êng-tu plains. These hills
are rocky and little cultivated, the thin poor soil not holding out
that inducement which even a Chinese expects for his labour. Snow was
falling thickly when we reached the rim of the immense plain--the plain
_par excellence_ of the province of Ssŭ-ch’uan--and the imperfect
glimpses which we caught through the snow-flakes revealed flooded
paddy-fields and the ordinary winter crops, the most prominent of which
was the poppy. Over fifteen miles still separated us from the eastern
wall of the city, but we were fated, before reaching this centre of
wealth and luxury, to be reminded that riches and poverty always go
hand in hand. Under a memorial archway near the entrance of one of the
market-towns in the plain, lay a beggar stark and stiff. The yard of
matting, which was the only clothing he possessed and which covered his
loins, had proved insufficient to ward off the chill hand of death. A
few yards off sat some companions, listless shivering wretches, with
faces pinched and worn, outcasts from their kind. Hundreds of beggars
crowded the eastern suburb of the city, and it was with difficulty
that we pushed our way through the mass of rags and dirt that held the
bridge, which spans the stream flowing southwards under the eastern
wall. They seemed to have just returned from the public soup-kitchens,
which open in the large towns of China during winter, and dole out to
the most necessitous enough to keep them from actual starvation. We had
no sooner settled down in a comfortless inn than the underlings of the
various officials came to prey upon us. They came laden with offers of
assistance; they departed, each with a handful of cash, satisfied that
they had done their duty. We saw none of them again--the key to peace
and quietude was cheap at the price.

Ch’êng-tu, the capital of the largest and probably the richest province
in the Empire, is a splendid city, fifteen hundred feet above the
level of the sea, enclosed by an excellent wall about twelve miles in
circumference. It is the seat of a Viceroy, or Governor-General, whose
jurisdiction extends over the one province only. With the exception of
Chihli, it is the only province in China which is thus honoured. Of the
other sixteen, each is entrusted to the care of a Governor; but with
the exception of Shantung, which has no superintending Viceroy, and of
the three Provinces of Kiangsu, Kiangsé, and Anhui, which are under
one Viceroy, they are divided into groups of two, with a Viceroy over
each group. The city is divided into two parts, the quarter occupied by
the Tartar garrison and their families, and the Chinese or commercial
quarter. It is without exception the finest city I have seen in China;
Peking and Canton will not bear comparison with it. The streets in the
Chinese quarter are fairly broad, paved with stone, and slope gently
to either side. They were clean and in excellent repair. During my two
days’ sojourn I traversed many of the streets, and, notwithstanding
the fact that it rained heavily the whole time, they were crowded with
moving masses of bustling, gaily-dressed, well-to-do people. Chairs
with their passengers and ponies with their riders were everywhere on
the move. But the prettiest sight of all was the signboards. The reader
must bear in mind that these are not placed horizontally over the shop
doors as in Europe; they hang vertically from iron bars projecting
from the walls. In Ch’êng-tu they are one mass of gold and colour,
decorating the streets and proclaiming, at the same time, the names
of the shops--not the names of the owners--and the wares on sale. It
may be that the unfortunate weather prevented me from seeing anything
prepossessing or attractive in the Tartar quarter. Here the streets
were broad, unpaved, and muddy; the people, especially the women, were
badly, even slovenly, dressed; everything announced the presence of
parasites battening on Government pay, without affording any adequate
return. Much of the land in this quarter, which is thickly wooded, is
devoted to gardens; but I should question whether these slip-shod,
down-at-heel, lazy-looking Tartars possessed the energy to grow
sufficient vegetables to supplement their government rice.

Ch’êng-tu derives considerable importance from being the meeting point
of the great high-roads from the Eastern and Northern provinces, from
Yün-nan and Tibet, and it is undoubtedly the place whence the latter
may most easily be entered from the Chinese side.

[Sidenote: _A FRESH START MEDITATED._]

My aim was now to reach Ta-li Fu, in Western Yün-nan, by way of Ya-chou
Fu, the valley of Chien-ch’ang or Ning-yuan, and Yung-pei T’ing. In
undertaking a long and arduous journey such as this, it might have
been more advisable to take boat to Chia-ting on the Min River, or
even as far as Ch’êng-tu, and then start afresh; but in that case I
would have missed one of the most interesting sights and industries of
the province--the salt wells of Tzŭ-liu-ching. My men grumbled loudly
because I declined to stay longer than two days in Ch’êng-tu. Finding,
however, that I was inexorable, they gave in, and on the morning of
the 28th of February, we were all ready to penetrate the wilds and
backwoods of Western China.




CHAPTER VI.

THROUGH LOLODOM AND THE VALLEY OF CHIEN-CH’ANG.

    A Tibetan criminal in a cage--The armed ruffians of Chiung Chou--A
    floating bamboo bridge--Brick tea for Tibet--Fraternizing with
    Tibetan pilgrims on the summit of the Flying Dragon Pass--Chinese
    originality--Over the Ta Hsiang Ling Pass--A non-Chinese
    race--Across the Ta-tu River under Sifan protection--In the
    country of the Lolos--Lolo language--Sifan language--Asbestos
    cloth--A dangerous country--Lolo rogues--Over the Hsiao Hsiang Ling
    Pass--Lolo women--The valley of Chien-ch’ang--Ning-yuan Fu.


Leaving the city by the south gate and crossing the bridge which spans
the river flowing under the wall, we proceeded south-west through the
great plain of Ch’êng-tu. Here there is a perfect network of limpid
streams and irrigating canals rushing swiftly southwards, and fitted
with sluices to ensure the flooding of the plots which in summer and
autumn form one vast rice-field. As might be expected, this water-power
is not allowed to run to waste; tiny mills for hulling rice and
grinding wheat were to be seen on the banks of many of the streamlets.
Clumps of bamboo and plantations of fir encircled the farm-houses,
and a tree called by the Chinese _ching-mu_--probably a species of
beech--grew extensively along the narrow waterways. It is a tree of
rapid growth; it is allowed three years to develop, when it is cut down
for firewood and supplanted by a young sapling. The primitive Chinese
barrow was much in use in the plain for passenger and other traffic,
nor was the squeaking of the wheel absent.

[Sidenote: _A CAGED CRIMINAL._]

To the south of the small district city of Shuang-liu, we met a party
of Tibetans clad in their long, reddish, woollen gowns. They were
on foot, but each was leading his pony by the bridle. A few hundred
yards behind them was a large, wooden, barred cage, slung on a couple
of carrying-poles supported by a pair of bearers. In the chair sat
an individual heavily chained, and clothed in even a more pronounced
red than his guards. Although I was unable to get at the details of
the case, beyond the apparent fact that the gentleman in irons was a
criminal being escorted to Ch’êng-tu, yet the method of conveyance told
me that he was a criminal of no ordinary type.

Cotton spinning and weaving and the manufacture of looms and iron pans
were the chief industries of the plain. At many of the country villages
the raw cotton, which comes by water from the central provinces, was
being handed to the women, who brought in exchange yarn and cotton
cloth of their own spinning and weaving.

Before entering the district city of Hsin-ching, which lies about
fifteen miles south by west of Shuang-liu, we had to cross three
branches of a river, a tributary of the Min, by wooden bridges of
somewhat novel construction. Stones in bamboo baskets were piled on
both banks of the river, and on these the ends of the bridges rested.
On the stages supporting the floors, similar baskets of stones were
suspended, to keep them from being washed away by the rapid current.
Pigs’ bristles, which, the western farmer will be somewhat surprised
to learn, are highly prized as manure, formed an important item of the
trade seen on the plain.

From Hsin-ching the road runs west over a fine level tract of country
as far as the city of Chiung Chou. I must confess that I felt
considerable anxiety in approaching this place. Baron von Richthofen
has drawn a very dark picture of it. He says:--“All the men are armed
with long knives and use them frequently in their rows. I have passed
few cities in China in which I have suffered so much molestation
from the people as I did there; and travellers should avoid making
night quarters there, as it was my lot to do. The city is large and
overcrowded with people. They are badly dressed, and have repulsive
features.”

It was with the view of ascertaining whether the morals of the people
of Chiung Chou had improved since the Baron’s visit, and to impress
upon the inhabitants, if necessary, the words of their sage Confucius,
who preached “How pleasant a thing it is to be able to attract
strangers from afar,” that I resolved to spend the night of the 1st
of March within the walls. I was quite prepared to be greeted by a
population of armed ruffians; but, more fortunate than the Baron, I
was agreeably disappointed. The people were not more curious than in
other towns; and, as for knives, I failed to see any except in the
hands of innocent-looking butchers. My writer, however, declared that
he saw one young fellow with a knife, but he explained that only the
young blades carry such dangerous weapons. I did not observe any one
particularly well dressed or good looking, nor, on the other hand, did
I see any one with repulsive features. There were beggars and dirt as
a matter of course. What I did specially notice, however, was that the
place had a very sleepy atmosphere; the whole street of shops, which
strikes the main street at right angles and leads to the south gate,
remained closed as we left the city early next morning.

[Sidenote: _CELESTIAL MEDICINES._]

Chiung Chou lies on the south-western edge of the Ch’êng-tu plain. A
fine stone bridge of fifteen arches spans the river--the Nan Ho--which
flows eastwards to the south of the city. It is two hundred and fifty
yards long and twenty-four feet broad; at either end there is a stone
archway, and on the centre stands a pavilion, whence we caught a
glimpse of snow-clad mountains to the west. The piers of the bridge are
heavily buttressed. To the south of the river low uplands, well covered
with pine, succeed the plain, and stretch with two breaks of valleys,
wherein lie the market-town of Pai-chang-ch’ang, or Pai-chang-yi,
and the district city of Ming-shan, respectively, as far as the left
bank of the Ya Ho. In the Pai-chang valley a stream flows north-east
to join a larger affluent of the Min River. Here we met a number of
carriers with medicines from Yün-nan. The Chinese pharmacopœia is very
comprehensive; tigers’ bones and deer’s horns are well-known celestial
remedies, but dried armadillo skins as a drug had hitherto escaped our
ken. Bundles of rush wicks--the pith of the _Juncus effusus L._--were
also going north in large quantities from the Ming-shan district.
The road west of Ch’êng-tu was for the most part unpaved, but to the
south of Chiung Chou boulders from the bed of the Nan Ho were laid in
glorious disorder on the pathway. Even for the Chinese straw sandal
they proved impracticable, and one of my bearers slipped and fell
forward on his carrying pole, one of the brass spikes of which pierced
his temple. Now, thought I, had the time arrived to display my store
of foreign medicines, and I was looking forward to the effect which
an application of Friar’s Balsam would have on the patient and his
comrades, when there was a sudden call for tobacco. My pleadings to be
allowed to treat the case were in vain--a handful of cut tobacco was
placed over the wound, and all the assistance I was permitted to give
was the loan of my handkerchief to bind the head and keep the narcotic
in position.

From the low, rising ground to the west of Pai-chang-ch’ang we obtained
a good view of the country beyond; dark hills with a snow-clad range
in their rear lay before us. The white foamy crest of a huge billow
breaking on a darker sea would fairly represent the picture. The
Chin-chi pass, two thousand feet above the sea, divides the valley
in which Ming-shan is situated from the valley of the Ya Ho. The
cultivated terraces on the hill sides which bound the latter were built
up with rounded stones and baskets of shingle lying by the left bank
indicated that the valley is liable to inundation. We struck the river,
which flows east, five miles from Ya-chou Fu, the city on the right
bank from which it derives its name. Crossing a tributary by a wooden
bridge of seven arches, we were soon face to face with the main river,
which we passed over by a floating bridge, the first of its kind I
had seen in China. High cones of stones in baskets were piled on both
banks, and round these a huge cable of woven split bamboo was wound;
bundles of bamboos firmly tied together, about a foot apart, floated on
the surface of the water, each bundle being securely fastened to the
cable at its up-river end; planks were spread on the bundles to form
a roadway; and rails of bamboo ran along both sides of the plankway.
The city, which is picturesquely situated on rising ground, has broad
streets and possessed, what was indeed a luxury to us, a good inn. It
was altogether too tempting, and I determined to take a day’s rest, and
make some enquiries as to the trade in brick tea, of which it is the
centre.

[Sidenote: _BRICK TEA FOR TIBET._]

Within and on the borders of the prefecture of Ya-chou, all the brick
tea sent to Tibet is prepared. The tea-growing districts, in their
order of production, are Jung-ching, Ya-an, and Ti’en-ch’üan Chou.
Chiung Chou produces least. On the Mêng-shan Hills, which lie within
the Ming-shan district, a tea is grown exclusively for use in the
Imperial Palace, and is brought to Ya-chou for transmission to Peking.
The estimated total value of the tea grown within the prefecture is one
million taels, while the duties collected were given as forty thousand
taels. The best tea is picked by hand in the second moon; the coarse
tea is picked, or rather cut--a knife is used for the purpose--during
the third moon, when leaves and twigs are indiscriminately collected.
The growers sell to the tea hongs, fine leaf at from four to five taels
per picul (133⅓ lbs.), coarse leaf at about 1·8 taels for the same
quantity. Three qualities of tea are prepared, known respectively as
“Ku yü,” “Mao chien,” and “Sui fang,” the selling price being two,
one and a half, and one mace per catty. The leaf is steamed, and made
up into long, narrow, flat packages, having an inner casing of banana
leaf, and an outer casing of matting. A package of the finer tea weighs
eighteen catties, or twenty-four pounds, while a package of the coarser
tea frequently weighs only ten catties, or thirteen and a third pounds.
The standard of sale at Ya-chou is the sum of fifty taels, the number
of packages that can be bought for this sum varying according to the
state of the market.

The total value of the tea trade with Tibet amounts in round numbers
to between £150,000 and £200,000. All this tea is carried on the backs
of porters, piled on a wooden framework which curves forward over the
head, and is thus conveyed from Ya-chou to the town of Ta-chien-lu,
near the Tibetan frontier, the journey usually occupying fifteen days.
The number of packages in a load varies, of course, according to the
quality of the tea. I have counted as many as fourteen packages, but
the average load contained from eight to nine. The freight per package
between the two places was said to be three hundred cash, but as
loads varied as to the number of packages or bricks, and the bricks
themselves as to weight, there must be some more satisfactory method
of calculation in making payment. Like the salt carriers in Kuei-chow,
these porters, whom we counted by hundreds daily to the south of
Ya-chou, were wanting in leg, nothing beyond an ordinary development
being observable. During their arduous mountain journey they rest
frequently and long.

This tea differs altogether from the brick tea prepared in the Russian
tea hongs at Hankow. The latter is manufactured from the dust and
broken leaf of fine teas into hard, solid bricks, or into thin, ridged
cakes, an infusion of which is exceedingly palatable. The Tibetans, on
the other hand, eat the leaves churned up with butter, not even a twig
being lost.

But the products of the prefecture are not confined to tea; two
varieties of drugs are largely exported. They are called _Hou p’o_ and
_Huang lien_. The former is the bark of _Magnolia hypoleuca, S. et
Z_, and the latter consists of the rhizomes of _Coptis teeta Wall_. The
bark of the wild Magnolia being thicker, is preferred to the bark of
the cultivated tree and fetches a much higher price. Coal and iron are
also mined and worked.

[Sidenote: _THE FLYING DRAGON PASS._]

We spent the greater part of the 5th of March struggling in a dense
mist along the right bank of a small tributary of the Ya Ho. A pass,
called the “Flying Dragon,” 3580 feet above the sea, lies between this
and a larger tributary of the same river. A long pull over a frightful
road brought us to the summit, where we sat down and made friends with
a number of Tibetans of both sexes, who were engaged in a pilgrimage
to the sacred mountains of Western China. The women were sturdy and
good-looking, gaily ornamented with ear-rings and brooches, and had
none of that lifelessness and insipidity which characterize their
almond-eyed sisters. No mock-modesty debarred them from chaffing and
laughing at my European features and dress. Up the west side of the
pass scrambled about twenty ponies and mules, panting and blowing; not
without sufficient cause, for they were carrying heavy loads of copper
from Ning-yuan, and, from Yün-nan, the bark of a species of _Rhamnus_,
which is used for making a green dye.

Are the Chinese wanting in the faculty of invention? It is well known
that they will make an exact copy of any pattern that may be supplied
to them. A tailor has been known to produce a new coat duly patched to
match the exemplar; but the ability of the race to give an original
idea to the world has been hotly disputed. I think the water-wheels of
Kuei-chow, which I have described in a previous chapter, are novel and
ingenious, and south of Ya-chou I saw the water-wheel turned to two
skilful and, at the same time, practical uses. A part of the horizontal
axle of the wheel was removed, and an iron elbow inserted; to the elbow
a long iron rod was attached by an eye; to the lower end of the rod was
fixed a polisher, which, as the wheel revolved, was drawn backwards and
forwards over the surface of a stone pillar being prepared for building
purposes. On exactly the same principle, except that the axle of the
wheel was vertical instead of horizontal, the rod was made to blow a
blacksmith’s bellows.

[Sidenote: _TRUTH AT A DISCOUNT._]

Descending from the pass, we took up our head-quarters for the night
on the right bank of the Jung-ching River, as this tributary of the
Ya Ho is called. Great excitement now began to manifest itself among
my followers. We were only a day’s journey from the foot of the Ta
Hsiang Ling Pass, and carriers from Yün-nan, who came to our inn, were
cramming them with the difficulties that had to be surmounted. Snow, so
they said, was lying deep on the passes, and they had only just managed
to get through with their lives. Chinese statements have invariably
to be heavily discounted, and the problem as to how far a Chinese
believes his most intimate friend has been present with me for many
years, and still remains unsolved. Instead of following the hill road
along the right bank of the river to the city of Jung-ching, we crossed
to the left bank by a ferry a few miles from our night’s quarters,
and traversed a plain well watered and cultivated. We saw one or two
villages on the plain, but they were miserable places, and scarcely a
soul was visible as we passed through them. Recrossing the stream by a
plank bridge, we soon caught sight of the low stone walls of the city.
The universal clanging of the blacksmith’s anvil, loudly proclaimed
the local industry. Coal and iron are both found in the neighbourhood,
and agricultural implements, cooking pans, and crampoons were being
hammered into shape. South of Jung-ching the valley contracts,
frequently leaving room for the bed of the stream only, and the hills
are more precipitous, rocky, and uncultivated. They were not bare,
however, for the tea-tree was everywhere prominent.

The village of Huang-ni-p’u lies 1400 feet above the city of
Jung-ching, and 5640 feet under the summit of the Ta Hsiang Ling,
which was clad with snow. When we awoke on the morning of the 7th of
March, we found the whole mountain enveloped in a thick mist, which
became denser as we ascended. When we reached the Hsiao Kuan, or Lower
Pass (4800 feet), the snow lay thick by the roadside; but all around
was buried in white gloom. Huge icicles hung from rocks projecting
over the rugged path, and we frequently heard their crashing as they
fell, amid the din of roaring torrents, into the depths below. As
we ascended, the snow became deeper, increasing from two to three
inches above the Lower Pass to a couple of feet. The pathway, which
skirts the edges of ravines and precipices, was one continuous mass
of slush, snow, and ice--higher up, dry and crisp; and, starting from
Huang-ni-p’u at half-past six in the morning, we stood on the summit
(9366 feet) at half-past two in the afternoon, having indulged in two
short intervals of rest. A stiff, north wind was blowing over the
ridge, and I overheard one of the escort duly warning my followers that
shouting on the summit would most certainly provoke a storm. For a time
not a sound but that of our own footfalls on the crisp snow broke the
stillness of the gloomy scene. It became monotonous, and, when I took
to snowballing my dog in sheer desperation, my laughter and his joyous
barking made them hurry down the southern face of the Pass.

On leaving the clouds, we looked down into a plain shut in by lofty
ranges and broken by spurs bounding ravines washed out by mountain
torrents. On a plateau in the plain, stands the district city of
Ch’ing-ch’i Hsien, nearly four thousand feet below the summit of the
Ta Hsiang Ling. Down the plain, which runs almost due north and south,
flows a stream, nurtured by the melting snows on the surrounding peaks.
The city is of no great size; but it is exceedingly interesting, as
being the junction where the main high-road from Tibet to China and the
road from Yün-nan by the Chien-ch’ang valley meet. Here we parted with
the brick-tea carriers, sorry that it was not our fortune to accompany
them to Ta-chien-lu, and attempt the country beyond that famous border
town. From Ch’ing-ch’i the road goes south, descending to the bases of
the precipitous mountain ranges hemming in a valley, which expands and
contracts, and is plentifully strewn with stones and pebbles. Fifteen
miles to the south of the city, the road suddenly descends about two
hundred feet down into a wider valley. Far below us, we could see the
hamlet of Lung-tung, encircled by plots of yellow rape and green wheat
and poppy--a real oasis in the white stony valley. This descent leads
not only to a new country, but to a new race.

[Sidenote: _A NON-CHINESE RACE._]

At Lung-tung I noticed a marked difference in the features of the
people, especially the women. The faces were sharper and more pointed
than the ordinary Chinese type, while the foreheads were exceedingly
prominent. There was an undoubted mixture of foreign, probably Sifan,
blood. It is a peculiarity of all these non-Chinese races that the
women are the last to abandon their national dress, and they cling with
tenacity to profuse decoration. The women of Lung-tung backed up their
facial distinction with a lavish display of silver ornaments.

For some distance south of the hamlet there was no attempt at
cultivation in the stony wilderness; but gradually we found signs of
stones having been collected, patches of land dyked, and rivulets
diverted for irrigation purposes. Watercress was growing wild in the
limpid water. Trees, although not very numerous, were not wanting; the
mulberry, orange, red-date, and pear were to be seen. The orange was
a tall tree, bearing a small round fruit with a thick wrinkled skin,
which reminded me forcibly of a miniature “Buddha’s Hand”--_Citrus
sacrodactylus_. Cotton in small quantities was also growing in this
valley. Many of the houses were roofed with thin boards weighted with
stones, instead of the usual Chinese tiles, and the graves were covered
with mounds of rounded stones carefully whitewashed.

The garrison town of Fu-lin, whence a bridle-path leads over the
mountains to Ta-chien-lu, lies at no great distance from the left
bank of the Ta-tu River, the southern boundary of the valley. In the
immediate neighbourhood of the town were a few cultivated patches; but
agriculture, to judge from the precautions taken against inundation
from the waters of the Liu-sha, which was hurrying down the valley to
join the Ta-tu, would appear to be carried on under difficulties. A
line of white shingle, running east and west, backed by rising ground,
was the only visible indication of the presence of a watercourse, and
it was only on reaching the miserable village of Wa-wa, built on a
sandbank held together by bushes of luxuriant cactus, that we were able
to espy the green waters of the Ta-tu rushing violently eastward in
its pebbly bed, to be quickly lost in a gap in the mountains to the
south-east. Several forks, into which the river is divided, unite to
the west of Wa-wa.

[Sidenote: _AN EXCITING SCENE._]

Descending to the ferry, we found ourselves face to face with a
pure non-Chinese race. The boatmen, who were tall--one was over six
feet--wiry fellows, with level grey eyes, at once fraternized with me
and took me under their protection. They were Sifans, and spoke Chinese
with a decidedly foreign accent. One of them, with a fearlessness
impossible in a Chinese, asked me a few questions in a most respectful
manner, and answered with readiness and evident pleasure the queries I
put to him regarding the river. To a random question as to its breadth,
a Chinese by my side at once answered over a hundred _ch’ang_, or one
thousand Chinese feet, but my protector quietly rebuked him, remarking
that one should not answer such a question off-hand, and, after some
reflection, said the river was six hundred feet broad. I estimated
the breadth at nearly two hundred yards; but it was difficult to fix
distances with any accuracy in the presence of mountains which threw
everything else into insignificance. The Sifans smiled when I tried to
ascertain the depth by plunging a bamboo over the side of the boat in
mid river.

Owing to numerous falls and rapids, only rafts can be navigated the
entire distance to Chia-ting Fu, where the Ta-tu, after its junction
with the Ya Ho, enters the Min. Once a year there is a busy scene
on the banks of the Ta-tu River. In the end of April, thousands of
carriers have to cross the river at this very spot, with their precious
loads of white wax insects from the valley of Chien-ch’ang, on their
way to the prefecture of Chia-ting. As delay is injurious to their
living freight, they haste and race to be first at the ferry. Crossing
the Ta-tu as we did on the 9th of March, we were too early to witness
the flight of these carriers, which ceases not night or day. Trade, as
we saw it, was of a less exciting nature; copper and pine boards from
the south, met cotton and salt from the north.

In the walled town of Ta-shu-pao, less than a mile from the south bank
of the river, the fine tall men and sprightly women of an alien race,
could, without difficulty, be picked out from the Chinese. They wore
white turbans jauntily inclined to one side, and carried themselves
with a grace that savoured of independence. The Ta-tu River may be
looked upon as the southern limit of the region inhabited by Sifan
tribes, and the northern boundary of the Lolo country which stretches
southwards to the Yang-tsze and east from the valley of Chien-ch’ang
towards the right bank of the Min. I found a few Sifans to the south
of the Ta-tu, but they were isolated families who had lost touch with
their respective tribes. Amongst the Chinese they have an evil repute
for immorality; yet my experience of them, limited as it necessarily
was, proved that they possessed certain traits of character which are
altogether wanting in the Celestial, or, if not altogether wanting, at
least existing in a very rudimentary form only.

[Sidenote: _A “TAME WILD MAN.”_]

One instance will suffice to explain my meaning. I had expressed
a wish for a lengthened interview with a Sifan, and, on arrival at
P’ing-pa, the second stage south of the Ta-tu, word was brought to me
that there was a “tame wild man” in the village. With some difficulty
he was induced to come to our inn, the reason of his hesitancy being,
as he explained when alone with me in my room, that the Chinese might
treat him badly if they knew that he was talking with me. When I had
calmed his fears and elicited from him as much information as I could
regarding his language, I asked him before leaving to accept a couple
of hundred cash for the trouble I had caused him, and as a reward for
the knowledge which he had imparted. This he absolutely declined,
saying that he had rendered me no service deserving of reward. As, in
the course of conversation, he had informed me that his home was in the
hills three miles distant, and that he had come to P’ing-pa to make a
few purchases, I pointed out to him that, by accepting this trifling
sum, he would be able to secure a small present from me to his family.
More argument convinced him that there would be no harm in accepting it
on this condition, and he left after profuse thanks on behalf of the
other members of his household. Would a Chinese have hesitated? I trow
not.

[Sidenote: _LOLO LANGUAGE._]

South of P’ing-pa we found ourselves fairly in Lolodom. When we were
breakfasting at the hamlet of Shuan-ma-ts’ao on the morning of the 11th
of March, ten wild-looking fellows suddenly put in an appearance. They
were dressed in brown felt woollen cloaks from neck to knee, their legs
and feet were tightly bandaged with cotton cloth, they wore straw
sandals instead of shoes, and their hair was drawn forward in the shape
of a horn, projecting above the forehead and bound with cloth. Each
was armed with a long wooden javelin, fitted with a large broad iron
arrow-head. Some snatched a hasty meal, while others sharpened their
javelins on a stone by the side of the street. We began to think that
they had sinister intentions regarding ourselves or our property, but
they quickly disappeared in Indian file up a narrow path over the hills
to the south-west. Sheep were being driven in the same direction, and
these men were probably shepherds preparing to ward off the attacks of
wild animals from their flocks. At Hai-t’ang, which we reached after
a steep descent, we took up our quarters in a new inn just completed
and therefore clean. As the morrow was market-day, we resolved to be
present and swell the crowd. Snow fell heavily and somewhat dulled the
market, so I induced two out of the living mass of Lolos to come and
spend an hour or two with me at the inn. I jotted down their numerals
and a few common words, and can thus compare my transcription of the
sounds with those taken down by Mr. Baber from Lolos in other parts of
the country.

    Lolos near Wa-shan.      Lolos near Ma-pien.      Lolos of Hai-t’ang.
       (Mr. Baber.)            (Mr. Baber.)

   1. Ts’u                       Tchih                      Tzŭ
   2. Ni                         Ni                         Ni
   3. Su (or Soa)                Su                         Swa
   4. Erh                        Li                         Li
   5. Ngu                        Ngu                        Ngou
   6. Fo                         K’u                        Hu
   7. Shih                       Shih                       Shih
   8. Shie                       Hei                        Hei
   9. Gu                         Gu                         Gu
  10. Tch’ie (or Ts’e)           Tch’e                      Tsei

It will be noticed that, with a very few exceptions, these numerals
are almost identical, and it may, without any great stretch of the
imagination, be taken for granted that the Lolos speak one language
with only slight dialectic differences. Unfortunately, the men whom I
met were unable to write--that they have a written language has been
distinctly proved--so that I was powerless to assist in deciphering
what up to the present moment remains a sealed book.

It will be appropriate in this place to compare the numerals of the
Sifans as taken down by different travellers at different places, and
the comparison, I think, shows that, as in the case of the Lolos, the
Sifan tribes have also one language, with local dialectic variations.
My Sifan told me that their written language resembles Tibetan, which
is very probably the case.

    Sifan of Tzŭ-ta-ti.   Sifan of (?) Lu-ku.   Sifan of P’ing-pa.
     ( Mr. Baber.)            (Mr. Hodgson.)

   1. Tu                         Ta                     Ta
   2. Nu                         Na                     Na
   3. Si                         Si                     Hsi
   4. Jro                        Rê                     Ro
   5. Ngei                       Nga                    Nga
   6. Tch’u                      Tru                    Ch’u
   7. Shun                       Skwi                   Shön
   8. Jih                        Zi                     Ris
   9. Ngo                        Gu                     Anga
  10. Tch’i-tch’i                Chê-chi                Chei-chei

I agree with Mr. Baber that the sound given by Mr. Hodgson for seven is
impossible. The former follows Sir Thomas Wade, who, in transliterating
Chinese characters, uses the letter _j_ to represent a semi-_r_ sound;
and this will account for the seeming difference, which does not
actually exist, in the words for four and eight. To my ear the sound
was sufficiently broad to warrant a full _r_.

White and brown cloaks appeared to be worn indiscriminately by the
Lolos, and during the whole of my passage through their country I
noticed only one exception, and that was a blue cloak with red fringes.
Of this divergence from the usual custom I was unable to find any
satisfactory explanation. When we were strolling in the market at
Hai-t’ang, several loads of China-root--_Pachyma cocos_--passed us on
the way north. This product is found in great abundance in the hills of
Ssŭ-ch’uan, and Yün-nan and is highly esteemed as a medicine.

At Hai-t’ang I thought I had made a discovery that would revolutionize
the whole world of dress. On returning from the market to my inn, I
caught sight of a piece of cloth of somewhat loose texture in the hands
of one of the waiters, and, when examining it, was astonished to learn
that, instead of being washed when dirty, it was thrown into the fire,
which consumed the dirt and left the material itself intact. Shades of
angry washerwomen rose before my mental vision and seemed to curse the
age of invention. Nothing deterred, I promptly put the statement to
the test, and had the pleasure of seeing the cloth extracted from the
fire clean and again ready for use. It was described to me as being
manufactured from the fibrous roots of a grass which grows in the
gullies of the mountains in the neighbourhood. With that inconsistency
which characterises the Chinese, it was called “fire-consuming,” not
“fire-proof” cloth. Reader, it is sometimes very hard to be rudely
undeceived. Must I confess that the only discovery I made was, that
asbestos exists in Western Ssŭ-ch’uan? Washerwomen, your career is not
yet ended!

[Sidenote: _LOLO MARAUDERS._]

An additional escort of Lolos joined us at Hai-t’ang. They wore their
national dress, and the petty officer in command was further ornamented
with a thin oval brass plate, fixed in his left ear by a brass ring. We
left our comfortable quarters to face a snowstorm, and plodded all day
through snow and slush half a foot in depth. Garrisons, each supposed
to be thirty strong, lined the road at intervals of a mile with
guard-houses between. This part of the country, skirting as it does the
western border of independent Lolodom, is the scene of frequent Lolo
raids, whole caravans--goods, animals, and men--being swept off, and
carried into the inaccessible mountains to the east.

Our escorts were now relieved at each garrison, and the men were armed
with swords. Just before entering the Yüeh-hsi plain, a soldier pointed
out the spot where, a few years previously, an army of five thousand
men had invaded Lolodom to punish marauders, and he added that not
a man had returned to tell their fate. The buildings on the plain,
which runs north-east and south-west, are more like watch-towers than
dwelling houses; they have two storeys, but no windows on the ground
floor. We saw numbers of Lolos in the city of Yüeh-hsi T’ing, many
of them nominally in official employ, though, in reality, salaried
hostages for the good behaviour of their tribes. Here our escort was
again strengthened, and, when we left the city on the morning of the
15th of March, we were preceded by an army of gaily-dressed soldiers
armed with flags, pikes, and halberts. The south of the plain is
divided into two valleys by a range of hills; that to the south-east
leads to independent Lolodom, where no Chinese dare venture; through
the other to the south-west runs the road to Ning-yuan Fu and Yün-nan.

The latter gradually narrows, being bounded on the east by precipitous
rocky cliffs, and on the west by sloping heights to a certain extent
amenable to cultivation. In the bed of the valley, which is rough and
stony, were garrisons and guardhouses fully tenanted. Treble stockades
of wooden piles were thrown up round them, but they would be perfectly
useless against a determined raid, there being no escape in case of
defeat except by steep paths leading up the mountain sides into the
country of the Lolos.

During our stay at the small town of Hsiao-shao, which lies at the
end of the valley and at the northern entrance of a narrow pass,
many of my followers were struck down by fever, and I passed a most
uncomfortable night amidst their groans--hardly a suitable preparation
for the morrow, when the Hsiao Hsiang Ling Pass had to be surmounted.
Here I found that there were rogues even among the Lolos. Soon after
our arrival, four ruffian-looking fellows turned up, and announced that
they had been deputed to form my Lolo escort next day. I told them that
I was much gratified at the forethought of their officials, and asked
them to come on the morrow; but they were persistent in their demands
for a gratuity beforehand. This I declined, until their persistence
became an absolute nuisance, when I was weak enough to make them a
small present and trust to their word. Needless to say, they broke it.

Having mounted my sick on ponies, we passed through the south gate
of Hsiao-shao and entered the pass, our approach being heralded by a
musket-shot from the sentry of the Chinese and Lolo guardhouses, which
mark the entrance. A couple of guardhouses could be made out on rocky
heights up the pass to the south-west, and their sentries, warned
by the report of the musket-shot, could be seen standing out darkly
against the snowy mountain behind. The same signal was given by each
sentry as we advanced.

[Sidenote: _ASCENT OF HSIAO HSIANG LING._]

Turning south-west, we soon began the actual ascent of the Hsiao
Hsiang Ling, which, though less precipitous than the Ta Hsiang Ling,
was somewhat troublesome, owing to the greater depth of snow. On the
summit, which is 9800 feet above the level of the sea, we were shrouded
by a white gloom which entirely hid the surrounding country from our
view. The southern slope is gentle, the path, after a short descent,
entering a gorge which leads to the garrison town of Têng-hsiang,
lying at the feet of lofty mountains and occupying the head of a
narrow valley running north and south. Here the soldiery were busy
strengthening the walls at the north gate. When we left by the south
gate next morning, accompanied by an additional escort of bearers
of flags, spears, swords, tridents, and muskets, the peaks of the
mountains bounding the valley on the west side were lit by the rising
sun, throwing the steep pine-clad sides of the eastern range into
gloom. The bed of the valley was wild and uncultivated, but the full
bloom of some wild fruit trees helped to brighten the scene and the
silence was broken only by the humming of bees in search of food. A
range running east and west soon blocks the valley, and the road goes
west through the sub-district of Mien-shan till again intercepted, when
it turns south-west along the left bank of a branch of the An-ning
River. A rocky gorge, with just sufficient room for the stream, then
supervenes, and the road is cut out of the solid rock to within a short
distance of the town of Lu-ku, which lies close to the north-eastern
corner of the great plain of Ning-yuan.

While we were watching the cormorant fishers at the point where the
stream leaves the gorge, a bevy of Lolo women, who had been marketing
at Lu-ku, came up, and afforded us the rare opportunity of a close
inspection. They were chatting and laughing on the way back to their
mountain homes. They wore large round caps of black cloth, _à la_ “Tam
O’ Shanter,” short jackets, and petticoats just long enough not to
conceal their bare feet. A pink strip let into the skirt in front from
waist to foot seemed to be the fashion. Their bodices were fastened
at the neck by embroidered collars decked with silver ornaments and
clasps. Most of them were pretty, but some suffered from loss and
decay of the front teeth. They might, without any great stretch of the
imagination, have been taken for a group of Italian peasant women.

[Sidenote: _ENTRY INTO NING-YUAN._]

On the morning of the 18th of March we left Lu-ku, and, ascending a
low plateau, found ourselves on an immense plain stretching southwards.
The stream which flows by the town is joined, a little to the west,
by another from the north, and the two combined form the An-ning
River, which goes south down the plain and enters the Ta-ch’ung or
Ya-lung, a large tributary of the Yang-tsze, or, as it is here called,
the Chin Chiang--the “Golden River.” Only about twenty miles now
separated us from the prefectural city, but, owing to the sickness of
my followers, who were happily beginning to recover in the face of the
southern breezes blowing the very breath of life into their fevered
and toil-worn frames, we had to divide the distance over a couple of
days. Early in the afternoon of the 19th of March, we crossed the
last spur which projects into the plain from the hills which form its
eastern boundary and, passing through the beautifully cultivated and
well-wooded gardens in the suburbs and then through a busy thoroughfare
alive with pack-animals laden with long hollow cones of salt, we
entered the west gate of Ning-yuan, more generally known in Western
China as Chien-ch’ang Fu.




CHAPTER VII.

THROUGH CAINDU TO CARAJAN.

    Earthquakes--The reception of foreigners at Ning-yuan--The
    fertility of the Ning-yuan plain--Goître and the salt
    supply--Historical hailstorm--A Tibetan caravan--Crossing the
    Ya-lung River--A riot at Hang-chou--Reception at Yen-yuan and
    increased protection--Brine wells of Pai-yen-ching--Driven back
    by mountain barriers--The Yün-nan frontier--A sight of the
    Yang-tsze--Results of the Mohammedan Rebellion--The Lake of the
    Black Mist--On the banks of the Golden River--A deserted town--The
    plague--First glimpse of the snow-capped Tsang-shan--A magnificent
    view--On the shores of the Erh Hai--Ta-li Fu at last.


History records that a terrible earthquake visited the plain of
Chien-ch’ang in the early years of the Ming Dynasty, and that the old
city of Ning-yuan sank bodily into the ground, and gave place to the
large lake which lies to the south-east of the present city. In 1850,
again, according to the information supplied to Mr. Baber, Ning-yuan
was reduced to ruins by a similar catastrophe. If the former tradition
be true, the lake had no existence when Marco Polo passed through
Caindu, and yet we find him mentioning a lake in the country in which
pearls were found. Curiously enough, although I had not then read the
Venetian’s narrative, one of the many things told me regarding the
lake was that pearls are found in it, and specimens were brought to me
for inspection.

[Sidenote: _RECEPTION OF FOREIGNERS AT NING-YUAN._]

Previous to my arrival only two foreigners had visited Ning-yuan, and
that, too, both in 1877. The first, a Roman Catholic French Father,
was stoned and driven from the city. Two months later came Mr. Baber,
who, fortified with instructions issued by a new Viceroy, commanded
the respect of the very official who had incited the attack on the
unfortunate missionary. When I appeared upon the scene, I had the
greatest difficulty in securing quarters, and, while search was being
made, spent an hour the target for thousands of black eyes. But fortune
did not forsake me. As soon as I reached the inn, which was at last
found, a thunderstorm burst over the town, and brought nourishment
to the plain which had been athirst for a month. The arrival of a
foreigner and a copious rainfall were two events which, to their
superstitious minds, could only be cause and effect, and I was soon
waited upon by a deputation of townspeople, who came to thank me for my
timely visit. From an intruder, I was suddenly raised to the rank of a
benefactor.

I took advantage of the presence of the deputation to gather
information regarding the products of the plain and the mineral
resources of the prefecture. Rice, poppy, cotton, safflower, a variety
of fruits, medicines and dyes, cassia, beans, wheat and maize are grown
in their respective seasons, while copper, zinc, and iron are found in
the neighbouring hills. Mulberry trees abound, and silk is produced and
exported to Yün-nan. But the chief product of the plain is white-wax
insects, to which allusion has already been made and which will be
found treated at length in Chapter XI. Pine boards are also a special
export from this region. Immense trees are found deeply embedded in the
soil on the hills, their positions being discovered from lines of pine
sprouts. They are dug up, sawn, and sent north in large quantities.

When I made it known that, instead of proceeding south through Hui-li
Chou to Yün-nan Fu, I was about to attempt the road through Yen-yuan
Hsien to north-western Yün-nan and Ta-li Fu, hundreds of objections
were at once forthcoming. The road was a mere bridle-path impassable
for chairs, there were no inns, no rice, nothing but wilderness. A very
little experience in an Eastern land teaches the traveller to discount
native statements, and I told my men that one of the objects of my
journey was to establish facts, and that I considered it my duty to go
and test the validity of the objections raised.

Leaving Ning-yuan on the 21st of March, we skirted the western edge of
the lake, which is some eight miles long and two to three broad, and
made for the low hills which bound the plain to the south-west. Eight
miles from the city we struck the left bank of the An-ning River, and
having effected a passage at the ferry, we proceeded south over a sandy
waste, whereon close reed fences were erected to keep the sand from
being blown over the cultivated ground. Farther south, the plain was
dotted with mud houses and villages, and the plots of arable land by
which they were surrounded were thickly edged with mulberry trees.

[Sidenote: _FERTILITY OF THE NING-YUAN PLAIN._]

The plain from Lu-ku southwards is noted throughout Western China for
its fertility; but from that point until south of Ning-yuan, the river
flows along the base of the lofty hills bounding the western edge of
the plain, which slopes gently from east to west, and its waters are
little available for purposes of irrigation. The plain, therefore,
depends for the most part upon the rainfall for its water supply, and,
owing as we have seen to the fact that rain had not fallen for a month
previous to our arrival, the cracked and arid ground, with its stunted
crops of poppy, wheat, and beans, presented a striking contrast to the
glowing description we had received of this happy Eldorado. South of
Ning-yuan, however, the plain is perfectly level and the river winding
about in it is extensively utilised for irrigating the fields.

Although fortune usually smiles upon the valley of Chien-ch’ang, the
inhabitants of its many villages are not to outward appearances a
happy race. What strikes the traveller most with regard to them is the
prevalence of the unsightly goître, from which neither sex nor age is
exempt. The natives attribute it to the impure salt from the brine
wells of Pai-yen-ching, within the jurisdiction of Yen-yuan Hsien, and
their belief is, that north of Ning-yuan Fu the salt supply comes from
the northern salt springs, and that where this salt is consumed, goître
is exceedingly rare, while south of Ning-yuan only local salt is used
and goître is excessively common. This can hardly be reconciled with
the statements made to me by the inhabitants of the mountainous regions
of the province of Kuei-chow, where goître is likewise remarkably
prevalent. They were unanimously of opinion that the disease is due
to the salt from the northern springs of Ssŭ-ch’uan, which supply the
entire province of Kuei-chow. But the true origin of the disease is
doubtless to be ascribed to calcareous and other substances held in
solution in the water supply of the districts.

The small town of Ho-hsi, “West of the River,” the first stage from
Ning-yuan, lies in a bend at the foot of a mountain range, which forms
the divide of the An-ning and Ya-lung rivers. It, too, has its story
of war with nature. A small stream from the western mountains flows
through the town on its way to join the river in the plain. In 1881, a
terrific hailstorm swept over mountain and plain; the stream became a
roaring torrent and annihilated nearly the whole town--the number of
killed and drowned being estimated at a thousand souls.

Following up the stream towards its source, we attained, after a few
hours’ climb, the ridge of the mountain, where the roads are worn
out of the solid limestone to a depth of twelve feet by the constant
traffic between the salt springs to the south-west and Ning-yuan Fu.
The steep eastern slope of the mountain was covered with rank coarse
grass, nor did cultivation appear until the ridge was crossed. Even
then there were only a few clearings here and there, and these were
occupied by the large-leaved privet, the pear and other fruit trees,
while the uncultivated ground was clad with stunted pine. Beyond
the ridge, the road, a mere bridle-path, runs west by south along
the mountain side, whence we could make out to the south the green
waters of the Ya-lung River flowing north-east and suddenly bending
southwards, its progress in the former direction being obstructed
by a mountain barrier. As might be expected in such a country,
the population is very scant, and only an occasional hut for the
refreshment of the traveller was to be seen during a day’s journey.

[Sidenote: _A TIBETAN CARAVAN._]

While resting at a solitary tea-house on the mountain side, and
speculating on the advisability and wisdom of attempting this route
in chairs, I perceived in the far south-west a long line of moving
objects coming towards us. Red flags and gaily-caparisoned mules and
ponies warned me that something more than ordinary was approaching.
The red-clad muleteers, armed with swords and spears, and the large
powerful dogs trotting at the heads of the pack-animals, told us that
we were face to face with a Tibetan caravan. It consisted of some fifty
animals laden with medicines, musk, and sundries. Our spirits rose as
we heard that the road was open for pack-animals.

Our resting-place during the night of our second stage from Ning-yuan
was the village of Tei-li-pao, overlooking the Ya-lung River, which we
reached by a steep descent on the following morning. Ascending its left
bank for four miles through dense hedges of prickly pear, growing with
a profusion I have not seen elsewhere in Western China, we crossed it
at the ferry of Ho-pien Hsün, a customs station on its right bank. The
river itself, which is about two hundred yards in breadth, is deep,
and flows with an even current until it reaches the sharp bend which
I have already mentioned, when it lashes itself into foamy billows
against submerged rocks. The Ya-lung is unnavigable, and the only craft
on its green waters were three ferry boats, each about thirty feet
long. From the bed of shingle which lies below the customs station, we
followed for a short distance the right bank, which is here lined with
huge boulders, and then turned south-west up a gully, down which flows
a streamlet to the main river. The country gradually opens out, and
cultivation, which had practically ceased since we left the Ning-yuan
plain, began to reappear on the gentler slopes of the mountain sides to
the south-east.

[Sidenote: _INHOSPITABLE HANG-CHOU._]

Our struggles through the day on the precipitous banks of the Ya-lung
had, we imagined, earned a good night’s repose at the little town of
Hang-chou, which lies on the left bank of the streamlet. In this,
however, we were sadly disappointed. Surmounting a low eminence we
beheld, to our surprise, little but its charred remains, the town
having been destroyed by fire only a few days before. On entering,
we found, as might have been expected, wretched accommodation. The
homeless inhabitants were huddled together in the few houses that had
escaped the ravages of the fire. The mass of idlers seemed to require
some outlet for the superfluous energy which had not yet been expended
in the rebuilding of their homes. Our arrival was their opportunity. No
sooner had we settled down in the apartment which we had the greatest
difficulty in procuring, than we were surrounded by a gaping and
insolent crowd. So insolent and threatening indeed did they become,
that we had to solicit the intervention of the local authority in
suppressing what, to every appearance, was fast becoming a riot. He
came, but his presence was powerless and his commands were unheeded.
He left, and matters assumed a still more serious aspect. A free fight
thereupon resulted between the rioters and my followers. At this point
my intervention became necessary, and, for the first and only time
during my wanderings in China, I was compelled to show my revolver.
Happily for all, the sight of the weapon was sufficient, and, under
its awe-inspiring muzzle, four of the ringleaders, who had threatened
me with death, were arrested. This quelled the riot for the night, but
threats were thrown out of vengeance on the morrow. The local authority
was duly warned, and he was good enough to promise us all available
protection, and to accompany us on the next stage. When day dawned he
was duly present, and we were glad to shake the dust of inhospitable
Hang-chou and its riotous inhabitants from our feet.

The valley in which Hang-chou lies contracts towards the south-west.
Recrossing the stream, the road runs along the mountain side for
some distance; but the mountains soon recede, leaving an undulating
stretch of country rising as we advanced. This we ascended amid low
pines and dense underwood, past numerous unworked copper-mines, until
at its highest point the road is at an elevation little below the
mountain peaks on both sides, now white with snow. Here a thunderstorm
delayed our progress; the brilliancy of the lightning, and the roar
of the thunder echoed and re-echoed from the surrounding mountains,
reflecting credit on the forgers of Zeus. But the chilly hail and the
rude mud hut in which we were compelled to seek shelter for the night,
speedily turned our thoughts from the dreams of classical romance
to the stern actualities of a wanderer’s life. The local authority
of Hang-chou, however, pressed on with his prisoners to the city of
Yen-yuan Hsien, where our non-arrival excited no little consternation
among the authorities, who, anxious as to our safety, sent messengers
and soldiers to ascertain the cause.

With the exception of a short distance where the road zigzags, the
descent to Yen-yuan is easy. We followed a small mountain stream down
a valley for some time, leaving it by a fine level road to the west,
and soon entered the city, which lies on the north-east side of a
plain, backed by a range of high hills running east and west. Here
due satisfaction was given to us for the outrage at Hang-chou, whose
inhabitants, through their unwilling representatives, were taught a
practical, if a painful, lesson as to the treatment of strangers from
the West. The officials were profuse in their apologies and in their
attention to our wants, promising absolute protection as far as the
first city across the Yün-nan frontier--a promise which was faithfully
carried out.

The city of Yen-yuan, though small, is the capital of the district
which borders on the province of Yün-nan, a district rich in copper and
salt, and one of the chief habitats of that industrious and interesting
creature, the white wax insect, which is propagated on the branches
of the _Ligustrum lucidum_, or large-leaved privet. The brine wells
from which the salt is derived lie at Pai-yen-ching, fourteen miles to
the south-west of the city, which we reached by a good road across the
plain, down which one or two rivulets flow north-westwards. The way in
which the farmers manipulate these rivulets for purposes of irrigation
is truly wonderful--here the water ripples in one direction, there in
exactly the opposite. This plain is one of the very few places in the
province of Ssŭ-ch’uan where carts can be utilised for transport.

[Sidenote: _SALT MAKING._]

The brine wells of Pai-yen-ching, mentioned above, are only two in
number, and comparatively shallow, being only fifty feet in depth.
Bamboo tubes, ropes and buffaloes are here dispensed with, and small
wooden tubs, with bamboos fixed to their sides as handles for raising,
are considered sufficient. At one of the wells a staging was erected
half way down, and from it the tubs of brine were passed up to the
workmen above. Passing from the wells to the evaporating sheds, we
found a series of mud furnaces with round holes at the top, into which
cone-shaped pans, manufactured from iron obtained in the neighbourhood,
and varying in height from one to two and a half feet, were loosely
fitted. When a pan has been sufficiently heated, a ladleful of the
brine is poured into it, and, bubbling up to the surface, it sinks,
leaving a saline deposit on the inside of the pan. This process is
repeated until a layer, some four inches thick and corresponding to the
shape of the pan, is formed, when the salt is removed as a hollow cone
ready for market. Care must be taken to keep the bottom of the pan
moist; otherwise the salt cone would crack, and be rendered unfit for
the rough carriage which it experiences on the backs of pack animals. A
soft coal, which is found just under the surface of the yellow-soiled
hills seven miles to the west of Pai-yen-ching, is the fuel used in the
furnaces. The total daily output of salt at these wells does not exceed
two tons a day, and the cost at the wells, including the Government
tax, amounts to about three-halfpence a pound. The area of supply,
owing to the country being sparsely populated, is greater than the
output would lead one to expect.

At the time when Marco Polo passed through Caindu, this country was in
the possession of the Sifans, and there can be little doubt that the
salt cakes, which then constituted the currency, were evaporated at
these very wells. Nor are the Sifans wanting at the present day; they
occupy the country to the west, and are known under the generic name of
Man-tzŭ.

Our progress--I hardly like to use the word--during the five days from
the brine wells of Pai-yen-ching to the frontier of the province of
Yün-nan, a distance of less than forty miles as the crow flies, is
one long story of mountain travelling. Several times did we approach
the frontier, but as often were we driven back, south and south-east,
by impenetrable mountain barriers covered with pine forests. To the
south, the ranges run east and west, and a day’s work, sometimes
lasting as long as thirteen hours, consisted in climbing and descending
steep mountain sides, and in endeavouring, with but poor success, to
circumvent the huge boulders which lay in the beds of streams in the
bottom lands between the mountain ranges, where the road should have
been. Cultivation, as can readily be imagined, was not conspicuous in
such a country; but here we found in abundance the animal best suited
to rugged mountains, the goat. Its flesh, too, was greatly appreciated
where rice could not be procured, and where our supplies had long since
run short. To the west of our route, we found many places inhabited by
Man-tzŭ tribes, whose districts, however, lie principally beyond the
frontier.

[Sidenote: _CLOSE PROXIMITY OF ALIEN RACES._]

At Shao-shang, on the last ridge which has to be crossed before
reaching Yün-nan, six Lolos, deputed by their chief, who had been
apprised of our approach by the Chinese authorities, awaited us to pay
their respects, and as we stood looking at the mountain ranges within
the southern province, one of them, tall and powerful, every inch a
king, stepped forth and did us homage. Here, then, on the very borders
of Ssŭ-ch’uan and Yün-nan, we find the Lolo from the east, the Man-tzŭ
from the west, and the Chinese holding the narrow strip of land which
separates these alien races. Alien races, and what a contrast! On the
east the Lolo, still retaining his distinctive costume, one of a nation
hemmed in, but not absorbed, by the Chinese--on the contrary, able to
raid and carry off into slavery the people of the country bordering
on his territories; on the west the Man-tzŭ, clad in a garb differing
little from that of his conquerors, timid, and ready to flee at the
approach of a stranger. The Man-tzŭ women, however, like the women of
all these different tribes scattered through Western China, retain the
costume of their race, and, though on a less elaborate scale, dress
very much like their European sisters. But the latter have not yet
donned the turban, nor do they care to walk about with unshod feet. The
turbans, which were mostly of brown cloth, were in many cases adorned
with circlets of hogs’ tusks. As among the Lolo women, strings of beads
were the favourite ear-rings.

[Sidenote: _YUNG-PEI T’ING._]

The little border town of Hui-lung-ch’ang, or Mien-hua-ti as it is
locally called, lies at the base of a high mountain range running east
and west. From the summit of the range, which was attained after a five
hours’ climb, we could make out to the south-west seven other ranges
with similar directions, and in the far south a clear glittering ribbon
marked the position of the Chin Chiang, the head-waters of the mighty
Yang-tsze. The tops of these sandstone ranges were clad with dark
pines, while the slopes were covered with rank grass and shrubbery,
among which herds of ponies and water buffaloes and flocks of sheep
and goats were feeding. From Chiu-ya-p’ing, a mud-walled town of some
five thousand inhabitants, surrounded by the two Man-tzŭ tribes--the
Li-su and the Pai-yi--two stages to the south of the Ssŭ-ch’uan-Yün-nan
frontier, where I was most hospitably entertained by a French
missionary on the 3rd of April, two roads lead to Yung-pei T’ing,
the first departmental city within the latter province. Although we
selected what was described to us as the easier road, we were obliged
to make a long detour, and, instead of entering the city from the
north, we actually approached it from the south. It lies in the centre
of a plain some five miles long and two broad, bounded on the north
by a semi-circle of mountains, on the east by a lofty range running
north and south, on the west by gentle hills, and on the south by low
sandstone ridges, fast disintegrating and drifting into the plain. To
the south and east of these ridges were numerous pools of water and a
rivulet, whose edges and banks were covered with thin coatings of soda.
The sturdy little Yün-nan pony which I rode, champed at the bitterness
of the water. Yung-pei itself is a city of very little importance. The
plain on which it stands has a stiff clayey soil, and the beans and
poppy were decidedly below the average of Ssŭ-ch’uan crops. It is,
however, the point where the Burmese trade with Yün-nan by way of Ta-li
Fu stops, and as such deserves mention.

From Yung-pei the road runs south-west to the edge of the plain, and
then over hills clad with pine and oak, until a large expanse of
water lying in a plain running north and south comes into view. On
the hill-side east of the plain we saw the first traces of the great
highway which, prior to the Mohammedan rebellion, is said to have
connected Ta-li with Ssŭ-ch’uan; but wild grass and brushwood have all
but obliterated the remains of the broad paved roadway. The lake, a
fine sheet of clear water, is ten miles long, and at its broadest part
about five miles across, and the road, here also paved, skirts its
eastern shore. On Chinese maps the lake is called the Ch’êng Hai; but
the only name known to the villagers living on its shores is the Hei-wu
Hai-tzŭ, the “Lake of the Black Mist.” Numerous mud villages and
houses dot the plain, but they are all in an advanced stage of decay,
and their inhabitants are evidently well acquainted with poverty, and
are miserably clad even for a hot climate.

We crossed and re-crossed the plain to the south of the lake in
search of the river, which is represented on all maps of China that I
have seen as connecting the lake with the Chin Chiang, the Brius of
Marco Polo. We searched in vain; we crossed one or two deep nullahs
containing a little water, trickling not from, but to the lake. Further
south, however, a brooklet rising in the east of the plain, and
strengthened by another from the west, flows down to the Chin Chiang.
As the river is approached, the plain, a great part of which was lying
waste, while the remainder was growing crops of sugar-cane, cotton,
poppy, and beans, contracts, and is blocked to the south by low hills,
on reaching which the road turns west and south-west to the market-town
of Chin-chiang-kai, on the left bank of the Golden River.

At this point the river presents a striking contrast to its appearance
as it flows through the central and eastern provinces of China. About
three hundred yards in breadth, its clear waters flow gently east over
a bed of shingle, soon, however, to be cooped up in wild mountain
gorges, and ultimately to issue as a turbid, muddy river, to become
more turbid and muddy as it nears the sea. The river was still low;
the melted snows from the Tibetan Mountains had not yet descended to
stir the quietude of its crystal waters; but the granite foundations on
which the houses of Chin-chiang-kai are built, strongly shored as they
are with wooden planks at a height of fifty feet above the shingle-bed,
indicate the addition which the present waters may annually expect.

[Sidenote: _DEVASTATION AND DISEASE._]

Mr. Baber has already disposed of the question of the navigability of
the river at a point very much farther east, and I need only remark
that the queries put by me to the ferrymen on this subject were met
with the answer “impossible.” A few hundred yards to the west of the
town of Chin-chiang-kai, where we had been warmly received by the local
authorities on the previous evening (April 10th), and where we enjoyed
a good night’s repose undisturbed by the low murmurings of the waters
on the pebbly strand, we crossed the river at a point where, flowing
northwards, it bends sharply to the east. The road runs south along the
soft shingle forming the right bank of the river, which is frequently
concealed in its deep sandy bed as it skirts the western edge of the
plain. Anon it touches the eastern edge, and at this point we looked
up a long reach of the river as it flows from the west eastward, till,
blocked by bold rocky heights which have repulsed its attacks, it has
been compelled to seek a northern course. The roadway crosses these
rocky heights and descends to the right bank of a stream, which is lost
in the mighty river at the bend.

The plain or valley down which the stream flows has a most unenviable
notoriety. Little can be seen in it but the ruins caused by the
Mohammedan rebellion. Here a town enclosed by four walls, with open
gates and streets covered with wild grass, deserted, desolate; there,
the remains of houses and villages concealed under a luxuriant growth
of shrubbery and cactus. Notice, too, the blackened walls which have
been licked by the flames that accompanied the sword of the Mohammedans
or their conquerors. Sad enough truly, but not all. A dreadful plague
annually sweeps down the valley and mows down its inhabitants. Can
it be wondered that few people care to risk their existence in the
plague-stricken hollow, and that accommodation unworthy of the name is
all that can be obtained? I managed to distribute my followers over
the small village of Huang-chia-p’ing; but I was unfortunate enough to
be laid up with an attack of fever, which compelled us to remain for a
couple of days in a small mud stable without door or window.

But we were within three days’ journey of Ta-li Fu, and the hope of
reaching a state of comparative comfort spurred us on in spite of our
enfeebled condition. From Huang-chia-p’ing the road at first runs
west through uncultivated ground. Stone dykes peeping out here and
there through rank grass and cactus, were the only traces of former
cultivation; but as the road turns south-west, patches of poppy and
wheat began to appear along the banks of the stream flowing north-east
down the valley, and the farther we advanced the more numerous became
the signs of tillage, while the slopes of the mountains flanking the
valley were covered with tall grass and dwarf fir and oak. As we
approached Ta-wang-miao, our eyes were gladdened, though the picture
was blurred and imperfect, by the first glimpse, through the white-hot
haze of the afternoon sun, of the summits of the Tsang-shan range
capped with snow, at the base of which lies Ta-li Fu, the capital of
Marco Polo’s Western Carajan.

[Sidenote: _PICTURESQUE SCENERY._]

Dense hedgerows of sweetbriar and bramble in full bloom lined the
pathway to the north and south of Ta-wang-miao and greatly impeded our
advance. At a distance from the pathway, patches of ground were bright
with the purple and white flowers of the poppy, while high up, white
shining gravestones peeped out from the tall grass with which the hills
on both sides of the valley were covered. A ridge still hid all but the
summits of the Tsang-shan from our view; but when we had traversed the
reddish flat which stretches north-west from the brow, a magnificent
panorama of plain, mountain, and lake lay before us. We struck the
eastern rim of the plain near the northern shore of the Erh Hai, in
whose crystal waters, stretching southwards, the snow-capped summits
of the range bounding the western edge of the plain were clearly
reflected. We felt, as we gazed on the brilliant picture, that we were
more than rewarded for our toilsome journey. Descending the eastern
rim, we soon reached the northern margin of the lake, in skirting which
we crossed a couple of streams which enter it from the north. A small
temple, perched on a rocky height, stands clear out of the waters in
the northern part of the lake. Than such a spot it would have been hard
to find a better vantage ground from which to view the picture. The
valleys to the north were full of poppies, and the white fields, which
stretched along the western shore, confused the eye as they merged and
were lost in the glitter of the lake.

The villages to the north of Shang-kuan--the “Upper Fortress”--are
inhabited by a race called the Min-chia, no doubt Shans, who differ in
manners, language, and, to a certain extent, in dress from the Chinese.
Like the Man-tzŭ, they are timid in the extreme, and afraid that by
fraternizing with a stranger they might compromise themselves with the
Chinese. As we entered the gates of Shang-kuan on the 15th of April, I
thought of the members of the French Commission, who, in 1868, narrowly
escaped from it with their lives, and of the stout-hearted missionary
who braved the anger of the Sultan on their behalf. Père Leguilcher
still lives; he no longer hides in caves and woods, but spends a
peaceful life within the very walls of Ta-li itself. At Shang-kuan we
made the acquaintance of several Ku-tsung, a Tibetan tribe inhabiting
the country to the north-west of Li-chiang Fu; but the term Ku-tsung
is also applied by the people of Ta-li to Tibetans generally, and is
synonymous with the Hsi-tsang of other parts of China. The road from
Shang-kuan runs south along the plain, dividing the cultivated land,
which stretches east to the edge of the lake, from the stony and
rougher ground, which stretches west to the bases of the Tsang-shan,
near which it is covered with mounds--the resting-places of the
Mohammedan dead. Passing through the ruins which line the approach to
the city, we entered the north gate of the capital of Western Carajan,
and were welcomed by the Chinese authorities and no less heartily by
the French and English missionaries within its walls.




CHAPTER VIII.

TA-LI FU TO YÜN-NAN FU.

    A view from the walls of Ta-li--The Mohammedan Rebellion--A dying
    patriot’s prayer--Tibetan dogs--Amherst pheasants--A visit to
    the marble quarries--False musk--Min-chia maidens--The Ta-li
    plain--Playful gusts from the Tsang-shan--Good-bye, Ta-li--A
    folklore hunting ground--The Erh Hai and the Mekong--Trade
    with Upper Burmah--Canton peddlers--Hsia-kuan, or the “Lower
    Fortress”--Ruined cities--Wretched roads--Half-starved--The
    foreigner and the camel--Marked courtesy at Ch’u-hsiung Fu--Yün-nan
    salt wells--A sackful of mails--A roadside trial--Across the
    Yün-nan lake--Three days in Yün-nan Fu--Trade with Western China,
    and the introduction of railways.


“The pen is mightier than the sword.” But the pen has not yet been
manufactured which is able to present a living picture of Ta-li Fu and
its environs. I have read the few published descriptions of the scene,
and, good though some of them undoubtedly are, how short, how far short
they all fall of the reality! I would fain throw down this worthless,
halting pen, and leave the grandeur to the imagination of the reader,
and, if I venture to daub a few rough outlines on the canvas, I must
beg that full play be given to the imagination in adding the finishing
touches.

On the afternoon of a day towards the end of April 1883, I stood on the
north-west angle of the walls of the city of Ta-li. Overhead, white
fleecy clouds were floating eastward across the azure blue, veiling,
at short intervals, the warm glow of the declining sun. To the north
stretched a plain studded with villages peeping through the light green
of encircling trees, beginning to array themselves in the garb of
summer. Three miles to the west the Tsang-shan range, serrated, capped
with snow, towered seven thousand feet above the plain, itself nearly
seven thousand feet above the level of the sea. Three miles to the
east, the western shore of a fine sheet of water, which runs the whole
length of the plain and is backed by high hills which rise from its
eastern margin, was lost among the glistening white poppy fields, which
seemed to merge in the silver beyond; and specks of white, favoured
by the cool breezes from the snows, were skimming over the bosom of
the glorious lake. Wait a moment. The sun is now half hidden by the
white belt of snow. He is gone. Darker and yet darker grows the face of
the giant range, throwing into still greater prominence the numerous
gullies down which flow the icy rills to nurture the plain and then
lose themselves in the waters of the Erh Hai. How calm, how peaceful!

From these I am loth to turn to the city itself and account for its
ruined condition. Within this walled square of about four miles in
circumference there are only two good streets, which cross each other
at right angles and terminate at the four gates. What of the rest?
It consists of ruined and dilapidated houses and cultivated plots of
land. During the Mohammedan rebellion, Ta-li was the centre round which
the fiercest struggle raged. When the rebellion broke out, it was
seized by the insurgents and held by them until they surrendered to the
Imperialist forces which beleaguered the city. Then occurred that scene
of bloodshed, butchery, and destruction, the like of which, happily, is
to be witnessed in uncivilised countries only. Extermination was the
order passed along the ranks of the besiegers, and the streets of Ta-li
were quickly turned into shambles ankle-deep in blood. Men, women,
and children who managed to elude the murderers fled into the fields
bordering on the lake, into which they were ultimately hunted like wild
beasts, preferring death by drowning to mutilation, defilement, and
massacre.

[Sidenote: _A DYING PATRIOT’S PRAYER._]

This, then, was the answer to the prayer of the Mohammedan leader,
Tu Wên-hsiu, when he surrendered to the besiegers. The interview
is graphically described by Mr. Baber:--“When the Mohammedans had
surrendered and given up their arms, Tu Wên-hsiu, the so-called
‘Sultan,’ came into the camp of the besiegers, borne in a sedan chair,
and inquired for Ma, the Imperialist commander. Being introduced into
his presence, he begged for a cup of water, which being given him,
he said, ‘I have nothing to ask but this--spare the people.’ He then
drank the water and almost immediately expired. It appears that he had
taken poison, which was suddenly brought into action by the water.
His head was immediately cut off and exposed, and, heedless of his
prayer--probably the most impressive and pathetic ever uttered by a
dying patriot--the victors proceeded to massacre the helpless garrison
and townsfolk.”

More fortunate than the members of the Grosvenor Mission, who were
lodged in an inn where a thousand Mohammedans were cooped up and
butchered in cold blood, I was, through the kindness and hospitality
of Mr. George Andrew, of the China Inland Mission, provided with a
comfortable room in his house, where I rested a fortnight before
turning my face toward Ch’ung-k’ing. During my stay I visited the lake,
the marble quarries in the Tsang-shan, and the annual fair which was
being held outside the west gate. I was also fortunate in being able
to witness a review of about five thousand troops, which took place on
the parade ground close to the Mission House. I was most courteously
received by the Commander-in-chief of Western Yün-nan, and the Taotai,
who claimed to be an old friend--having travelled in my company to
Yün-nan Fu the previous year--was kindness itself.

As to the fair, I can add little to the description of it given by
Mr. Baber. The Ku-tsung, or Tibetan men and women, were present with
their encampments and wares in great numbers, and I was so charmed
with their fine powerful dogs that I endeavoured to procure one. The
idea had, however, to be abandoned, for the animal brought to me for
inspection required the whole strength of a Tibetan to keep him in
check. Had I bought the dog, which was offered for ten taels, I should
have had to engage his keeper also. I succeeded in purchasing a tiger
and two leopard skins, unprepared of course, for a sum equivalent to
a little over two guineas, and, for several hundred cash, a couple of
live Amherst pheasants, which I carried in baskets to Ch’ung-k’ing.
This beautiful variety of _phasianidae_, now common enough in Europe,
is very abundant in Western Yün-nan, where its tail-feathers are highly
prized for decking pack-animals. They are inserted, several together,
in the brow of the bridle, and wave over the animal’s head. Trade
is dear to the Chinese heart. I found that, while I was buying, my
followers were rapidly disposing, at an immense profit, of a bundle of
razors which they had carried all the way from Ch’ung-k’ing.

[Sidenote: _MARBLE QUARRIES._]

Small slabs of white marble streaked with dark green, and supposed
to represent trees, mountains, and lakes, were extensively exposed
for sale in the shops and on street stalls. Their abundance pointed
to a very considerable industry, the working of which I resolved to
see for myself. One morning, taking a few men with me and a guide, I
left the city by the north gate, and, proceeding over the plain in a
north-westerly direction, struck, in a couple of hours, the base of
the mountains where the ascent to the quarries begins. A stiff climb
of over three thousand feet through a botanist’s paradise landed us at
the mouth of a quarry, where a number of men were bringing out blocks
of pure white marble. I told the workmen that I was anxious to see
streaked marble in the rough; but they innocently replied that such
marble was rare indeed, and that they considered themselves lucky if
they came across such a block in the course of a year. Whence, then,
all the streaked marble? The villagers on the plain can answer the
question, for to them is confided the polishing, painting, and baking
of the slabs, and the filling up of inequalities with bees’ wax.
A scene to suit a purchaser’s taste can be ordered in advance. The
inhabitants of the Ta-li plain are not behind their brothers on the
eastern seaboard. A couple of pods of musk, which had been purchased
for a trifle at the fair, were brought to me to look at; although to
outward appearances they were intact, a close inspection revealed that
they had been opened, and again carefully closed by means of a needle
and thread. Their buyer probably paid a high price for all the musk
which they contained.

From the quarries a splendid panorama of plain and lake stretched
below us. To the north lay Shang-kuan, with its extended southern wall
connecting the lake with the western mountains--the northern defence
of the city and plain. Hsia-kuan--the “Lower Pass or Fortress”--was
concealed by mountain spurs, which creep into the plain to the south
of the city. The two pagodas, each of thirteen storeys, which grace
the plain between the city and the Tsang-shan, and which are built of
bricks stamped with Tibetan characters, looked in the distance like
inverted clubs. As we sat drinking in this never-to-be-forgotten scene,
a number of Min-chia maidens, with bundles of pine branches on their
backs, passed swiftly down the mountain side. The most striking part
of their dress was a close-fitting black cloth cap, shaped very like a
fireman’s helmet, and adorned with rows of white beads. Our appearance,
I regret to say, somewhat hastened their movements.

As might naturally be expected, the half of the Ta-li plain which lies
near the foot of the Tsang-shan range, is less fertile than the eastern
half. It consists of stones, pebbles, and gravel, which have been
quickly dropped by the mountain streams, while the finer particles of
mud have been carried along to add to the soil of the half bordering
on the lake. The shores of the lake itself are composed of fine yellow
sand thickly scattered with a variety of large shells. Cold water,
whether for drinking or washing, is abhorrent to the Chinese; and when,
on reaching the lake one day, I expressed my desire to engage a small
boat at a fishing hamlet to take me out for a swim, my local escort
stood aghast and tried to dissuade me with all sorts of imaginary
dangers. The end of it was that we were soon, escort included, at a
distance from the shore; and my little dog and I, followed by our
guardians in the boat, disported ourselves for a quarter of an hour,
chasing each other in the clear cool lake. The fish in the lake, to
judge from the specimens I saw caught, belong to the carp family.

[Sidenote: _CHINESE PREJUDICE._]

As a general rule, the Chinese, as I have just remarked, abhor to eat
or drink anything cold; but in Ta-li, snow mixed with sugar is eagerly
devoured by the people in summer. This brings me to the question of
perpetual snow on the Tsang-shan range, and, although snow is visible
on the plain for only ten months, yet there can be no doubt that it is
found during the other two months in the crevices near the summit, and
can be bought in the streets throughout the whole year. The temperature
even in summer is delightful; the wind sweeps down from the snows in
sudden gusts and cools the atmosphere of the plain. Of these sudden
gusts I had myself a somewhat startling experience. As we neared the
city on the day of our arrival, the large heavy top of my official
chair, weighted though it was with pens, ink, paper, and thermometers,
was lifted up bodily and carried into an adjacent field. Another effect
of the presence of the Tsang-shan is that the crops are always late,
the early setting of the sun behind the range depriving the plain of
two hours’ daily sunshine.

So pleasant had been our stay in Ta-li that I was troubled with a heavy
heart when, on the morning of the 2nd of May, everything was ready for
a fresh start, and I had to bid good-bye to my kind host, who worked
at his remote station with a heartiness and a will that I have not
seen surpassed. To me, Ta-li and its surroundings had become a kind
of paradise, and had it not been that duty called me back to my post,
I would fain have lingered there during the summer months. Passing
through the south gate we entered a long-ruined suburb, which in
former years must have been very extensive. Streets and cross streets
are numerous; but the floors of the fallen houses have been converted
into vegetable gardens. There is, indeed, a legend that in palmier
days this suburb ran as far as Hsia-kuan, a busy town on the high-road
which connects China and Upper Burmah, ten miles to the south of Ta-li.
Frontier towns are noted, however, as the cradle of romance, and, if I
could remember half the myths which were related to me about the White
Prince of the “Country of the Golden Teeth,” of which Ta-li is a part,
they would make a very interesting volume. The object of my journey
was, fortunately or unfortunately, to collect facts, not fables; but
to the student of folklore, untrammelled with trade statistics, I can
confidently recommend the Ta-li plain as a happy hunting-ground. The
lake is drained by a river which, leaving its south-western corner,
divides Hsia-kuan into two parts, and then goes west and south to join
the Mekong, or, as it is called in China, the Lan-tsang Chiang.

[Sidenote: _CHINESE TRADE WITH BURMAH._]

Some days previous to my departure from Ta-li, I despatched my writer
to Hsia-kuan to collect all available information on the subject of
Chinese trade with Burmah; and, on my arrival there, I spent some time
in overhauling the statistics which he had amassed, and in obtaining
corroborative evidence. This, added to valuable information which
I subsequently obtained from a gentleman in Bhamo, led me to the
conclusion that the total annual value of the trade between Western
China and Burmah amounted at that time to about half a million
sterling. As we were discussing trade matters in the inn, a crowd of
Canton peddlers turned up, and grinned from ear to ear at the strange
apparition of a foreigner so far from the seaboard. They were a
rough-looking lot; instead of the usual carrying pole, at the ends of
which the loads are swung, each was provided with a wooden spear fitted
with a long iron blade, from which dangled an antiquated horse-pistol.
They were on their way to Ta-li to exchange their wares for new opium.
Hsia-kuan lies much nearer to the nearest point on the Burmese frontier
than to Yün-nan Fu, and, had I possessed the necessary authority, how
gladly would I have gone west to Bhamo. It was not to be, and I had
to content myself with walking to the western end of the town, and
looking longingly in the direction of our Indian Empire, so near, and
yet to remain unvisited.

There is little for me to add to the descriptions given by Margary,
and by Messrs. Baber and Davenport of the Grosvenor Mission, of the
country between Ta-li Fu and Yün-nan Fu. After our experiences of the
Chien-ch’ang valley, it was so tame and monotonous that I resolved to
push on with all despatch, and we succeeded in covering the distance
of two hundred odd miles in thirteen days without resting. Of the six
cities which lie on the high-road, the only one that may be singled
out for special mention is Ch’ao Chou, the end of the first stage
from Ta-li. It showed more promising signs of revival than any of the
others. Chên-nan Chou, Ch’u-hsiung Fu, Kuang-t’ung Hsien, Lu-fêng
Hsien, and An-ning Chou were in a very dilapidated condition. In
most of them the walls, which were breached, had not been repaired;
nor within the walls was there any marked indication of returning
prosperity. In many of the villages, however, building operations were
going forward apace. To say that the road was best where there was no
road may seem paradoxical. It is nevertheless true, for, where the
paving had disappeared, fine battened sand or clay gave an excellent
foothold except when it rained. In many places paved mounds rose in
the middle of the roadway, and these were carefully avoided by man and
beast. Not unfrequently, too, so distorted was the paving that it had
every appearance of having been convulsed by an earthquake.

[Sidenote: _CURIOSITY DOMINANT._]

East of Ch’ao Chou the cities occupy valleys drained by streams,
which go north to join the Yang-tsze. Between the valleys are hill
ranges covered with pine, oak, and brushwood, affording excellent cover
for game. It was no uncommon occurrence for half a dozen pheasants
to rise from the cover by the roadside, startled at our approach,
and drop within easy range. Poppy, wheat, and beans occupied the few
patches of ground under cultivation among the hills. On the third day
from Ta-li we skirted the southern shore of a large lake, called the
Ch’ing-lung Hai, which was literally covered with duck. An incident
which occurred the same evening photographed that picture on my mind.
We lodged for the night in the miserable village of Yün-nan-yi,
where, with an exhausted larder, I could get nothing to eat for love
or money. It is not a very pleasant position to be stranded in the
dark without food, and to know that only a few miles off there are
thousands of duck cackling to their hearts’ content. On the whole, I
thought it as well to take the matter philosophically, so I smoked
vigorously for an hour to ward off hunger, and then went to bed. Next
day at noon, while I sat in my chair in the street which constitutes
the village of Shui-p’ang-p’u, breaking my fast by devouring a couple
of hard boiled eggs, I found myself the object of intense attraction
to the inhabitants, who were parading backwards and forwards with a
business air that seemed somewhat out of harmony with their wretched
surroundings. Their curiosity was still unsatisfied when the head, and
gradually the ponderous body, of a camel appeared at the other end of
the street. In a moment we were deserted, and as we left the village
we looked back, and saw the whole population following the camel
westwards.

On the seventh day from Ta-li we reached the remains of the prefectural
city of Ch’u-hsiung, where we were received with marked attention
and courtesy at the hands of the local authorities. A mile from the
city a temporary reception room was erected, and a captain, with a
file of soldiers, awaited our arrival, and conducted us to a spacious
inn outside the west gate; and early next morning the same ceremony
was repeated outside the east gate. On the 10th of May we lodged for
the night in the village of Shê-tz’ŭ, to the immediate west of which
branches a road to the chief salt wells in the province, about fifty
miles to the north. Up to this point, nothing of commercial importance
had been noticed going eastward; but from Shê-tz’ŭ to Yün-nan Fu
there was one long string of caravans laden with pan salt. From the
east came caravans of cut tobacco from Chao-chou Fu, in the Canton
province, straw hats, and tin from the Kuo-chiu-ch’ang mines in the
district of Mêng-tzŭ, in the south of the province. They were bound for
Ta-li and the west of Yün-nan. The tobacco was said to be in exchange
for tin exported from the above-named mines to Tonquin. Soon after
leaving Shê-tz’ŭ we came upon a man carrying a sack, the contents of
which--seven bundles of despatches, letters, and papers forwarded to me
from Ch’ung-k’ing--were soon emptied by the road-side. At Ta-li, Père
Leguilcher favoured me with a perusal of the latest telegrams which he
had received by native post from Ch’ung-k’ing, where all the important
items of news appearing in the Shanghai papers are translated by,
and printed under the superintendence of, my friend Père Vinçot, and
forwarded to the various Mission Stations throughout the West of China.

[Sidenote: _A ROADSIDE TRIAL._]

While I was deep in the middle of my letters, my escort came up with
a man they had made a prisoner, and I at once proceeded to hold a
roadside investigation. The charge brought against him was that he had
allowed one of the animals of his caravan to push one of my baggage
waggons, with a bearer, down a gully which the road skirted, much to
the damage of the baggage and the injury of the bearer. An examination
of the former failed to prove any damage, while the latter had escaped
with a few skin-deep bruises about the face. After a prolonged inquiry,
I found that both parties were to blame; but I added a rider that I was
of opinion that the chief blame lay with the local authorities, who
allowed the road to remain in such a frightful condition. My own men
grumbled at the decision; but I ordered the immediate release of the
driver, and advised him to hurry back to his caravan as fast as his
legs could carry him--which he did.

A noble stone bridge of seven arches--the most substantial and
artistic I have seen in Western China--spans a stream which flows
southwards to the west of the district city of Lu-fêng, on its way to
swell the Song-koi. The city itself is badly ruined; but the plain in
which it lies contrasts very favourably in an agricultural point of
view with the valley occupied by the next city to the east--An-ning
Chou. The latter suffered severely during the rebellion. The walls
lie where they fell, the gates are wanting, and the whole scene was
dreary, desolate, and dead. There is, indeed, a local industry of
inconsiderable proportions. In the eastern part of the city are three
wells, about a hundred feet deep, containing weak brine, which, on
being passed through earth, leaves a saline deposit. From this, which
is collected and placed in water, salt is evaporated and consumed
locally. The river which drains the Yün-nan Fu lake flows north under
the eastern wall of the ruined city to the Yang-tsze. The village and
tax-station of Pi-chi-kuan crowns the last ridge that has to be crossed
before descending into the large plain, wherein lie the provincial
capital and the lake. Instead of following the high-road we made for
the north-western margin of the lake, and at the fishing village of
Kao-ch’iao engaged a couple of junks, which bore us eastward, with
the aid of a stiff breeze, past beds of tall reeds sheltering teal,
duck, and geese, to within a short distance of the western wall of the
capital.

In Yün-nan Fu I found Mr. Mesny, of the Chinese Military Service, whom
I had met eleven weeks before in Ch’êng-tu. He had now made up his mind
to proceed to Canton by way of the West River, and he was good enough
to give me the first offer of his horse and mule, which he could easily
have disposed of to Chinese. I closed with his offer, and a bargain
was soon struck. The same kind hospitality was held out to me by the
members of the French and China Inland Missions as on my previous
visit, and I spent three very pleasant days with old and new friends.

Three roads lead from Yün-nan Fu to Ch’ung-k’ing; there is the road by
way of Tung-ch’uan and Chao-t’ung to the Yang-tsze, and the road by way
of Kuei-yang, the capital of the province of Kuei-chow. Both of these
routes I traversed in 1882. But there is an intermediate road which,
leaving the high-road to Kuei-yang at Chan-i Chou, goes north and east
through the north-west corner of Kuei-chow to the Yung-ning River and
the Yang-tsze, and this route I now decided to follow.

[Sidenote: _PROSPECTIVE TRADE OUTLOOK._]

Before giving a description of this country, however, I must say a
word about the West of Yün-nan, and the prospects of trade across
the Burmese frontier. The most casual reader will have observed that
the province of Yün-nan is covered with ruined cities, towns, and
villages; that its soil, fruitful without a doubt, is only partly
cultivated; and that its population is exceedingly scant. True it is,
immigration is taking place from the northern province of Ssŭ-ch’uan,
and lands laid waste by the rebellion are being taken up; but the
process is very slow, for, among the hardy Ssŭ-ch’uanese, Yün-nan
has an evil name, and they are loth to quit their own productive
fields to till what is at present inferior land. Room must, however,
be found for the ever-increasing population of Ssŭ-ch’uan, which is
surely destined to develop both Kuei-chow and Yün-nan; yet many years
must elapse before such a happy consummation can be effected. Until
that time comes, no great development of our trade with Western China
through Burmah need be looked for. It will be said that these are the
views of a pessimist, and that the introduction of railways would put
new life into the country. Granted that there are people foolish
enough to furnish capital for the construction of railways through an
impossible country--that is, supposing the necessary permission to have
been obtained--I have yet to learn that there can be trade without
trade-products, and that shareholders would expect no remuneration
from their capital. It will be time enough to think of railways when
half the province of Yün-nan is under cultivation and some of its dead
industries have been revived.




CHAPTER IX.

THROUGH THE WEST OF KUEI-CHOW TO THE YANG-TSZE.

    The advantages of scholars _en route_ for examination--High-road
    converted into a reservoir--Quartered in a chimney--Intolerable
    inquisitiveness--Travellers, beware of T’ang-t’ang!--The
    Yün-nan-Kuei-chow border--Lakes and their drainage--Again among the
    Miao-tzŭ--The valley of the Ch’i-hsing River--Bark paper--“Heaven’s
    Bridge” and its mining catastrophe--The copper traffic--Across the
    Ch’ih-shui River into Ssŭ-ch’uan--Over the Hsüeh-shan Pass--A child
    of nature--A refractory roadside deity--Down the Yung-ning River--A
    narrow escape--Down the Yang-tsze to Ch’ung-k’ing.


Having in a previous chapter described the country between Kuei-yang
Fu and the capital of Yün-nan, I need offer no apology for requesting
my reader to accompany me once more into the plain of Chan-i Chou, now
yellow with golden wheat, and thus obviate the necessity of describing
another weary ride over the red uplands of Eastern Yün-nan. Yet I would
fain impart that confidence which was placed in me by some scholars who
were my companions during these five stages; and, to this end, I must
first say a few words on the subject of competitive examinations in
China.

With few exceptions, these examinations are open to any candidate who
thinks he possesses sufficient ability to pass. The lowest degree is
that of licentiate, and the examination takes place at the capital of
the prefecture within which the candidate’s district happens to be.
The next degree is that of provincial graduate, the examination for
which is also triennial, and is held in the capital of the province.
The candidates for this second degree are mostly those who have taken
the degree of licentiate in open competition. The competition for
the highest degree, that of metropolitan graduate, takes place at
Peking in the year following the examinations for provincial graduates
throughout the Empire, to whom alone it is open. Success in this final
examination is always a certain stepping-stone to official employment.
I speak of the civil, not of the military service. To provincial
graduates proceeding to compete at the metropolis, passes are issued
on application, and these, pasted on their cases, exempt their baggage
from examination and taxation _en route_. This is no small matter,
for a graduate’s effects usually consist of some of the products or
manufactures of his province, for which he can find a ready market
in Peking. My companions were three in number, and they were jointly
interested in a caravan of seventeen pack-animals laden with protected
cases, which they unhesitatingly told me contained opium and marble
from Ta-li. It would be a consideration to many a Scotch student if,
in going up to London to compete in the Civil Service Examinations,
they were allowed to carry with them as baggage a few kegs of duty-free
whiskey!

[Sidenote: _QUARTERED IN A CHIMNEY._]

In parts of the Chan-i plain, which we entered on the afternoon of the
22nd of May, some little anxiety was being manifested as to the supply
of water for irrigation purposes. At one spot we found the high-road
dammed, and my followers had to doff their nether garments before they
could get through. The luckless peasants did not escape considerable
abuse. “How dare you,” rose the angry shouts, “turn the roads into
reservoirs?” A low undulating plateau, only partly cultivated, succeeds
the plain to the north-east. The few villages dotted about were partly
concealed in groves of walnut trees, and the encircling crops of
oats, potatoes, beans, buckwheat, Indian corn, wheat, and poppy were
decidedly inferior. What else could be expected of a light clay soil?
There was one redeeming feature about this plateau, however, which
should not be passed over. The roads were available for cart-traffic.
Would our quarters be sufficiently comfortable to detain us over the
24th of May? was the question that occupied my mind as I rode into the
village of Lai-yuan-p’u on the evening of the 23rd, drenched to the
skin, and far in advance of my followers. We had been overtaken in the
open by a tremendous rain-storm, and I left the caravan and pushed on
for shelter. I immediately selected the loft as my share of the inn,
and everything promised well until my men turned up, when a fire had to
be lit to dry their clothes and cook our food. It was only then that I
discovered that the smoke had no outlet except through the loft, that
I had, in fact, taken up my quarters in the chimney of the inn. The
loft had to be abandoned for a mud cell on the ground floor, and the
morrow’s holiday had to be dispensed with.

To the north of Lai-yuan-p’u the road passes through a short barrier
of rocky heights, and enters a small plain containing a village and
a lakelet to the north-east of it. To this succeeds an undulating,
all but uncultivated, rain-washed plateau, where the road was in many
places swept away--deep nullahs showing the direction the torrents had
taken. This plateau was not altogether without value, for it contained
numerous wells or pits whence coloured clays for the manufacture of
earthenware were being extracted.

Here the people were of a very inquisitive turn of mind. To have to
take one’s meals in a chair is bad enough--infinitely preferable,
nevertheless, to a smoky, dirty, mud cell; but to be surrounded by a
mob of gaping men, women, and children, watching every mouthful, does
not tend to the preservation of temper, and it required all the banter
I could command to make even a temporary impression and keep the peace.
This was our experience a few miles to the south of Hsüan-wei Chou, the
last city through which we had to pass before entering the province of
Kuei-chow.

This city, which is of very little importance, lies on the left bank
of a stream flowing south-east to swell the West River, and not the
Yang-tsze, as some map-makers would try to make us believe. Coal and
iron are both found in the neighbourhood, and a coolie, with a load of
the latter on his back, asked us whether it was the case, as he had
heard, that the Governor-General of Yün-nan and Kuei-chow was in want
of all the available metal for the manufacture of guns. I regretted my
inability to satisfy the curiosity of this would-be trader. Lime is
also found and was being extensively used as manure.

[Sidenote: _TRAVELLERS, BEWARE OF T’ANG-T’ANG!_]

T’ang-t’ang, the terminus of the first stage from and to the north-east
of Hsüan-wei, is approached through a series of narrow valleys
separated by precipitous hills. It lies on a hill-side near the meeting
of two streams. How well I remember the miserable village! Travellers,
beware of T’ang-t’ang! Its bugs were ravenous, and a sorry figure we
all cut next day as we hurried to the Kuei-chow frontier.

From T’ang-t’ang the road ascends northwards to the hamlet of
Mu-kua-shao, whence commences a steep descent to a narrow valley which
leads to the K’o-tu River flowing east. On the way down, we passed
through the hamlet of Shui-t’ang-p’u, insignificant in itself, but
destined at some future time to be of greater importance.

A few hundred yards to the south-east of the hamlet there is a silver
mine, which may some day prove productive. The owners bewailed to me
their inability to make the mine do more than pay the expenses of
working. Yet what could be expected from the ordinary Chinese furnace
which was employed to smelt the ore?

Although a narrow strip of land on the north bank of the river is
within the jurisdiction of Yün-nan, the K’o-tu may, for all practical
purposes, be considered the boundary at this point of the Yün-nan and
Kuei-chow provinces.

A plaited bamboo rope was stretched across the river--about sixty feet
broad--and used by the ferrymen for hauling their boat backwards and
forwards. High cliffs, up which the road zigzags, form the north bank
and tower above the river. This borderland is very rich in metals;
silver, as I have just said, is found to the south of the river, and to
the immediate north copper and lead are both worked. The copper reefs
would appear to run right across Southern Ssŭ-ch’uan and north-eastern
Yün-nan into the west of Kuei-chow.

Wei-ning Chou, the first city within the Kuei-chow borders, is
picturesquely situated on rising ground, a few hundred yards from the
northern margin of the eastern portion of a large lake, which, like
the smaller basins a few miles to the north, would appear to have
no outlet. The same phenomenon, if it may be called a phenomenon,
is observable in the Chao-t’ung plain in north-eastern Yün-nan. We
have already seen, however, that underground rivers are very common
in Kuei-chow and Yün-nan, and it is not impossible that the surplus
waters of the lake may find their way by underground channels into the
head-waters of the K’o-tu River, which is over a thousand feet below
the level of the Wei-ning plain. To reach the city we skirted the
eastern shore of the lake, crossing a small three-arched stone bridge
which spans a rivulet draining a valley to the south-east and entering
the lake. To the north-east of Wei-ning, the paved road, which runs
through small basins full of coal, was in such an excellent state of
repair that our animals fought shy of it, preferring the rough grassy
ground through which it passes. Here we found ourselves again among
Miao-tzŭ, busy tilling their fields. The women were as usual clad in
their native dress, while the men wore coarse hempen clothes in Chinese
style.

[Sidenote: _“LEATHER” PAPER._]

Twenty miles north of Wei-ning, the road goes east for four days
through rough mountainous country to the busy city of Pi-chieh Hsien,
on the left bank of a tributary of the Wu Chiang, and nearly 5000 feet
above the level of the sea. Twenty-five miles to the east of the city
is the second depression of any importance on the road from Yün-nan
Fu to the Yang-tsze. This depression forms the bed of the Ch’i-hsing
River, one of the two main branches of the Wu Chiang, and is little
more than four thousand feet above the level of the sea. The river is
crossed by a stone bridge of two arches, with spans of eighteen and
fifteen yards respectively, with a centre pier five yards broad, so
that the total breadth of the Ch’i-hsing at this point is thirty-eight
yards. The bridge is roofed and adorned with three pavilions, one at
either end and one on the centre pier. Although the wooden floor is
thirty feet above the river, I was told that it was by no means safe
during floods, and that the water frequently swept over it. Fifty yards
to the north of the present structure are the two piers of a former
stone bridge, which came to grief during a flood. Pi-chieh is a great
depôt for Ssŭ-ch’uan salt, which finds its way to Western Kuei-chow by
the Yung-ning River as far as Yung-ning Hsien, and thence overland by
pack animals and carriers. In Pi-chieh I saw a quantity of that famous
tough paper which is manufactured in the province of Kuei-chow, and
which is wrongly called “leather” paper. The mistake is pardonable, for
the character which means “leather” also means “bark;” and the paper
is made from the fibrous inner bark of the _Broussonetia papyrifera,
Vent._

There is considerable romance in the names which the Chinese apply
to their cities and villages. At the end of the first stage from
Pi-chieh is the village of Chin-yin-shan, the characters for which,
literally translated, mean “Gold-silver-mountain.” True, the street
occupies the face of a hill; but the precious metals, to judge from the
surroundings, were conspicuous by their absence.

It not unfrequently happens, however, that the name is in
strict accordance with actual facts. On our second stage from
Wei-ning Chou we passed through a village called T’ien-ch’iao, or
T’ien-shêng-ch’iao--“Heaven’s Bridge,” “Heaven-born Bridge,” or
“Natural Bridge”--which is really built on the top of a limestone
cavern through which a stream has pushed its way. Some twenty years
ago this latter village was the scene of a dreadful catastrophe. Gold
and silver, so runs the story, were both found in a mountain a little
to the east of the high-road, and one day, when the miners were all at
work, the tunnelling collapsed and buried every soul. Since that time
all attempts to find the ore have failed.

Squalid though the villages were, evident signs of improvement were
manifesting themselves, and the following proclamation, which had
lately been issued by the Financial Commissioner of the province of
Yün-nan, and which was widely posted along the whole route, may have
accounted for the unwonted energy which we observed:--“The copper,
which the mines in Yün-nan are bound to supply annually for use in
Peking, was in former years conveyed to Lu Chou for export, and at
that time there was a flourishing trade along the route. Within recent
years the sea route has been attempted, with the result that this
trade has dwindled into insignificance. The Board of Revenue has now
decided that the copper shall be carried by the old route, so that
people and traders of Yün-nan and Kuei-chow may look forward to more
prosperous times. The copper from the prefectures of Tung-ch’uan and
Chao-t’ung will go to Hsü-chou Fu [Sui Fu], and from the district of
K’un-ming [within which the capital of Yün-nan lies] to Hsü-yung T’ing
[the highest navigable point on the Yung-ning River, which enters the
Yang-tsze to the west of Lu Chou]. On these two important routes, by
which the copper is to be conveyed into Ssŭ-ch’uan, make all haste to
open hostelries for the accommodation of these consignments of copper
and their carriers. This will cause a development of trade generally,
and traders and people along these roads may depend on a profitable
business.”

[Sidenote: _A PLEASURE IN STORE._]

In many places to the north of Pi-chieh the high-road reminded me of
a country lane at home. It was frequently hedged with dense bushes of
sweetbriar and hawthorn laden with blossom, and had it not been for the
universal poppy, the resemblance would have been far more complete.

The 6th of June was a day of great excitement amongst my followers,
as we were to cross the Kuei-chow frontier and rest for the night
within the Ssŭ-ch’uan border. A dense mist obscured everything at the
start, and it was not till the great event of the day--the descent to
the Ch’ih-shui River--began, that we were enabled to get a view of
the country that lay before us. The village of Kao-shan-p’u stands
on the southern rim of the third great depression between Yün-nan Fu
and the Yang-tsze. Beyond the deep defile lies the Hsüeh-shan range
running east and west, over 5000 feet above the level of the sea and
at least a thousand feet higher than the southern rim. Up its face
zigzags the narrow stone road, visible almost to the summit of the
range. Down from the southern rim runs the roadway for a distance of
ten _li_--equal to nearly three miles--to the right bank of the river
flowing swiftly eastward. The river, which is eighty yards broad, is
about two thousand feet above the level of the sea, and, as it enters
the Yang-tsze at the city Ho-chiang Hsien ninety-five miles to the
south-west of Ch’ung-k’ing, it is not navigable in its upper waters,
there being a fall of about thirteen hundred feet. Few facilities are
provided for the passage of the immense traffic which exists between
the province of Ssŭ-ch’uan and the provinces of Kuei-chow and Yün-nan;
a couple of ferry-boats, each sixty feet long, and capable of carrying
ten pack-animals and their drivers, afford the only means of crossing.

The white-washed houses of the village of Ch’ih-shui Hsün or Ho-pei
Hsün, as it is also called, on the north bank straggle from the
mountain foot a short distance up, and here we found shelter for the
night. Next morning, we ascended by a series of steps for a distance of
twenty-five _li_--nearly eight miles--to a solitary temple crowning a
ridge which the road surmounts.

If I assume--and it is no great assumption--that the river forms the
apex of a right-angled triangle with sides three and eight miles long
respectively, a simple mathematical calculation will give the distance
in a straight line from rim to rim. Now, this is the route by which
it has been proposed to carry a railway from Burmah through the Shan
States and Yün-nan to Ssŭ-ch’uan, and, granting that the necessary
permission could be obtained, who will undertake to bridge the chasm
and who will pay the piper?

[Sidenote: _A CHILD OF NATURE._]

The descent of the Hsüeh-shan on the north side is very precipitous,
the road winding downwards to the hamlet and coal mines of Lan-ma-lu,
where a somewhat curious spectacle attracted my attention. Seated near
the mouth of one of the two tunnels was a begrimed and dirty miner clad
in the garb of Eden prior to the Fall, and in his hands clasping a tiny
red flower, which he was caressingly applying from time to time to his
olfactory organ. Here, surely, was a case in which a man was to be
judged not by his exterior, but by his inclinations and actions.

It was on the following day, when we were making our way through the
ridges which bar the path to the north of the Hsüeh-shan, that we
came up with a refractory roadside deity. His tongue, which slightly
protruded, had been lavishly smeared with opium, and, as might
naturally be supposed, he appeared to object strongly to the drug in
its crude form, for it had trickled down and disfigured his neck and
breast!

From the market-town of Mo-ni-ch’ang, our resting place for the night
after the passage of the Hsüeh-shan, the road runs northwards for two
days through valleys and hilly country to the Yung-ning River and the
city of Yung-ning Hsien, from which the river derives its name. In one
or two of the valleys there was no natural outlet for the streams to
which the encircling hills gave birth, and exits had been cut through
the solid rocky heights. Yung-ning Hsien and Hsü-yung T’ing occupy
the right and left banks of the river respectively, a stone bridge
connecting the two cities. Here we found ourselves in the centre of
bustle and business, and, what delighted us more than anything else,
in direct water communication with the Yang-tsze and Ch’ung-k’ing. Our
overland journeying was, for the present, at an end.

In Chapter IV., I referred to the Hêng River and described our descent
of the Nan-kuang River, which is blocked near its entrance to the
Yang-tsze by a rocky reef barring navigation. On reaching the district
city on the 9th of June, I immediately proceeded to make arrangements
for our conveyance to Lu Chou, a great trade centre on the north bank
of the Yang-tsze, a few miles to the east of its junction with the
Yung-ning. I had little difficulty in engaging for a small sum a boat
which had just discharged its cargo of salt and was about to descend.
It lay with a number of others of the same class under the walls of
the city, and on the morning of the 10th of June we embarked, leaving
our animals to be walked overland to Ch’ung-k’ing in charge of the
horse-boy. Although our boat, which was narrow and about fifty feet in
length, drew little water, we had no sooner got her bows down stream
than she grounded in mid-river, necessitating several of the crew
jumping overboard and pushing her off the shallows.

[Sidenote: _A PERILOUS POSITION._]

For some miles north of Yung-ning Hsien the river retains its breadth
of fifty yards, flowing between low hills which were well cultivated.
These give place to a rocky country, huge boulders lining the banks
and encroaching on the river’s bed to such an extent as to leave only
sufficient breadth for one boat to pass. This cooping-up of the waters
and declivity in the bed give rise to a series of rapids, two of which
are really dangerous. In this, what may be called, mid-section of the
river, oars were abandoned (there not being room to use them), and the
navigation was conducted by means of a long spar which projected over
the bows, and had often as many as six of the crew hanging on to its
butt end. At one of the dangerous rapids we narrowly escaped being
dashed to pieces. The boat was rushing down at full speed through huge
boulders to a four foot fall, when the bow spar snapped in two, the
projecting part falling into the river, the butt end rolling on deck
and the crew sprawling over and under it. Amid their frantic yells
the steersman, fortunately, did not lose his head, and succeeded in
bringing us up alongside the rocks just above the fall. We were now
perfectly helpless, and the greater part of the afternoon of the 11th
was spent by the skipper in visiting adjacent villages in search of a
new spar. He was at length successful, and over the fall we went, the
planks of the boat quivering under us.

To the north of the rocky section the country opens out, gently
undulating and cultivated; the sloping banks of the river, which
here attains a breadth of a hundred yards, were fringed with feathery
bamboos, the current became actually sluggish, and trackers were sent
on shore to expedite the descent. The Yung-ning loses itself peacefully
in the Yang-tsze at the district city of Na-ch’i Hsien, which lies
on the right bank of both rivers. Under the busy market-town of
Lien-ch’ien-tzŭ, which occupies the bend opposite Na-ch’i, lay a fleet
of about fifty salt junks ready to ascend to Yung-ning Hsien. They were
summoning their crews by beat of gong, when we issued from the river on
the morning of the 12th of June.

I must not leave the Yung-ning River without saying a few words as
to its importance as a trade route. By it, Western Kuei-chow is
supplied with salt from Ssŭ-ch’uan, principally from the Tzŭ-liu-ching
wells, and it is the main thoroughfare for the distribution of native
cottons, manufactured in Ssŭ-ch’uan from raw cotton from the Central
Provinces of China, required by Western Kuei-chow and Eastern Yün-nan.
Foreign cottons go as far as Sui Fu, and thence by way of the Hêng and
Nan-kuang Rivers to Northern and Eastern Yün-nan.

At noon we lay under the walls of Lu Chou, and soon found a comfortable
passenger boat, into which I forthwith transhipped all my followers,
and early next morning we were off. The swollen waters of the Yang-tsze
carried us swiftly eastward, and, on the afternoon of the 14th of June,
we moored under the southern wall of Ch’ung-k’ing, after an absence of
one hundred and twenty-four days.




CHAPTER X.

    TO THE WHITE WAX COUNTRY, THE SACRED MOUNT O-MEI, AND THE HIGHEST
    NAVIGABLE POINT ON THE YANG-TSZE.

    An unfortunate start--North to Ho Chou--Chinese Soy--Varnish
    and its collection--Young trees from the old--Light-hearted
    peasants--The garden of Ssŭ-ch’uan--Otter fishing--Man-tzŭ caves--A
    great sugar country--Glimpse of O-mei--Chief silk country in
    Western China--Ascent of O-mei--Sweet tea of O-mei--The Golden
    Summit--The Glory of Buddha--Pilgrims and their devotions--O-mei
    beggars--A difficult descent--Official obstruction--Sick
    followers--On the banks of the Ta-tu--Man-tzŭ raids--Down with
    fever--Guerilla warfare--Hard up for food--An exhausting march--The
    welcome Yang-tsze--Its highest navigable point--Down the upper
    rapids--Death of my horse-boy--Back to Ch’ung-k’ing.


In the spring of 1884, I received instructions from the Foreign
Office to report fully, for the information of the Director of the
Royal Gardens at Kew, on the subject of Chinese Insect White Wax, and
to collect and transmit specimens illustrative of this remarkable
industry. In China, so much of the marvellous is always mixed up with
fact that, in order to gain trustworthy information on anything that
savours of obscurity, personal observation is essential. To comply
with my instructions, therefore, I found it necessary to pay a visit
to the centre of this wax culture in the province of Ssŭ-ch’uan, and I
resolved to combine with my researches the ascent of the Sacred Mount
O-mei, from whose summit the famous Glory of Buddha is to be seen, and
to strike on my way back the highest navigable point on the Yang-tsze.
I was, fortunately, able to carry out this programme, and the present
and subsequent chapters are devoted to an account of the journey and
its results.

In the two preceding years, I had been able so to regulate my departure
from Ch’ung-k’ing as to enjoy comparatively cool weather during my
journeys, but the fact that the white wax industry is carried on and
completed during the summer months, compelled me to delay starting till
June. My caravan was much the same as on previous occasions. Had I so
willed, I might have ascended the Yang-tsze by boat to Sui Fu and its
tributary the Min to Chia-ting, and thus saved myself much overland
toil; but, as every explorer knows, the thirst for new fields becomes
after a time irresistible and must be satisfied. Boat-travelling
would have been altogether too monotonous and uninteresting. My plan,
briefly, was to make for Ho Chou, a trade centre on the Chia-ling,
which enters the Yang-tsze at Ch’ung-k’ing, strike west in as direct
a line as possible to the Min River and Chia-ting, go west to Mount
O-mei, then proceed south along the eastern borders of Lolodom to the
Yang-tsze, and return, if possible, by water.

The evening of the 1st of June, which was an excessively hot day even
for Ch’ung-k’ing, saw all our arrangements completed for a start the
following morning. Overnight, thunder and rain raised some doubts
whether my followers would be willing to proceed until the weather had
settled, and when the rain was still descending heavily at daylight, my
doubts became almost a certainty. They turned up, however, and begged
for delay; but I succeeded in persuading them, by a series of rather
doubtful arguments, that the heavens had all but exhausted themselves,
and that the sun would show his face before noon. Unfortunately,
my prognostications did not come true, and by the time we reached
Fu-to’u-kuan we were all drenched. But a start had been effected, and
there was no turning back.

[Sidenote: _A FERTILE DISTRICT._]

At Fu-to’u-kuan the road to Ho Chou leaves the highway to the capital,
and goes north by west through broken country to avoid the windings
of the Chia-ling, which twists and turns from east to west and west
to east in its hurry to reach the Yang-tsze. In the bottom lands, on
terraced hill-sides, and wherever water could be retained, paddy was
planted out; Indian corn, tall millet, [_Sorghum vulgare_], tobacco,
melons, ginger, taros [_Arum aquaticum_], indigo, beans, and hemp or
China grass were everywhere growing luxuriantly. Amid these plots were
the farm-houses, the homesteads nestling in clumps of bamboo and fir.
Here and there rose a fan-palm and a banyan, and the wood-oil tree was
at home on rocky ground. Bushes of scrub-oak occupied uncultivated
hill-sides, and plantations of mulberry trees and orange groves were
occasionally to be seen. Coal and lime were everywhere abundant.
Several small streams flow through this country and swell the Chia-ling.

On the afternoon of the 4th of June, we stood on the northern brink of
this broken country, to the north-east and not far below us stretched
a plain, while four miles to the north rose a thirteen-storied pagoda,
which marks the approach to the city of Ho Chou. On reaching the
pagoda, we found ourselves near the right bank of the Fu Chiang, one
of the chief tributaries of the Chia-ling. The busy market town of
Nan-ching-kai, which stands on the right bank, seemed to be almost
entirely devoted to cotton-weaving; the click-clack of the loom
was heard in every street through which we passed to the ferry. Ho
Chou occupies low rising ground just above the junction of the two
rivers; to it come for distribution the rich and varied products of
north-eastern Ssŭ-ch’uan--salt, silk, safflower, lumber, rape-oil,
tobacco, grass-cloth, vegetables, spirits, and a whole catalogue of
medicines.

A special industry of the city is the manufacture of a soy, which is
famous, not only in Ssŭ-ch’uan, but in other provinces. Chinese soy,
as is well known, is imported into England in large quantities, and
is, I believe, used in the manufacture of sauces. In China itself
there is amongst foreigners a decided prejudice against soy, and a
fresh arrival is often solemnly assured that it is made of boiled down
cockroaches; yet, to the best of my information, it contains nothing
more deleterious than the juice of a bean.

[Sidenote: _THE VARNISH TREE._]

On leaving Ho Chou we were again ferried across the Fu Chiang, and
soon reached the western rim of the plain. Beyond stretches the same
broken hilly country, where I noticed, besides the trees already
mentioned, the varnish tree--_Rhus vernicifera_--growing to a height
of about twenty feet. To obtain the varnish, incisions are made in
the bark near the foot of the tree in July and August and slips of
bamboo inserted. As in the case of the poppy, the incisions are made
at night and the sap collected next morning. On exposure to the air,
it quickly assumes a dark brown and ultimately a jet-black colour, and
becomes very sticky. It is used for a great variety of purposes, and I
may state for the information of those interested in the subject that
pure varnish is an excellent natural cement. The chief objection to its
employment for this purpose is its black colour; but chemical science
might come to the rescue and make it white or colourless.

In this fertile land every available spot is utilised; even on the low
dykes which divide the paddy fields, mulberry trees and beans spring
up. Great though the quantity of silk produced in the province of
Ssŭ-ch’uan is, the output might be quadrupled if some means could be
devised for delaying the hatching of the silkworm eggs. The silk season
is over, and the trees are still laden with leaves. Here I observed
an ingenious device for obtaining young trees from the old; round a
promising branch of a tree a piece of bamboo about a foot in length,
which has previously been divided into two parts along its length, is
tied, and the hollow between the branch and the interior of the bamboo
filled with mould. In a short time suckers leave the branch and descend
into the mould, and, when they are sufficiently developed, the branch
is cut off and planted, the suckers forming the roots of the young tree.

The Ssŭ-ch’uanese are essentially a light-hearted and merry race. I
have already mentioned how the boatmen on the Upper Yang-tsze give
vent to their feelings in song as they toil upwards through the gorges.
In the paddy fields I frequently noticed as many as twenty men and boys
advancing in line, nearly knee-deep in mud and water, removing with
their toes the weeds from the roots of the young shoots, and firming
the latter in the ground. A song with a rousing chorus invariably
accompanied the work.

Six miles to the south of T’ung-liang Hsien, the first district city
through which we passed to the west of Ho Chou, there is a range of
hills, about two thousand feet above the surrounding country, where tea
is grown in considerable quantities. The summits of the range, in which
coal, iron, and lime are all found, were fringed with firs. On leaving
T’ung-liang, which is a centre of cotton-weaving, we succeeded in
accomplishing a stage of about twenty miles in a burning temperature,
which towards night culminated in a thunder and rain storm, bringing
down the thermometer from 90° F., at which it stood at 9 P.M. on the
6th, to 69° F. at noon the following day. So pitilessly did the rain
continue to descend on the 7th of June, that we had to break the day’s
march at eleven o’clock at the city of Ta-tsu Hsien, having only
covered ten miles. We were all wet, cold, and dispirited; the only
living things that seemed to be positively enjoying themselves were
the ducks flapping their wings and wagging their tails on the edges,
the bull frogs croaking in the centres, and the swallows skimming low
over the surfaces of the flooded paddy-fields. To the east of Ta-tsu we
crossed, by a fine stone bridge of five arches, that tributary of the
T’o River on which we took boat for a short distance last year at the
city of Jung-ch’ang farther south.

[Sidenote: _A CHARMING SPOT._]

A long march of nearly thirty miles from Ta-tsu, through a beautiful
country, brought us on the evening of the 8th of June to the
market-town of Hsing-lung-ch’ang, on the left bank of the Ching-liu,
another tributary of the T’o. A slight sketch of this splendid country
is applicable to the whole of eastern Ssŭ-ch’uan. On the slope of a
red-soiled hill is a clump of bamboos bending their feathery heads
before the breeze. Creeping down the bank is the melon with its mottled
leaves and large yellow star-shaped flower; and on the edge is a
framework supporting ripe cucumbers. Beneath is a plot of taros, with
their graceful heart-shaped leaves lowering their tips to the water
which half covers their stems, while underneath, terrace after terrace
of flooded plots of young paddy, divided by fringes of beans, stretches
into the valley, and miniature foamy cascades dash from terrace to
terrace to join the gurgling brook below. Frame the picture with tall
firs, straight young water-oaks, low umbrageous wood-oil trees, and
the palm with fan-shaped leaves, and, if the peasantry of this part of
Ssŭ-ch’uan are not content with all this beauty, we will add a rich and
fertile soil, and an abundant water supply.

At the western end of Hsing-lung-ch’ang a large stone bridge of
seven arches spans the river, here sixty yards in breadth. Instead
of crossing the bridge, we hired four small boats, and dropped down
stream for a distance of ten miles, where a waterfall, with a drop of
from fifteen to twenty feet, obstructs navigation. The river teemed
with fish, and otter-fishing was in full swing. The net was circular
and fringed with sinkers, and the fisherman, standing in the bows of
the boat, cast his net with a semicircular sweep, covering a large
surface of water. The net disappeared, the fisherman holding on to a
rope attached to the centre of the net, where there was also a small
circular opening. Drawing the rope gently until the centre of the net
appeared above the surface, he seized the otter, which was chained to
the boat, and dropped it into the opening. After allowing the otter a
short time to rout out the fish from the bottom and drive them upwards,
net, fish, and otter were all drawn up together into the boat. The
results were fairly successful.

Two miles south-west of the waterfall we again took boat, and descended
for seven miles between boulders backed by cliffs full of Man-tzŭ
caves. I had already explored similar caves on the right bank of
the Chia-ling above Ch’ung-k’ing; but my followers, who had never
previously heard of their existence, listened breathlessly to the
boatman, who described them as the ancient dwelling-places of the
aborigines of the country. These cave-dwellings extend westward to the
Min River, along the banks of which they are particularly numerous.
Landing on the right bank, we proceeded westward, and soon entered
a busy market-town on the left bank of the T’o River, opposite the
important district city of Nei-chiang Hsien. This city lies on the
high-road from Ch’ung-k’ing to the capital of the province, but,
as last year I made a detour in order to visit the salt wells of
Tzŭ-liu-ching, it did not at that time come within our ken. Before
striking the river, I noticed a few patches of a plant very much
resembling _Abutilon Avicennae_, or Ssŭ-ch’uan hemp. There was this
important distinction, however, the stems were dark brown, almost
black. It was locally called _T’ung-ma_. Ropes and sacking are
manufactured from its disintegrated bark.

[Sidenote: _AN EXTENSIVE SUGAR REGION._]

Nei-chiang, where we rested for a day, is the centre of an extensive
sugar region, and, being in water communication with the Yang-tsze,
it has the great advantage of being able to distribute its produce
speedily and cheaply. It also exports opium, a little cotton,
excellent grass-cloth, silk, wood-oil, and bean-sauce. To the west
of the T’o, the soil is lighter than to the east, and there was the
necessary adjustment of crops; paddy, of course, filled the valleys,
while sugar-cane, ground-nuts, tall millet, buckwheat, and sweet
potatoes--_Batatas edulis, Chois_--covered the hill slopes. Tobacco
was also prominent and growing luxuriantly; the tops of the stems had
recently been plucked to cause a greater development of the large under
leaves.

It took us six days to cross from the T’o to the Min; the country
is very similar throughout, the existence of reservoirs showing,
however, that the water supply is not so good to the west as to the
east of the former river. The crops were the same; but a number of new
trees put in an appearance, including the tallow tree--_Stillingia
sebifera_, or _Sapium sebiferum, Roxb._, a bushy thorn some fifteen
feet in height--_Cudrania triloba, Hance_, and the wax tree--_Fraxinus
Chinensis_--a species of ash. A belt of salt wells extends for some
miles to the east of the left bank of the Min, where the brine was
being raised much in the same way as at Tzŭ-liu-ching.

Two days before reaching the Min, we caught sight of Mount O-mei
towering away to the westward. As the river is neared, the road winds
between stone cliffs full of ancient cave-dwellings, which are still
more numerous on the left bank of the Min itself. Beautiful relief
carvings adorned the entrances of many of them. The city of Chia-ting
Fu stands on the right bank of the Min at its junction with the T’ung,
which consists of the waters of the Ya Ho and Ta-tu, both of which I
crossed in their upper reaches last year, and which unite a little to
the west of the city. It is the greatest centre of sericulture and
silk-weaving in the province, and it marks the eastern boundary of
the white wax industry. I spent the 17th of June among the wax trees
to the north-east of the city; but, finding that I could conduct my
investigations with greater ease and quietude farther west, I resolved
to proceed at once to the district city of O-mei Hsien, some twenty
miles distant and near to the base of the Sacred Mountain.

[Sidenote: _PILGRIMS TO MOUNT O-MEI._]

We passed through the west gate of Chia-ting soon after daybreak of
the 18th of June, accompanied by hundreds of pilgrims of both sexes
from all parts of Ssŭ-ch’uan on their way to visit the sacred shrines
of O-mei. The road follows the left bank of the Ya Ho till the latter
bends southwards, when it crosses a mile of sand and shingle, and again
strikes the river at the ferry. From the right bank we entered one of
the prettiest and most fertile plains in Western China, watered by
streamlets which, rising in the mountains to the west, go to join the
Ya and Ta-tu Rivers, are easily available for purposes of irrigation,
and fill a perfect network of canals surrounding the plots of land
into which the plain is divided. On the divisions of the plots rows of
wax trees grew thickly. In the city of O-mei Hsien I spent four days,
pursuing my investigations into the subject of wax culture and the
general trade of the whole district; and at daylight on the morning of
the 23rd, I left with a few of my followers to ascend the mountain. As
it was impossible to obtain meat in the sacred precincts of Buddha, we
purchased and killed a goat and carried the carcase with us. A stream
of pilgrims, each provided with a bundle of joss-sticks, candles in
baskets, and small pieces of sandalwood slung in a yellow bag over
the shoulder, bore us company. The mountain lies to the south-west
of the city; and, issuing from the west gate, we proceeded under the
western wall to the south gate, which, at the time of our visit, was
closed against a lengthened drought. The road then runs south-west
over the plain. Banyans--some of them of immense size--lined the road,
and, farther west, wax trees took their place. Shrines and temples
were thickly dotted on both sides, and at each of these the pilgrims
made obeisance, lighted joss-sticks or candles, and passed on. There
was an impressive solemnity in the worship which I have not observed
elsewhere in China. No levity broke the living cord of gravity which
stretched from shrine to shrine and temple to temple. The wax trees
increased in numbers as we advanced, and the under sides of the boughs
and twigs were here and there silvered with the wax; they appeared as
if a gentle snowstorm had recently passed over and scattered its flakes
on the branches. But trees and temples were not the only things that
lined the roadway; beggars, mostly women and girls, were obstinate
in their demands for alms, and no sooner had one gone than another
appeared. Mount O-mei towered above the other ranges that bound the
plain to the south-west, itself the highest point in a range which
descends southwards with giant strides and blocks the plain. The gray,
rocky, rugged, precipitous face lit up by the morning sun seemed to bid
defiance to the pilgrim, while the lower slopes that hid the giant’s
feet were dark with pine, broken occasionally by bare patches where
cultivation had encroached. Gradually the plain began to undulate, and
we soon entered the mountains under pine woods, through patches of tall
millet, beans, and Indian corn, and up stone steps--ladders would be a
more appropriate term--until at a distance of nearly twenty miles from
the city we reached Wan-nien-ssŭ--the “Temple of a Myriad Ages”--where
we spent the night.

No sooner had we settled down in the fine clean quarters which the
temple affords than the priests came to pay their respects, and regaled
me with the “sweet tea,” which the discovery of Mr. Baber has rendered
famous. All the way up the mountain side, I had been making enquiries
regarding this tea and its preparation, but the evidence was decidedly
conflicting. Some said that it was prepared in the ordinary way;
others, that the leaves were first steeped in molasses. Although the
infusion was extremely sweet, I must confess that I failed to detect
any flavour of tea. Be it remembered that the Chinese never take sugar
in their tea. The priests told me that the plant, whence the leaves
are picked, grows in only one gorge in the mountain. The leaves are
large and do not bear the slightest resemblance to the tea-leaf. I
subsequently forwarded a packet of this “tea” to Hankow to be tasted,
and the reply of an expert came back prompt and concise, “I never
tasted such muck in all my life!” But all doubts have recently been set
at rest, for the plant which provides the leaves has been identified as
the _Viburnum phlebotrichum_.

[Sidenote: _ASCENT OF MOUNT O-MEI._]

A glance at a map showing the comparative heights of mountains, will
give a good idea of how the top of the giant has to be reached. Peak
rises behind peak, and each of these has to be surmounted on the way
to the summit. Beyond Wan-nien-ssŭ, which is more than 3000 feet above
the plain, the road is so steep that no means of conveyance is possible
and cultivation soon ceases. Starting at five o’clock on the morning of
the 24th, we ascended this steep winding ladder and gained the summit
in twelve hours after many a weary step and many a rest. In fact, had
it not been that British pluck was in the balance, I should have given
in long before. As it was, drenched with perspiration and mist, I just
succeeded in dragging my weary aching limbs into the temple that crowns
the summit, 11,100 feet above the sea.

A few hundred yards above Wan-nien-ssŭ we entered the clouds, and from
that point upward nothing but impenetrable whiteness was visible. The
road, if I may use the word, ascends through dense pine and brushwood,
and here and there a gulf of whiteness warned us that we stood on the
verge of a precipice.

At the rear of the temple on the “Golden Summit” is the terrible
precipice which is seen from even beyond the Min. On its very brink
once stood a temple of bronze, which has twice succumbed to lightning
shafts and fire. It was built during the Ming Dynasty, and rebuilt
after its first fall; but on the second occasion portions of it
fell over the precipice, and the only parts still in their original
positions are three small bronze pagodas, bearing unmistakable traces
of fire. Their tops have been melted and twisted. Beautifully carved
bronze doors, pillars, tiles, and other pieces of what must have been
a magnificent building, lay about in heaps. It is from the terrace on
which the three pagodas stand that the celebrated “Glory of Buddha”
is to be seen. A low fence of boulders of iron ore prevents the too
anxious sightseer from precipitating himself into the terrible abyss.
If the future traveller should be as unfortunate as I was, he will
stand by this fence with white clouds overhead and around him, and gaze
down eastwards into impenetrable whiteness, in the vain hope of seeing
the sun burst through the clouds overhead, and reveal his image on the
clouds below. Not once did this occur during the day of the 25th of
June, and we left the spot in the belief that the “Glory of Buddha” was
not for us. But a single gaze into this impenetrable white gloom was to
me as impressive as a thousand “Glories of Buddha” could possibly have
been.

[Sidenote: _PRIESTLY RAPACITY._]

The pilgrims in their penance--for it is a penance to ascend the
mountain--frequently appealed to the Great Buddha of O-mei as they
scrambled up the steep steps polished by the feet of myriads. On the
summit they paid their devotions to Buddha, lighted their joss-sticks
and candles, prostrated themselves on long stools covered with
palm-coir, threw their incense into the flames, and gazed to see the
“Glory of Buddha.” This ceremony over, they took from their pockets a
few cash and polished them on the bronze pagodas and doors. These they
carry back to their homes as charms and souvenirs of their visit to the
Golden Summit of O-mei. The pilgrims come from their native places in
groups, accompanied by one who can read. The latter is the mouthpiece
of his comrades, and recites their prayers to the Great Buddha.

I have already said that beggars lined the road to the mountain; but
greater and still more importunate beggars dwell on the mountain side
and on the summit. The priests, smooth-tongued and polite, draw from
the pockets of the pilgrims money to repair the temples and the road.
I did not escape their rapacity. The appeal was, however, made in such
a pleasant way that it could not be resisted. A few potatoes grown on
the acre which forms the summit were presented to me, and had to be
paid for by a sum much in excess of their value. The workmanship of
the temples, which are numerous and built of pine from the forests by
which they are surrounded, is often excellent, the artificers being
the priests themselves. The mountain is credited as being the home of
various kinds of wild animals--among them the tiger. Fortunately for
us, he did not put in an appearance, and we saw nothing more deadly
than a couple of large monkeys, one of which had just leaped from a
tree on one side of a chasm to a tree on the other, while the second
was arrested in his pursuit by our sudden appearance. Medicines of
several sorts, including a species of wild ginseng, were exposed for
sale on the stalls which clung to the mountain side. As the day of
the 26th of June broke as gloomy as its predecessor, and there was no
hope of catching even a glimpse of the “Glory of Buddha,” I resolved
to delay no longer on the chance of a struggle with the unseen. The
descent was more difficult than the ascent, and I must confess to three
fair falls on the slippery steps, rendered still more slippery by mist
and rain, which accompanied us half-way down to Wan-nien-ssŭ. Two
hundred yards above the temple, I succeeded in placing my right foot
between two stones forming a step, and so twisting it that a tendon
behind the knee refused to perform its duty and, with excruciating
pain, I managed to crawl down a hundred yards of precipitous steps,
where a small chair could reach me from below.

On the morning of the 27th we continued the descent by a different
road from that by which we ascended, previously, however, purchasing a
couple of curiously-carved alpenstocks from the priests, their makers.
A snake in relief twined upwards round the stock, ending in a head
surmounted by a couple of horns.

The road wound eastward down a gorge between high precipices, from
which numerous cascades leaped and bounded into a stream flowing
eastward, over a narrow bridge of iron rods spanning the stream near
the end of the gorge, and, after crossing several small plains, joined
the high-road to O-mei Hsien.

[Sidenote: _CHINESE DUPLICITY._]

On my return to the city, I found that every possible obstacle was
being raised to prevent the completion of my journey. The magistrate
sent his secretary to inform me that there was no road southwards to
the Yang-tsze, and even those of my own men who had been left behind
were unwilling to proceed. It was suggested that I should return to
Chia-ting, take boat to a point farther south, and then strike inland.
I thereupon sent in search of a trader, who quickly appeared, and
gave me the names of the different stages to the next city of Ma-pien
T’ing. Arming my writer with the list, I packed him off post haste
to the magistrate with a demand for a double escort to enable me to
penetrate this unknown country. He at once complied with my demand.
Had I been told, what the magistrate himself probably did not know,
that a desultory warfare was being waged with the aborigines to the
west near Ma-pien, I should have reconsidered my route, so as not to
embroil responsible officers in case of any accident to my party;
but so palpable was the untruth told me that I did not hesitate for
a moment about proceeding. The unwillingness of my own men, as I
subsequently learned, was due to the fact that two of my bearers were
struck down by typhoid fever during my absence; and, on my return, they
had to be sent back to Chia-ting, and thence shipped to Ch’ung-k’ing.
It is well that the future is not revealed to us, for, had I known
then that one human life was to be sacrificed to the privations of the
route, I should at once have relinquished further exploration, and
left to others the honour of descending the Yang-tsze from its highest
navigable point.

The O-mei plain stretches south and south-east for some fifteen miles
to within a short distance of the left bank of the Ta-tu River, when
it is bounded by a spur which projects south-east from a low range
of hills which lies to the south and east of the chief O-mei range.
The southern half of the plain was in as high a state of cultivation
as the northern, while the wax tree was still more thickly grown. On
descending to the river we found it in full flood; junks and rafts were
being hurried along by the current at lightning speed, and on the right
bank trackers were dragging their craft up river at snail’s pace. The
road followed for two days first the left and then the right bank of
the Ta-tu--which we crossed at the market-town of Fu-lu-ch’ang--till,
baulked in its eastern course by hilly ground to the south of the
walled village of Tung-kai-ch’ang, the river flows northwards under
precipitous rocky heights forming its left bank.

Leaving the Ta-tu at the bend, we struck south over the mountains to
Tz’ŭ-chu-p’ing, which, like every other town and village, is surrounded
by a wall and provided with a garrison. Great excitement was visible
everywhere; the defences of even the meanest hamlet were conspicuously
displayed; rusty gingalls, mounted on tripod stands and loaded, were
placed within the gates ready to resist attack. But why all this
excitement? A raid by Lolos--Man-tzŭ they were called--was recently
successfully organised and carried out, a village was burned to the
ground, and many of its male inhabitants carried off into the mountains
to the west, to be utilised as shepherds or to await ransom. What the
Chinese greatly resented, however, was the slaughter of a harmless
blind man. The Lolos had swept him off with the crowd; but, finding
after a time that he was sightless, they did him to death. “Might
it not be that they mistook his blindness for unwillingness to be a
slave?” “No,” said the Chinese, “the Lolos have no mercy.”

There must be something very unhealthy about this part of the country.
At the end of the first stage from O-mei Hsien, two more of my men were
struck down with fever; one of them had to be left behind, the other
determined not to leave us and soon recovered under repeated doses of
quinine. Little did I think when I was acting the _rôle_ of physician
that I was to be the fifth victim.

[Sidenote: _PRECAUTIONS AGAINST A SURPRISE._]

When we left Tz’ŭ-chu-p’ing on the morning of the 1st of July, I
observed that my escort had been very materially strengthened, and
that the soldiers, instead of straggling hither and thither, kept
close to our caravan. Rumours were current that a band of Lolos, some
two hundred strong, were in the immediate hills ready to raid, but
undecided as to their ultimate point of attack, and extra precautions
were taken against our being made unwilling visitors to Lolodom.

Proceeding south-east we crossed a low range, and dropped into a
narrow valley between low rocky heights clad with brushwood. Beyond
the valley, waves of terraced hills crowned with fir and oak had to
be surmounted, and early in the afternoon we looked down into a deep
narrow gorge, wherein a stream flowing northwards suddenly turns east.
On the north bank, on the only piece of level ground to be seen, stands
the walled town of Chou-pa-ch’ang, facing precipitous cliffs on the
opposite shore. Most of the houses were furnished with watch-towers
on their roofs, and in these, round smooth stones from the stream’s
shingly bed were piled to resist attack.

Here very poor quarters were available; my room was over a tenanted
pig-sty, and the floor was full of holes. I awoke next morning, after
a restless night, burning with fever, and scarcely able to leave my
bed. In this wretched inn I lay five whole days, and had ample time to
ponder over the discomforts which the traveller, who has been brought
up under sanitary laws, has to endure in this land of dirt. Confinement
ultimately became so irksome and depressing that, although unable to
walk to my chair without assistance, on the morning of the 7th of July
I determined to proceed, and trust to the invigorating influence of
fresh air to effect a cure.

Chou-pa-ch’ang is the highest navigable point for small craft on the
river which is known on Chinese maps as the Ching-shui, but is locally
called the Ma-pien River, from the city of that name near its source.
Two rapids to the south of the town obstruct navigation, except for
descending rafts. Crossing a streamlet, which enters the Ma-pien four
miles to the south of Chou-pa-ch’ang, by a narrow chain bridge, the
road leaves the main river, where it makes an eastern bend and goes
south through broken country fairly wooded with the mulberry, wood-oil,
and tallow trees, and, after ascending some low heights, descends
into a large basin, at the southern end of which we again struck the
left bank of the river at the town of Ni-tien-ch’ang, with the usual
miserable accommodation. Next morning we crossed the river, and after
two days’ winding west and south-west along its right bank, reached the
departmental city of Ma-pien T’ing. Our approach had been announced by
one of the escort who had preceded us in search of an inn, and half the
population lined the left bank, on which the city stands, and blocked
the streets through which we had to pass to our quarters.

[Sidenote: _GUERILLA WARFARE._]

A guerilla warfare had been waged with the Lolo mountaineers some time
previous to the date of our arrival; detachments of fifty soldiers had
been repeatedly sent to carry on the work of extermination, but had not
returned to announce their success. Preparations were being made to
conduct operations on a larger scale, and fifteen hundred troops were
quartered in the city and its neighbourhood. It was forbidden to kill
or dispose of cattle and live stock generally, except for the use of
the soldiery, and we had considerable difficulty in procuring supplies
of any sort.

My escort was now strengthened by a dozen men, mostly Hunan braves,
armed with swords, to conduct me in safety to the Yang-tsze. To the
south-east of the city the road enters the mountains, where not a
single Lolo was to be seen; the few houses visible were in reality
forts, built on most inaccessible heights. A solid square of masonry,
ten to twelve feet in height, with only one opening to serve as a
doorway, supported a storey with windows and frequently a watch-tower.
On this stage there was great trouble about food; rice could not be had
for money, and, when I was partaking of my frugal breakfast, which I
had taken the precaution to carry with me from Ma-pien, I saw my writer
triumphantly waving in his hand, to the envy of all my other followers,
an egg which he had either purloined or purchased, and off which he was
about to make as hearty a meal as circumstances would allow.

During the day I was told that we should be able to buy an ox at
Ting-nan-pa, the end of the stage, and we hurried on to prepare
the feast of which we were all so much in need. On arrival, it was
suggested in answer to our enquiries that an ox might be had some miles
further on; but this was little satisfaction to hungry men. A Good
Samaritan at length came to the rescue, and sold us, at a fabulous
price, a leg of some animal or other--to this day I have no idea what
it was--which made an excellent repast.

[Sidenote: _A FATIGUING JOURNEY._]

According to the record of stages which I had procured in Ma-pien,
we were still a three days’ journey from the Yang-tsze; but so many
difficulties were crowding around us--no food, and my horse-boy very
sick--that I determined to make a forced march and avoid at least
one day of misery. When we left Ting-nan-pa on the morning of the
11th of July, I at once abandoned my chair, proceeded with my escort
on foot, and, after a brisk walk of four hours, reached the hamlet
which was marked on my list as the end of the stage. It was a dismal
place, and without waiting for my followers, who were still miles in
our rear, I pushed on to the next stage. I was duly warned that the
road was difficult, but the traveller in this land is accustomed to
prevarication, and invariably finds it hard to elicit the truth.

For some distance east and south-east, the road was all that could be
desired for a Chinese road, and I was beginning to chuckle to myself
at the exposure of the imaginary difficulties, when it descended to
the right bank of a stream which we had struck and crossed early in
the morning. Here it was studded with huge boulders, over which we had
literally to crawl. After an hour of this work, I stopped to allow my
men to catch us up. When they arrived they were bursting with anger.

Having breakfasted off a couple of boiled Indian corn cobs, I followed
my tactics of the morning and went ahead with my escort. There is no
language strong enough to describe the road that we had then to follow;
it wound with the right bank of the stream through a mountain gorge and
ultimately descended into a stony plain, through which we made our way
to the market-town of Chung-tu-ch’ang, the end of the stage. I arrived,
dead beat, at five o’clock in the afternoon, after a walk of thirty
miles over a frightful road and under a broiling sun. The whole caravan
did not turn up till long after dark; my chair was battered, torn, and
tattered; and my horse and mule were hopelessly lame. The only thing
that saved us from utter collapse was the knowledge that we were only
one short stage from the left bank of the Yang-tsze, where our overland
journeying would probably be at an end.

With as light hearts as we could muster, on the morning of the 12th
of July we left Chung-tu-ch’ang and the stream which flows behind
it, and struck south-east and south over high hills. To the north
towered confused mountain ranges, peak rising behind peak, dark
and cloud-capped as we passed. On reaching the southern edge of an
undulating plateau we looked into a deep ravine, down which flowed the
stream; and far away to the south-east a yellow spot could be made
out at the base of a dark mountain range. “What is that yellow spot?”
I asked the keeper of a solitary inn shaded by a large banyan, just
under the brow of the plateau. “That is the Chin Chiang,” was the
welcome reply--the Golden River, the upper waters of the Yang-tsze. For
a long time we sat under that shady banyan, indulging recklessly in
rice-broth to strengthen and cheer us in our hour of joy. There was no
laggard now; down the steep mountain side we hurried to the stream, and
followed its right bank for four miles to the town of Man-i-ssŭ, which
clings to the steep face of the left bank of the Golden River, and is
about fifty miles higher than the highest point reached by the Upper
Yang-tsze Expedition in 1861. Here, after a vain search for suitable
night quarters, we engaged three small boats which were moored under
the town, and dropped down river for a distance of twelve miles to
the town of Fu-kuan-ts’un on the right bank and within the province of
Yün-nan.

To my surprise, I found that the Yang-tsze is the boundary of the
provinces of Ssŭ-ch’uan and Yün-nan to within a short distance of the
mouth of the Hêng River, which enters it opposite the town of An-pien,
on the left bank, sixteen miles west of Sui Fu. Fu-kuan-ts’un was
crowded with agents buying up native opium, and it was only with the
assistance of the local authorities that I was able to secure a small
room in an inn. At the back, however, I soon discovered an outhouse
which I much preferred to the room, and where I was removed from the
glassy eyes of crowds.

[Sidenote: _PREPARING TO SHOOT THE RAPIDS._]

Two courses were now open to me--to proceed overland to P’ing-shan
Hsien and there take junk to Sui Fu and Ch’ung-k’ing, or to risk
the descent of two dangerous rapids in a boat from Fu-kuan-ts’un. I
decided to adopt the latter alternative; but, as trade so far west
is insignificant and boats do not attempt the descent unless heavily
laden, I had to wait three days till sufficient cargo had been
collected for the craft which I had engaged. It was so hot on shore
that I spent the night of the 15th on board, for the double purpose of
catching any stray breeze on the river, and of being able to start at
daylight on the morrow.

Our boat was of considerable length, deeply laden, and fitted with long
sweeps at both ends, weighted with large stones to balance the outlying
portions. At daylight we shipped a special crew of ten men, including a
pilot, to help us down the rapids. They took entire possession of the
fore part of the boat, while the regular crew, also numbering ten,
were relegated to the stern, to work the sweep and a side spar which
four men kept pumping up and down in front of the sweep. The pilot was
a small wizened man of about sixty, with grizzled beard and moustache,
and a keen piercing eye. His crew of nine--all young active fellows--at
first took to the oars, the bow sweep being fastened to the deck by
a noose. Six men hung on the stern sweep, and four worked the side
spar. The descent was comparatively easy for twelve miles as far as
Shih-ch’i-ch’ang, a market-town on the Yün-nan side, where we moored
above a rapid, and my followers, with the exception of my writer,
personal servant, and one of the soldiers who had special instructions
never to lose sight of me, took eager advantage of the skipper’s order
to go on shore. I also landed my horse and mule.

Casting off our moorings, we soon slid into the Chi-kan-shih, which
is a long confused mass of water stretching across the whole breadth
of the river. Currents rush in all directions, causing waves and
whirlpools. The moment we entered the rapid, the pilot shouted out the
order, “To the bow sweep!” Seven of the oars were quickly thrown aside,
and the seven rowers with the pilot clung round the sweep. With his
left hand on its butt end, the pilot gave his orders to the steersmen
by means of an old fan which he carried in his right, for the noise
and hissing of the waters drowned his shrill voice. The difficulty
was to keep the boat’s bows with the stream through the currents and
whirlpools. This we accomplished, shipping only a little water.

[Sidenote: _A SKILFUL PILOT._]

From this rapid the river rushes with considerable force south-east
and south, till it is barred in the latter direction by a mountain
whose bare cliffs, which have successfully resisted the attacks of
the current, rise sheer from the angry waters. Foiled in its southern
onset, it rushes east and at right angles to its former course, causing
the most dangerous of all the rapids--of which the boatmen enumerate
twenty--on this section of the river. It is called the _Wan-wan T’an_,
or “Winding Rapid,” and well does it deserve the name. The river rushes
swiftly to the cliffs, seemingly bent on carrying all with it. The
confusion caused by the rush, the sharp bend and the sudden contraction
is terrible, and we were, to all appearances, being swiftly hurried
to destruction. But the eye of the pilot wavered not. His crew on the
bow sweep and his old fan saved us from the cliffs. Once, however, the
steersmen were slow in obeying an order, when the old man threw his
fan on the deck, and with his clenched right hand repeatedly struck
his left palm. The boat’s stern was within arm’s length of the cliffs!
Our soldier fired a shot from a horse-pistol as we entered each rapid,
whether in its honour or in its defiance I know not. The rapids passed,
the pilot and his crew left us, and we re-shipped our men, escort, and
animals, and proceeded to Sui Fu, which we did not reach till dark.

We spent the greater part of the 17th of July in hiring and inspecting
a passenger boat to convey us to Ch’ung-k’ing, and in the afternoon
everything was arranged for a start next morning. Towards night, word
was brought to me that my horse-boy, who occupied a room in the inn
immediately underneath my own, and who, I noticed, left the boat very
much exhausted the previous night, was dangerously ill with dysentery,
brought on by the hardships of the route. I at once consulted his
wishes as to proceeding or remaining to recruit with one of my
servants, who was a relative, to attend to him. He expressed a desire
to proceed, and I ordered a chair to be in waiting next morning to take
him on board. At two o’clock in the morning I was roused from my sleep
by what appeared to be a shout in Chinese, “Your horse-boy is dead.”
I got up and lit my candle; but there was neither sound nor movement
anywhere. I went to bed again, and at daybreak my servant announced
the poor man’s death. After the funeral--I buried him at Sui Fu--we
embarked, and before noon of the 21st of July we lay off Ch’ung-k’ing,
glad that our overland struggles were at an end.




CHAPTER XI.

CHINESE INSECT WHITE WAX.

    References to insect white wax in Europe and China--Area
    of production--Chief wax-insect producing country--The
    insect tree--The insect “buffalo” beetle, or parasite--The
    insect scales--The transport of insects to the wax-producing
    districts--Method of transport--The wax tree--How insects are
    placed on the wax trees--Wax production--Collection of the wax--An
    ignominious ending--Insect metamorphosis--Uses of the wax--Quantity
    and value.


Although the substance called Chinese Insect White Wax has long been
known in Europe, it is only within recent years that the mystery which
has surrounded this remarkable industry has been cleared up. Amongst
Europeans, we find Martini in his _Novus Atlas Sinensis_--a work
descriptive of the Chinese Empire, published in 1655--mentioning _alba
cera_ as a product of the Hu-kwang provinces, and of the province of
Kwangsi. Again, Gabriel de Magalhaes, in his “Nouvelle Rélation de
la Chine,” published in 1668, states that white wax is produced in
the provinces of Hunan, Hupeh, and Shantung; while in the “Lettres
Edificantes,” published in 1752, Père Chanseaume has a “Memoire sur
la cire d’arbre,” or tree wax. In the “Comptes Rendus de l’Académie
des Sciences” of 1840, Stanislas Julien adds some notes on tree wax
and the insects which produce it, and quotes from Chinese authors on
the same subject; and in volume XII. of the Pharmaceutical Journal,
published in 1853, there is an article by Daniel Hanbury entitled “The
Insect White Wax of China.” More recently, Fortune, the two delegates
of the Shanghai General Chamber of Commerce who ascended the River
Yang-tsze into Western China in 1868, Baron von Richthofen, and Gill,
have all alluded to the subject; and Mr. Baber, while he held the post
of Her Majesty’s Agent in Western China, wrote a special and very
interesting report on Insect White Wax, to which, as his successor, I
had free access. In 1880, Père Rathouis published at Shanghai a short
memoir on the white wax insect.

As early as 1522, this wax is mentioned in Chinese books; but at that
time the idea seems to have been prevalent that the insects, by some
mysterious process of metamorphosis, were themselves converted into a
white substance and did not excrete the wax.

Although the province of Ssŭ-ch’uan has always been recognized as the
chief breeding country of the white wax insect, and the great field
for the production and manufacture of the white wax of commerce, the
wax is found and manufactured in several other provinces, notably in
Kuei-chow, Hu-nan, Fuh-kien, Chê-kiang, and An-hui, and in reality
exists in small quantities from Chih-li in the north to the island of
Hainan in the south of China.

[Sidenote: _INSECT WHITE WAX._]

In the spring of the year 1884, I received instructions from the
Foreign Office to procure for Sir Joseph Hooker dried specimens
of the foliage and flowers of the trees on which the insects are
propagated and excrete the wax; specimens of the twigs incrusted with
the wax; samples of the cakes in the form in which the wax occurs in
commerce; and Chinese candles made from the wax. I was also instructed
to obtain, if possible, information on the whole subject of wax
production, in addition to that furnished in Mr. Baber’s Report. My
report on this interesting subject was published as an Appendix to a
Parliamentary Paper in February, 1885; but at the time that that Paper
was written and despatched I had not completed my investigations,
and, unfortunately, some further notes which I sent to the Foreign
Office were too late for publication with the Parliamentary Paper. As,
therefore, the information already made public is but fragmentary,
and as there are some mistakes into which, owing to my distance from
scientific advice, I have fallen, I think it right that I should take
the first opportunity that has offered since my arrival in England of
supplying details and correcting mistakes.

If we glance at a map of China, we will find that the upper Yang-tsze,
or Golden River as it is there called, is joined by a river called
the Ya-lung or Ta-ch’ung, a little to the west of the one hundred and
second degree of longitude, and that the united waters flow south-east
below the twenty-sixth degree of latitude, and again turn north,
forming, as it were, a loop towards the province of Yün-nan. Between
these two rivers flows another smaller river called the An-ning, which
joins the Ya-lung before the latter unites with the Golden River.
The An-ning flows down a valley called the valley of Chien-ch’ang,
the local name of Ning-yuan Fu, the principal town within the river
loop. This valley, the northern boundary of which is lat. 29° 20′,
and southern boundary, lat. 27° 11′, is the great breeding ground of
the white wax insect. In the valley, which is about 5000 feet above
the level of the sea, and on the hills which bound it, there is one
very prominent tree, called by the Chinese of that region the _Ch’ung
shu_, or “Insect Tree.” It is known under different names in the
same province of Ssŭ-ch’uan; it is called the _Tung-ching shu_, or
“Evergreen Tree,” and the _Pao-kê-ts’ao shu_, or “Crackling-flea Tree,”
from the sputtering of the wood when burning. It is an ever-green
with leaves springing in pairs from the branches. They are thick,
dark-green, glossy, ovate, and pointed. In the end of May and beginning
of June, the tree bears clusters of small white flowers, which are
succeeded by fruit of a dark purple colour. From the specimens of the
tree which I forwarded to Kew Gardens, the authorities there have come
to the conclusion that it is _Ligustrum lucidum_, or large-leaved
privet.

In the month of March 1883, I passed through the Chien-chang valley;
but, knowing that Mr. Baber had already furnished a report on the
subject of white wax, I confined myself to a mere cursory examination
of the insect tree. In that month, however, I found attached to the
bark of the boughs and twigs, numerous brown pea-shaped excrescences.
The larger excrescences or scales were readily detachable, and, when
opened, presented either a whitey-brown pulpy mass, or a crowd of
minute animals like flour, whose movements were only just perceptible
to the naked eye.

[Sidenote: _THE WHITE WAX INSECT._]

In the months of May and June 1884, when I was called upon for
more detailed information on the subject, I had the opportunity of
examining these scales and their contents with some minuteness in
the neighbourhood of Ch’ung-k’ing, and also within the jurisdiction
of Chia-ting Fu, the chief wax producing country in the province of
Ssŭ-ch’uan. Ten miles to the east of Ch’ung-k’ing, I plucked the
scales from the trees--the _Ligustrum lucidum_--and on opening them
(they are very brittle) I found a swarm of brown creatures, crawling
about, each provided with six legs and a pair of _antennae_. Each of
these moving creatures was a white wax insect--the _coccus pe-la_
of Westwood. Many of the scales also contained either a small white
bag or cocoon covering a pupa, or a perfect imago in the shape of a
small black beetle. This beetle is a species of _Brachytarsus_. For
this information I am indebted to Mr. McLachlan, to whom the insects
forwarded by me to Kew were submitted for examination.

If left undisturbed in the broken scale, the beetle, which, from
his ungainly appearance, is called by the Chinese the _niu-êrh_, or
“buffalo,” will, heedless of the _cocci_ which begin to crawl outside
and inside the scale, continue to burrow in the inner lining of the
scale, which is apparently his food. The Chinese declare that the
beetle eats his minute companions in the scale, or at least injures
them by the pressure of his comparatively heavy body; and it is true
that the scales from Chien-ch’ang in which the beetles are numerous
are cheaper than those in which they are absent. But, although Chinese
entomology is not to be trusted, there is, after all, a grain of truth
in the statement. The genus _brachytarsus_ is parasitic on _coccus_,
and the grub, not the imago, is the enemy of the white wax insect. The
Chinese, therefore, are not far wrong when they pay a lower price for
the beetle-infested scales.

When a scale is plucked from the tree, an orifice where it was attached
to the bark is disclosed. By this orifice the _cocci_ are enabled to
escape from the detached scales. If the scales are not detached, but
remain fixed to the bark, it may be asked, “How are the _cocci_ to
find their way out?” It has been stated by entomologists that they
know not of any species of the family _Coccidae_ that cannot find
their way from underneath the mother-scale without assistance. This
may also hold good in the present case; but all I contend for is, that
the _cocci pe-la_ take eager advantage of the opening pierced from
inside the scale by the beetle to escape from their imprisonment. In
addition to the branches with intact scales, which I carried home with
me for examination, I closely observed the scales that had been left
undetached on the _ligustrum_, and found only one orifice in each
scale--a circular hole similar in every respect to the orifice pierced
by the beetles in the scales which I had beside me. At Chia-ting I
examined scales that had been brought from the Chien-ch’ang valley.
They were suspended on the wax trees and were for the most part empty.
They had only one orifice--that by which they had been attached to the
bark of the _ligustrum_, and by which the _cocci_ had no doubt escaped.
In the very first scale I opened there, however, I found a solitary
beetle.

The Chien-ch’ang valley is the great insect-producing country; but the
insects may be, and are, propagated elsewhere, as in Chien-wei Hsien to
the south of Chia-ting Fu, and even as far east as Ch’ung-k’ing. These
insects are, however, declared by the Chinese to be inferior, and they
fetch a lower price.

Two hundred miles to the north-east of Chien-ch’ang, and separated from
it by a series of mountain ranges, is the prefecture of Chia-ting,
within which insect white wax as an article of commerce is produced.
In the end of April, the scales are gathered from the _ligustrum_ in
the Chien-ch’ang valley, and collected for the most part at the town of
Tê-ch’ang, on the right bank of the An-ning River, which I have already
mentioned, in latitude 27° 24′.

[Sidenote: _TRANSPORT OF THE INSECTS._]

To this town porters from Chia-ting annually resort in great
numbers--in former years they are said to have numbered as many as ten
thousand--to carry the scales across the mountains to Chia-ting. The
scales are made up into paper packets, each weighing about sixteen
ounces, and a load usually consists of about sixty packets. Great care
has to be taken in the transit of the scales. The porters between the
Chien-ch’ang valley and Chia-ting travel only during the night, for, at
the season of transit, the temperature is already high during the day,
and would tend to the rapid development of the insects and their escape
from the scales. At their resting places, the porters open and spread
out the packets in cool places. Notwithstanding all these precautions,
however, each packet, on arrival at Chia-ting, is found to be more
than an ounce lighter than when it started from Chien-ch’ang. In
years of plenty, a pound of scales laid down in Chia-ting costs about
half-a-crown; but in years of scarcity, such as last year, when only a
thousand loads are said to have reached Chia-ting from Chien-ch’ang,
the price is doubled.

In favourable years, a pound of Chien-ch’ang scales is calculated to
produce from four to five pounds of wax; in bad years, little more than
a pound may be expected, so that, taken as a whole, white wax culture
has in it a considerable element of risk.

[Sidenote: _THE WHITE WAX TREE._]

West from the right bank of the Min River, on which the city of
Chia-ting lies, stretches a plain to the foot of the sacred O-mei
range of mountains. This plain, which runs south to the left bank of
the Ta-tu River, which forms the northern boundary of the Chien-ch’ang
valley farther west, is an immense rice-field, being well-watered by
streams from the western mountains. Almost every plot of ground on
this plain, as well as the bases of the mountains, are thickly edged
with stumps, varying from three or four to a dozen feet in height,
with numerous sprouts rising from their gnarled heads. These stumps
resemble, at a distance, our own pollard willows. The leaves spring
in pairs from the branches; they are light green, ovate, pointed,
serrated, and deciduous. In June, 1884, when I visited this part of the
country, some of the trees were bearing bunches apparently of fruit
in small pods; but, as no flowering specimens were then procurable,
there still exists a little uncertainty as to this tree. I am informed,
however, that it is, in all probability, the _Fraxinus Chinensis_, a
species of ash. The tree is known to the Chinese as the _Pai-la shu_,
or “white wax tree.”

It is to this, the great home of the wax tree, that the scales are
carried from the Chien-ch’ang valley. On their arrival, about the
beginning of May, they are made up into small packets of from twenty
to thirty scales, which are enclosed in a leaf of the wood-oil tree.
The edges of the leaf are tied together with a rice-straw, by which the
packet is also suspended close under the branches of the wax tree. A
few rough holes are drilled in the leaf with a blunt needle, so that
the insects may find their way through them to the branches.

On emerging from the scales, the insects creep rapidly up the branches
to the leaves, among which they nestle for a period of thirteen days.
They then descend to the branches and twigs, on which they take up
their positions, the females, doubtless, to provide for a continuation
of the race by developing scales in which to deposit their eggs, and
the males to excrete the substance known as white wax. Whether or not
the wax is intended as a protection to the scales, I am not prepared
to say. I have frequently observed, however, scales far removed from
any deposit of white wax, and it may be asked whether or not it is
in these scales at a distance from the wax that the female beetles,
cuckoo-like, deposit their eggs. The Chinese in Chia-ting have learned
to distinguish the wax-producing from the non-wax-producing insects.
They divide them into two classes, called respectively, the _la-sha_,
or “wax sand,” and the _huang-sha_, or “brown sand.” The former, which
are of a reddish-white colour, are declared to be the wax producers,
while the latter, which are of a brownish colour, are said to produce
no wax. These are, without doubt, the males and females respectively.
During the thirteen days after their escape from the scales, and their
future life when studded on the bark, the insects must derive their
nourishment from the sap of the tree, although to the unaided eye there
is no visible impression on leaves or bark. From the absence of any
such marks, the Chinese declare that the insects live on dew, and that
the wax perspires from their bodies.

The wax first appears as a white coating on the under sides of the
boughs and twigs, and resembles very much sulphate of quinine, or a
covering of snow. It gradually spreads over the whole branch, and
attains, after three months, a thickness of about a quarter of an inch.
When the white deposit becomes visible on the branches, the farmer may
be seen going the round of his trees, carefully belabouring each stump
with a heavy wooden club, in order, as he says, to bring to ground
the _la-kou_, or “wax dog,” a declared enemy of the wax insect. This
probably refers to the beetle-mother. This clubbing of the stumps was
done during the heat of the day, when the wax insects are said to have
a firm hold of the bark.

After the lapse of a hundred days from the placing of the insects on
the wax tree, the deposit is complete. The branches are then lopped
off, and as much of the wax as possible removed by hand. This is
placed in an iron pot of boiling water, and the wax, melting, rises
to the surface, is skimmed off and placed in a round mould, whence it
emerges as the white wax of commerce. Where it is found impossible to
remove the wax by hand, twigs and branches are thrown into the pot,
so that this wax is darker and inferior. Finally, not satisfied that
all the wax has been collected, the operator takes the insects, which
have meantime sunk to the bottom of the pot, and placing them in a bag,
squeezes them until they have given up the last drop of their valuable
product. They are then--an ignominious ending to their short and
industrious career--thrown to the pigs!

[Sidenote: _WAX INSECT METAMORPHOSIS._]

On the 27th of August, 1884, branches of the _ligustrum_ coated with
wax were brought to me. On removing the wax I found, close to the
bark, a number of minute brown bags, evidently the male _cocci_ in a
state of metamorphosis. I examined the undisturbed branches from day
to day, and on the 4th September I observed quite a number of white
hair-like substances rising above the surface of the wax deposit. These
ultimately proved to be the white forked tails of the male insects
forcing their way up from the bark, and dislodging, as they emerged,
small quantities of the wax. They were now provided with long wings,
and, after tarrying for a time on the branches, flew away. By the 13th
of September they had all disappeared, leaving visible the tunnels from
the bark, upwards, by which they had escaped.

It will be seen from the above remarks that, as the branches of the
wax tree are boiled with the wax, the scales are destroyed, and hence
it is necessary to have recourse annually to the Chien-ch’ang valley
for fresh scales with eggs or insects.

When the branches are lopped off a wax tree, a period of three years
is allowed to elapse before the scales are suspended under the new
branches of the same tree. Wind and rain are greatly dreaded at the
season of suspending the insects, and the sprouts of one and two years’
growth are considered too weak to resist a gale.

So much for the wax insect and its product. I come now to the subject
of the quantity produced, its value and uses.

Since the introduction of kerosene oil into China, and its almost
universal use in the remotest provinces of the Empire, the demand for
white wax has declined considerably, and the supply has decreased in
a corresponding ratio. Not many years ago, as I have already stated,
ten thousand porters were required to carry the scales from the
Chien-ch’ang valley to the wax tree country, and in 1884 we find that
a thousand porters were able to transport the Chien-ch’ang supply. In
many homesteads in Ssŭ-ch’uan, where candles were formerly the only
lights, kerosene has been introduced, and it is now only when lighting
is required outside--for there is no public lighting in China worthy of
the name--that candles are employed by those who find it necessary to
leave their homes after nightfall. I find, however, from the returns
of the Chinese Imperial Maritime Customs for 1884, that the quantity
of Insect White Wax imported into Shanghai in foreign vessels from the
ports on the Yang-tsze, amounted to 7,628 piculs, or 454 tons, valued
at 381,440 taels, or about £95,000--say on an average £200 a ton.

The value, like the demand, has also declined. Not many years ago it
was quoted at double the prices realized at present.

[Sidenote: _USES OF INSECT WAX._]

Various uses are ascribed to this wax; but in Western China, as far as
I have been able to gather, its sole use is for coating the exteriors
of animal and vegetable tallow candles, and for giving a greater
consistency to these tallows before they are manufactured into candles.
Insect White Wax melts at 160° F., whereas animal tallow melts at
about 95° F. Vegetable and animal tallow candles are therefore dipped
into melted white wax; a coating is given to them, and prevents them
guttering when lighted. It is also said to be used in other parts of
China as a sizing for paper and cotton goods, for imparting a gloss
to silk, and as a furniture polish. Chemists are likewise declared to
utilize it for coating their pills; but, being in all probability of
more value than the pills, the coating is removed before the latter are
administered. In the Fuh-kien and Chê-kiang provinces it is employed to
impart a polish to steatite, or soapstone ornaments, after the carving
is completed.

Such, then, is a brief history of the production, manufacture, and uses
of Chinese Insect White Wax--a substance interesting from a biological,
as well as from a commercial, point of view.




CHAPTER XII.

THE TRADE OF WESTERN AND SOUTH-WESTERN CHINA.

    The waterways, trade-routes, condition, and commercial prospects
    of Yün-nan--Trade-routes to Kuei-chow, and the mineral wealth
    of the province--The waterways of Ssŭ-ch’uan--General trade
    of Ssŭ-ch’uan--Foreign trade of Ssŭ-ch’uan and how it is
    conducted--The defects in the present system and the remedy--The
    rapids and the difficulties they present--Advantages to be
    gained from the opening of Ch’ung-k’ing--The Yang-tsze the only
    route--Trade bound to the Yang-tsze.


I felt very highly honoured by a recent invitation, which was addressed
to me by the Chamber of Commerce of the great manufacturing city of
Manchester, to speak on the subject of trade with China; but I confess
that I had the greatest diffidence in appearing before a commercial
audience, before men who make trade the business of their lives. A
residence of ten years in a country like China does not necessarily
imply an acquaintance with its trade, and, were this the only
qualification that I possessed, I should have hesitated to accept the
invitation. The trade of China, like the Empire itself, is vast and
varied, and to examine and discuss it in anything like an exhaustive
manner would have occupied far too much time. Instead, therefore, of
speaking of the general trade of China, I drew their attention to that
part of the country which has of late attracted considerable notice
from its proximity to Upper Burmah, now incorporated in our Indian
Empire.

South-western China was not unfamiliar to the audience I then
addressed, its trade and trading capabilities having been brought
before the principal Chambers of Commerce in Great Britain by Mr.
Colquhoun and Mr. Hallett, two gentlemen who took great interest in
the subject--an interest, too, which they tried to instil into the
commercial world. The part of China, then, of which I spoke embraced
Ssŭ-ch’uan, Yün-nan, and Kuei-chow, and the observations I made were
based on a three years’ residence and recent journeys, covering some
five thousand miles in these three provinces.

[Sidenote: _PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS._]

It is impossible to arrive at any definite conclusion regarding
the trade of a country without some knowledge of the geography of
that country; it is therefore necessary, at the outset, to note the
physical characteristics of Western China. The hundred and tenth degree
of longitude divides China Proper into two almost equal parts. It
does more; it divides the level from the mountainous half. Yün-nan,
Kuei-chow, and Ssŭ-ch’uan, constitute the southern section of the
latter or mountainous half. Let us, then, deal with these three
provinces in the above order.

[Sidenote: _CONDITION OF YÜNNAN._]

Yün-nan is bounded on the north by the province of Ssŭ-ch’uan, on the
west by Upper Burmah and the Shan States, on the south by the Shan
States and Tonquin, and on the east by the provinces of Kwang-si and
Kuei-chow. It is the birth-place of several well-known rivers. On
the west are the Ta-ping and Shweli, tributaries of the Irrawady; the
Salwen and Mekong flow through its whole length; the Song-koi, or Red
River, and the Hsi Chiang, or West River, take their rise in the south
and east of the province respectively. The Chin Chiang, or Chin-sha
Chiang, as the upper waters of the Yang-tsze are called, flows through
the north-western corner, and for a considerable distance divides
Yün-nan from Ssŭ-ch’uan. In the north-east there is one small river,
the Ta-kuan, or Hêng Chiang, a tributary of the Yang-tsze. Of all these
rivers, the only two that are navigable into Yün-nan are the Song-koi
and the Yang-tsze, with its tributary the Ta-kuan, and these not
without some difficulty.

Here, then, we have two water-routes into Yün-nan, one in the south and
the other in the north. But the West River is navigated from Canton
to Pe-sê, close to the south-eastern frontier of the province, and is
a very important trade highway to southern and eastern Yün-nan. In
default of a waterway in the west, communication is kept up by the
Bhamo-Ta-li Fu route, which, being now partly within our Indian Empire,
has attracted no little attention, and raised considerable expectations
for British trade.

It is indeed a pity that these expectations are doomed to
disappointment. The total import and export trade by this route three
years ago did not exceed half a million sterling. I entered very
minutely into the question of this trade when I visited Ta-li Fu in
1883, and I am thus well acquainted with the area which this route
supplies. Ta-Li Fu and Yang-pei T’ing form its eastern and northern
boundary respectively, and it is from it that the Ta-ping valley draws
its requirements. The country east of Ta-li Fu is supplied from Yün-nan
Fu, the capital of the province, which again draws both from Canton by
the West River, and from Shanghai by the Yang-tsze. The difficulties of
the Bhamo route are so great that no great improvement is possible, and
no great development of trade can result. Yün-nan has been described
as a rich province. I have no hesitation in saying that it is; but it
contains a poor population, and, until the condition of the latter is
improved, no great development of trade need be looked for in that
direction. It is estimated to contain a population of from five to six
millions, the great mass of which is engaged in agricultural pursuits.
True, there are copper mines in the north and east, and tin and lead
mines in the south of the province; but mining industries are so
hampered by official interference as to profit little the owners or
the workmen. Agriculture, too, is carried on under a system of small
farms, and the absence of good roads and the impossibility of greatly
improving those that exist, owing to the mountainous character of the
province, do not tend to the enrichment of the peasantry. Nor is this
all; immense tracts in the north and west of the province have lain
waste since the Mohammedan rebellion, and owing to the antipathy of
the Chinese to settle on lands which they look upon as the property
of people who may still be living, or whose descendants may still be
living, it must be many years before the agriculture of the province
is properly developed. It will be said that I take a gloomy view of the
south-western corner of China; and I am indeed sorry, for the sake of
our own commerce, that I cannot present a brighter picture.

I turn now to the province of Kuei-chow, which, owing to its proximity
to the great waterway of China, is better situated for trade than
Yün-nan, but which, from causes which I shall presently describe, is
even less developed than that province. Kuei-chow has not inaptly been
called the “Switzerland” of China. The greater part of the province,
which is exceedingly mountainous, was formerly peopled by a non-Chinese
race, called by the Chinese, _Miao-tzŭ_; but some twenty years ago a
struggle arose between the aboriginal tribes and the Chinese, in which
the latter from their superior equipment proved victorious, and drove
the conquered into the southern half of the province, although even in
the northern half scattered families may still be found. The struggle,
which lasted for years, was a desperate one; and, at the present
time, traces are everywhere to be seen in the shape of ruined towns
and villages and lands lying waste and desolate. The waterways that
lead to the province of Kuei-chow, with one exception, flow through
Ssŭ-ch’uan. That exception is the Yuan River, which, rising in the
east of the province, flows east and north-east into the Tung-t’ing
Lake, which debouches into the Yang-tsze, one hundred and twenty-three
miles to the west of Hankow. This river, which, although obstructed by
numerous rapids, is navigated to within one hundred and thirty miles
of Kuei-yang Fu, the capital of the province, is _the_ trade highway
to Eastern Kuei-chow.

[Sidenote: _A PROSPEROUS PROVINCE._]

The trade of the rest of the province is intimately bound up with that
of Ssŭ-ch’uan, through which, owing to its remaining waterways, it
naturally passes. The population of Kuei-chow is estimated to equal
that of Yün-nan. It consists of immigrants from other neighbouring
provinces, who seem to have left behind them whatever energy they may
have at one time possessed. Like Yün-nan, Kuei-chow is rich in the
variety of its mineral wealth. Coal, iron, copper, and quicksilver
exist in large quantities; but they are very imperfectly worked.
What it lacks is salt, a necessary which binds it and its trade to
Ssŭ-ch’uan, which is able to supply not only its own wants, but those
of the southern province, the north of Yün-nan, and parts of other
eastern provinces.

I am happy to be able to pass from these two provinces, half
depopulated by internecine struggles, only partly cultivated and partly
developed, to a brighter picture. Ssŭ-ch’uan is really a picture of
what peace, contentment, industry, and consequent trade are able to
accomplish. When Yün-nan and Kuei-chow were convulsed by civil wars,
the Ssŭ-ch’uanese were peacefully journeying up and down the Great
River, as the section of the Yang-tsze in the east of the province is
called, disposing of their surplus produce, and bringing back not only
what they required to satisfy their actual wants, but also luxuries in
the shape of goods of foreign manufacture. There have been, and still
are, skirmishings in the far west of the province; but rebellions have
been short-lived, and have little affected the commercial section which
lies to the east of the Min River. It is of the trade of this province,
itself as large as France, and as populous, that I wish particularly to
draw attention. I shall endeavour to point out the value of that trade,
the conditions under which it is carried on, and the means that should
be taken for its development.

Although Ssŭ-ch’uan is hilly in the east and centre and mountainous
in the west, cultivation has been carried to a state bordering on
perfection. The dense population of the province has no doubt largely
contributed to this end; but its fine waterways have greatly helped
the energy of the people. The river Yang-tsze, which flows through the
province, is the great trunk, having for its northern branches the Min
with its tributaries, the T’o, and the Chia-ling with its affluents. On
the south are the Ta-kuan, the Nan-kuang, the Yung-ning, the Jên-huai
or Ch’ih-shui, the Ch’i-chiang, and the Kung-t’an Rivers.

On all these rivers there is one constant stream of traffic, and it
will be asked, in what does that traffic consist? No other province
in China can vie with Ssŭ-ch’uan in the richness and variety of its
products, and I will refer only to those of them which constitute the
chief articles of eastern export. They are, in the order of their
value, opium, silk, salt, sugar, and medicines. Of these, silk is the
only article that reaches Europe; but, amongst the minor exports,
tobacco, hides, musk, and rhubarb are well-known in this country. The
total value of the export trade of Ch’ung-k’ing, which is situated on
the north bank of the Yang-tsze, at the mouth of the Chia-ling River,
and is the great trade emporium of the province of Ssŭ-ch’uan, amounts
to more than five million sterling annually. This must not be assumed
to represent the total value of the surplus produce of the province.
There are several important trade centres that lie between Ch’ung-k’ing
and the western frontier of the province of Hupeh, such as Fu Chou,
Fêng-tu Hsien, Wan Hsien, and K’uei Fu, each of which contributes its
quota to the large export trade of Ssŭ-ch’uan. Moreover, the west of
the province supplies Tibet with brick-tea, and the south-western
corner, known as the valley of Chien-ch’ang, sends its silk into
Yün-nan and even into Burmah.

[Sidenote: _THE COTTON TRADE._]

What, then, does Ssŭ-ch’uan purchase with these surplus millions? What
does this rich province lack? The answer is easy. Cotton will not
flourish in Ssŭ-ch’uan, and the greater part of her surplus wealth is
consumed in the purchase of raw cotton, native cottons, and, what is of
great importance to British commerce, foreign cotton and woollen goods.
But what proportion do these imports bear to each other? Raw cotton
exceeds, while native cottons and foreign piece goods range, each about
one million sterling. I should state, however, that all this cotton is
not consumed in the province of Ssŭ-ch’uan. The Ssŭ-ch’uanese are a
great manufacturing people, and cottons manufactured from the imported
raw material form an important export from Ssŭ-ch’uan to Yün-nan and
Western Kuei-chow.

But it is the import of foreign goods into Western China that is of
paramount interest to the people of this country. Let us, then, look
back for a period of years and see how this branch of trade has been
conducted. In the various treaties concluded between this country and
China, it is agreed that goods of British manufacture may, on payment
of the tariff import duty and of a transit duty, be carried into the
interior for sale; but the transit certificates which were issued to
the owners of the goods on payment of the transit duty were by no
means respected. Not only were these certificates not respected, but
the rules and conditions under which they were issued differed at each
port, and this want of uniformity proved a great hindrance to the
development of the trade. It was not till 1876 that the transit pass
system was placed upon a solid footing.

In the Agreement of Chefoo concluded in that year, the following clause
occurs:--“The Chinese Government agrees that Transit Duty Certificates
shall be framed under one rule at all the ports, no difference being
made in the conditions set forth therein; and that so far as imports
are concerned, the nationality of the person possessing and carrying
these is immaterial.” This has proved a new epoch for the transit
import trade of China, and I will now point out its effect on Western
China, and on the province of Ssŭ-ch’uan in particular. Before entering
into the details of this trade, however, I should mention that
Ichang, the nearest port to Ssŭ-ch’uan, was opened to foreign trade
by the Agreement of Chefoo in 1876, and that, previous to that year,
Ssŭ-ch’uan drew its supplies from Hankow, which is four hundred miles
to the east of Ichang and six hundred miles from Shanghai.

[Sidenote: _TRADE STATISTICS._]

In 1875, that is to say, when Ichang was not an open port, foreign
goods to the value of £40,000 were sent under transit pass from Hankow
to Ssŭ-ch’uan; in 1876, the year in which the Agreement of Chefoo was
signed, they rose in value to £160,000, and in 1877 to £290,000.

In the spring of 1877, Ichang was opened; but, owing to defective
steamer communication between that port and Hankow, it was not
till 1878 that it began to take its share in the transit trade to
Ssŭ-ch’uan. In that year, it sent up goods of the modest value of
scarcely £4,000, against the still increasing transit trade of Hankow
of the value of nearly £400,000. It was naturally supposed that the
opening of Ichang would attract a considerable share of the transit
trade of Hankow; but, curiously enough, the transit trade of both ports
with Ssŭ-ch’uan went on concurrently increasing. In 1879, Hankow sent
up £600,000, and Ichang £50,000, a total of £650,000; in 1880, Hankow
sent up £500,000, and Ichang £250,000, a total of £750,000; in 1881,
Hankow figured for £800,000, and Ichang for £200,000, a total of one
million; in 1882, Hankow figured for £350,000, and Ichang for £200,000,
a total of £550,000; in 1883, Hankow figured for half a million, and
Ichang for £350,000, a total of £850,000; and in 1884, Hankow figured
for £340,000, and Ichang for £260,000, or a total of £600,000.

The decline of 1884 was due to several causes, the chief of which
were a local drought and the complications with France. The average
annual value of the foreign goods sent under transit pass to Ssŭ-ch’uan
for the five years ended the 31st December, 1884, thus amounted to
£750,000, a sum in striking contrast to the forty thousand pounds’
worth forwarded to the same destination in 1875.

The following are the figures for 1885-88:--1885--Ichang, £412,000;
Hankow, £491,000. 1886--Ichang, £342,000; Hankow, £379,000.
1887--Ichang, £465,000; Hankow, £255,000. 1888--Ichang, £547,000;
Hankow, £250,000.

The enormous increase in trade since 1875 says much for the transit
pass clauses in the Agreement of Chefoo; but I will endeavour to show
that, so far as Western China is concerned, these transit regulations
are by no means perfect. Everyone is aware of the conservative
character of the Chinese, and of the difficulties that have to be
met in inducing them to leave an established groove. The groove in
the present instance is the city of Ch’ung-k’ing, where the native
merchants of Shanghai and Hankow have established agencies, to which
their foreign goods are consigned for sale and distribution throughout
the province of Ssŭ-ch’uan. These goods, having paid the tariff import
duty at Shanghai, are carried to Hankow and Ichang, whence, on payment
of a transit duty equal to half the tariff import duty, they are
conveyed to the province of Ssŭ-ch’uan. The destination of the goods
must be expressly stated in the transit duty certificate under which
they are carried, and for Ssŭ-ch’uan that destination is Ch’ung-k’ing,
where, as I have said, the mercantile agencies are established. So
rooted is this custom, that goods are frequently carried past their
ultimate destination a distance of more than one hundred miles, thus
necessitating their paying an up-freight to Ch’ung-k’ing and a
down-freight to their destination, and, owing to their being no longer
covered by a transit duty certificate, the usual local taxation.

[Sidenote: _GRINDING TAXATION._]

Foreign goods, therefore, when landed at Ch’ung-k’ing, have paid
an import duty and a transit duty, and, immediately they leave the
duty-free area in the hands of the country buyers, they are liable to
payment of _likin_ and not unfrequently to additional local taxation.
It will naturally be asked, is there no remedy for this grinding
taxation, which seriously affects the development of trade and limits
the consumption of our manufactures? There is a remedy; but before I
touch on it, let us note how the vast trade of Ssŭ-ch’uan, including
the trade in foreign goods, is carried on.

The import and export trade of Ssŭ-ch’uan, with the exception of the
greater part of the export opium trade, is conducted on the great
water highway--the Yang-tsze. This river is navigated by steamers for
one thousand miles, as far as Ichang; but west of that port the total
trade, with the above exception, is carried on by a fleet of native
boats, numbering from five to seven thousand. Few of these native
boats or junks have a carrying capacity exceeding one hundred tons,
and it will be more intelligible to commercial people if I endeavour
to convert this river trade value into tonnage. It is estimated
that, on an average, thirty junks arrive at or pass Ichang daily
from Ssŭ-ch’uan, and that a like number ascends; and if twelve tons
be taken as the average capacity of these junks--a low estimate--it
will be found that over twenty thousand tons of cargo are monthly
carried to and from Ssŭ-ch’uan. The junks also carry a considerable
number of passengers, in addition to the regular passenger traffic
which is conducted between Ssŭ-ch’uan and the Lower Yang-tsze in
specially-constructed boats. But the conditions under which the
navigation of the four hundred miles that separate Ichang from
Ch’ung-k’ing is carried on are deserving of special examination.

[Sidenote: _DIFFICULTIES ATTENDING NAVIGATION._]

Ichang lies at the eastern end of a series of gorges, which, with
extensive breaks, stretches for a distance of one hundred miles as far
as the city of K’uei-chou Fu. It is within this hundred miles that
native boats encounter difficulties. These difficulties, which are of
two kinds, vary according to the season and according to the state of
the river. At low water, that is to say, during the months of December,
January, February, and March, the volume of the Yang-tsze, which
owing to the contraction of the channel is cooped up in the Gorges,
on emerging from them pours into the wider bed of the river, forming
races, and in one place a rapid of considerable importance.

This rapid lies at the eastern end of the Mi-tsang Gorge, thirty-three
miles from Ichang, and is caused by a sudden declivity of the bed of
the river, in the centre of which, at very low water, two ridges of
rock appear, leaving a narrow channel between. Besides this narrow
passage, however, there are two channels, one on each side, between
the central rocks and the banks. Fortunately, at low water the current
in the gorges, where there is no possible tracking ground, is sluggish,
and the unwieldy native craft are either rowed or sail through them.
When the river is high, that is, during the remaining eight months of
the year, the races and rapid are altogether obliterated, being covered
to a depth of thirty or more feet. The effect of this rise, on the
other hand, is to strengthen the current in the gorges, against which
the junks, there being no towing path, find it very difficult to make
headway. The section of three hundred miles of river that lies between
the gorges and Ch’ung-k’ing presents no difficulty to navigation.

The time required to navigate a junk between Ichang and Ch’ung-k’ing
depends upon the state of the river. In winter, twenty-five to thirty
days are usually required, while at high water, in July for example,
six to eight weeks are considered fair passages. The down journey
occupies from six to twelve days. The time required, the labour
employed, and the risks incurred in navigating a junk on the Upper
Yang-tsze, ensure very heavy freights. The sum of seventy shillings is
a low estimate for a ton of up-cargo between Ichang and Ch’ung-k’ing,
and I notice in the most recent trade report from the former place,
that ten to twelve shillings were charged as freight on a bale of piece
goods weighing about a hundredweight and a half. It will hardly be
matter of surprise, therefore, that trade in British goods is heavily
handicapped in the comparatively wealthy province of Ssŭ-ch’uan, when
it is borne in mind that these goods, before they reach the hands
of the consumer, have paid an import duty, a transit duty, a heavy
freight, _likin_ taxes, and in many instances other local exactions.

I come now to the remedy, which, under our existing treaties and
engagements with China, can, so far as I am able to judge, afford the
only relief to British trade. That remedy is the opening of a port
in the province of Ssŭ-ch’uan, on the same conditions as any one of
the nineteen ports at present open to foreign trade. This is no new
scheme. It has been before the mercantile world for some years, and
it has received the sanction of the Chinese Government, subject to a
condition which has not attracted the attention it deserves. I quote
from the Agreement of Chefoo:--“The British Government will further be
free to send officers to reside at Ch’ung-k’ing to watch the conditions
of British trade in Ssŭ-ch’uan. British merchants will not be allowed
to reside at Ch’ung-k’ing, or to open establishments or warehouses
there so long as no steamers have access to the port. When steamers
have succeeded in ascending the river so far, further arrangements can
be taken into consideration.” The opening of Ch’ung-k’ing, therefore,
is contingent on steamers reaching that place; in other words, on the
navigability of the Upper Yang-tsze.

This, then, is the point upon which the question of the development
of British trade with Western China turns, and it is one on which it
would be too much to expect unanimity. The great majority of those who
have ascended in native boats are of opinion that the river could be
navigated by powerful light-draught steamers, and nowhere have I seen
an opinion which declares the passage by steamers as impossible. The
successive British Agents at Ch’ung-k’ing have repeatedly urged the
claims of the Upper Yang-tsze on the attention of British shipbuilders
and merchants; but it is to be feared that Blue Books are not perused
with that care which they sometimes deserve.

[Sidenote: _NAVAL REPORT ON THE RAPIDS._]

There is one opinion, however, which, because it is the only published
nautical opinion, and because it is somewhat adverse, cannot be passed
over without comment. In 1869, the Shanghai Chamber of Commerce sent
two delegates up the Yang-tsze to Ch’ung-k’ing, to collect information
on all points bearing on the trade of Western China, and two naval
officers were, at the request of the Chamber, deputed by Admiral
Keppel, then Commander-in-chief on the China Station, to accompany
the expedition. These officers ascended to K’uei-chou Fu, which, as I
have already stated, lies at the western end of the gorge and rapid
section, and I will now quote from the report of Lieutenant Dawson so
far as it concerns this part of the river. He says:--“Having made as
detailed a survey between the entrance to the Upper River and Ichang as
the nature of the river demanded, and sufficient examination above that
port to satisfy me as to the navigability or otherwise of the rapids, I
conclude the following:--

“(1)--That the river to Ichang is navigable for steamers of 7 feet
draught and powerful steering apparatus, from the beginning of April to
the end of September, and probably, if native report is to be believed,
for the winter months also.

“(2)--That the rapids and other difficulties of the River above Ichang,
as at present known, are so numerous as to preclude the possibility
of steamers of any description navigating this part until a thorough
detailed survey is made, and the changes of the river at the different
seasons watched and noted by competent persons.

“(3)--That such survey could only be made in the winter months when the
river is at its lowest, and would, if carried as far as Ch’ung-k’ing,
in all probability, occupy two surveyors for two winters.

“(4)--To particularise or describe any one rapid from the month’s
changes, under which I saw them, would be useless, as they are
continually altering in danger, as rocks cover and uncover, and
doubtless what would be a dangerous rapid in summer, would be
dangerless in winter, and _vice versâ_. In the month of April, the
rapids of Tsing-tan and Shan-tou-pien were the worst.

“(5)--As far as my experience on the upper part of the river above
Ichang extended, the depth of water is not a difficulty to be
apprehended at any time of the year, as the average was seldom less
than ten fathoms. Velocity of current, want of anchoring ground, and
intricacy of navigation, are the difficulties previously alluded to.”

Since 1869, our knowledge of the upper waters of the Yang-tsze has very
much improved. We know that the section between Hankow and Ichang is
navigable by steamers all the year round, and we know that the annual
rise of the river is not to increase the difficulties of the rapids,
but to obliterate them altogether. With respect to the current, it
no doubt runs stronger at high water; but, regarding the matter in
a practical light, we may say that, if a large heavily-laden junk
can be tracked against the strongest current by a hundred men, is it
impossible for a full-powered light-draught steamer to follow in its
wake? There is one advantage, too, which the upper section of the river
has over the lower; its channel never shifts, and, once navigated by a
steamer, there is no chance of its being lost. It is not too much to
say that, during the winter months, the masters of the steamers running
between Hankow and Ichang have to conduct surveying operations every
trip, and I have found no one more anxious than these very masters to
navigate the river from Ichang to Ch’ung-k’ing, so confident are they
of success.

I pass now to the advantages which the opening of Ch’ung-k’ing would
afford to British trade. Our manufactures could then be laid down
in Ch’ung-k’ing on payment of the tariff duty, and from that point
the buyers from the chief cities of the province, as well as from
Kuei-chow and Yün-nan, would be able to carry their purchases under
transit pass to their ultimate destination, on payment of the transit
duty only. No other tax or duty, _likin_ or _octroi_, would add to
the price which the consumer has to pay, and I have no hesitation in
stating that, under such an improved system, Ssŭ-ch’uan would soon
take a very high place in the markets of the world as a consumer of
British manufactures. The improvement of communication would cause an
enormous development of the products and industries of the province.
I need only mention silk as an example. There is really no limit to
the possible development of this valuable product. In almost every
homestead in the centre and east of the province, silk-culture is
carried on by the women and children of the family, and the development
of this and other exports, which would arise from the safer, speedier,
and cheaper means of communication between the Upper and Lower
Yang-tsze, would greatly raise the buying capacity of the peaceful,
industrious, and well-to-do Ssŭ-ch’uanese.

Nor is Ch’ung-k’ing the head of navigation of the Yang-tsze. The
section of the river between Ch’ung-k’ing and Hsü-chou Fu, usually
called Sui Fu, a distance of two hundred miles, is as suited to steamer
navigation as between K’uei-chou Fu and Ch’ung-k’ing, and it is by this
stretch of the river that the trade of Northern and Western Kuei-chow
and Northern Yün-nan is conducted. West of Sui Fu the trade on the
upper waters of the Yang-tsze, which I have descended from a point
fifty miles higher than P’ing-shan Hsien--the farthest point reached
by the Upper Yang-tsze Expedition in 1861--is insignificant, and
above P’ing-shan there are several rapids which would present serious
obstacles to a steamer, but the trade is insignificant, and steamers
will never be required to run west of Sui Fu.

I may state here that, in Western China, coal is abundant and is found
close to the Yang-tsze.

[Sidenote: _ROUTES TO WESTERN CHINA._]

I have thus endeavoured to point out the amount and value of the trade
of Western China, the conditions under which it is carried on, and the
means which should be taken for its development. I propose now to
show that, so far as Ssŭ-ch’uan, Kuei-chow, and Northern Yün-nan are
concerned, there is no possible rival to the Yang-tsze route. The fact
that there are half a dozen trade routes to Yün-nan affords a proof of
the inaccessibility of the province. I agree with Mr. Colquhoun when
he says:--“The configuration of Yün-nan is such that no single route
can reach or ‘tap’ the whole trade of the province. To propose one
route for the whole country is like advocating some quack medicine for
a patient who lies ill with half a dozen ailments.” What, then, are we
to think of the proposed route, which is to pass through Yün-nan from
south to north, and “tap” Ssŭ-ch’uan? It is as absurd as the proposal
of the Bengal Chamber of Commerce to reach Ssŭ-ch’uan from the city of
Li-chiang Fu in North-western Yün-nan. Ssŭ-ch’uan is hemmed in on the
west and south by range after range of mountains, which will remain
formidable barriers to any feasible trade route until the science of
engineering has advanced far beyond its present stage. Writing of the
Yang-tsze route to Yün-nan, Mr. Colquhoun says:--“The Yang-tsze route,
there can be no doubt, can only deal with the northern part of the
province. The physical features of the northern portion of the country
preclude the possibility of trade penetrating beyond that mountainous
and barren region.” I am sorry that Mr Colquhoun has designated the
part of Yün-nan, which I claim for the Yang-tsze route, barren. It
is exceedingly rich in copper, and contains some of the most fertile
plains in the west of China. The plains of T’ung-ch’uan and Chao-t’ung
are famous. The admission, however, that Northern Yün-nan will continue
to belong to the Yang-tsze route is important, because, to reach
that part of the country, goods are carried through the province of
Ssŭ-ch’uan. There can be no question, therefore, as to the trade-route
to Ssŭ-ch’uan. But I need not rest my argument on the opinions or
admissions of others. I have traversed all the existing trade-routes
between Yün-nan and Ssŭ-ch’uan, and between Yün-nan and Kuei-chow, and
I have very vivid and bitter recollections connected with them. In
proof of the difficulties that exist, I may state that it is a common
occurrence to see pack animals lying dead on the mountain sides, and
this recollection is all the more deeply impressed on my mind by the
fact that one of my own horses fell a victim to a vain search after a
practicable trade-route.

But, in addition to the physical features of the country, there is
another consideration that binds the trade of Western China to the
River Yang-tsze. I have already said that the cotton plant does not
flourish in Ssŭ-ch’uan, and that raw cotton and native cottons are
largely imported by the province. Whence are they imported? From the
Central Provinces of China, through which the Yang-tsze flows.

[Sidenote: _PROBABLE REDUCTION OF TAXES._]

The only route to Ssŭ-ch’uan, Kuei-chow, and Northern Yün-nan, is the
Yang-tsze, on whose upper waters a large trade in foreign goods is even
now conducted, a trade which is capable of enormous development when
the present burdensome taxation is reduced. The opening of Ch’ung-k’ing
by the ascent of a steamer--an event anxiously looked for by the
native merchants of Ssŭ-ch’uan--will, as I have pointed out, reduce
that taxation, and will enable millions, who at present look upon
foreign goods as articles of luxury, to become themselves consumers;
and I trust the day is not far distant when the British flag will float
over entrepôts of British manufactures throughout Western China.




CHAPTER XIII.

THE PHÖ.

    Non-Chinese races of Western and South-western China--Imperfect
    knowledge regarding them--A traveller’s difficulties--Phö language
    approaching extinction--The Miao-tzŭ rebellion--Relationship
    of the Miao-tzŭ tribes--Art among the Phö--Music and
    dancing--Characteristics of the language--Exercises--English-Phö
    vocabulary.


[Sidenote: _THE NON-CHINESE RACES._]

The very imperfect nature of our knowledge regarding the non-Chinese
races of Western and South-western China, constitutes the great
impediment to their exact scientific classification. Notwithstanding
this, however, there are certain well-marked distinctions that cannot
fail to attract the eye and the ear of the traveller. So great a
contrast do the Lolos bear to the Chinese, that not for a single moment
can any idea of affinity be entertained. And the same holds good with
the Miao-tzŭ of Kuei-chow and the Shans of Yün-nan who, with the Lolos,
form the three great distinctive races of Kuei-chow, Yün-nan, and
Ssŭ-ch’uan. With regard to the Ku-tsung of North-western Yün-nan and
the Sifan of North-western Ssŭ-ch’uan, the former, from their physique,
dress and language, are undoubted Tibetans, while the latter are in all
probability a branch of the same stock. The term Man-tzŭ, although
applied by the Ssŭ-ch’uanese to the inhabitants of the region to the
west of Lolodom and often to the Lolos themselves, is generically used
to designate the non-Chinese races of Western China.

Our knowledge of these races is defective, for the simple reason that
no foreigner has ever paid them a lengthened visit, which is essential
to a thorough grasp of their ethnological characteristics. Nor is this
a matter for surprise, as the opportunities, which foreigners possess
of visiting these tribes, whose haunts are removed from beaten tracks,
are few and far between; and those few who have had such opportunities
have been too much occupied with other work to study ethnological
details or acquire a new language.

As recorded in the preceding pages, I passed through the countries
of most of these tribes; but, like others, I found myself wanting in
leisure to cultivate a closer intimacy with them. I need only appeal
to travellers in Western China as to the facilities afforded for
undertaking such a task. In what does the traveller’s day usually
consist? He gets up at daybreak, hurries on to the end of the stage,
writes up an account of the day’s journey, endeavours to get something
to eat, and tries to enjoy a few hours’ sleep ere the labours of
another day begin. The miseries of travel, too, breed a feeling of
restlessness and a hankering after something more comfortable than
his present experiences. But all the comfort the traveller in these
regions may expect, and too frequently gets, is shelter in a miserable
mud hovel without chair or table--hardly a promising spot in which to
commence ethnological studies.

Nor is this all; given a chair and a table, the next difficulty is
to find the man whose characteristics it is intended to study. The
treatment which these aborigines receive at the hands of the Chinese,
and the contempt in which they are held by them, have induced a
timidity which is hard to overcome, and they have often expressed to
me their fears that they would get into trouble through accepting my
invitation to visit me.

In traversing the country between the Ta-tu River in Western Ssŭ-ch’uan
and the north-west frontier of Yün-nan, I have frequently seen
so-called Man-tzŭ suddenly quit the roadway and conceal themselves in
the bordering brushwood and tall reeds until we had passed. And even
when an interview has with difficulty been obtained, my visitors were
always anxious to get away as soon as possible, so that the most the
traveller can do is to note down a few of their more common words,
without attempting the analysis of even a few simple sentences.

A few short vocabularies are all that I was able to collect during
my journeys; but, towards the end of 1884, chance threw in my way an
opportunity of entering more fully into the language of the principal
branch of the aborigines of Kuei-chow, known to the Chinese as the Hei
or Black Miao, or, as they call themselves, the Phö.

In that year Mr. Broumton, who was then in charge of the China Inland
Mission station at Kuei-yang, came to Ch’ung-k’ing bringing with him
a man belonging to this tribe from the south-east of Kuei-chow, and
he was good enough to place the services of this individual at my
disposal. He was fairly well versed in Chinese, and I endeavoured to
learn something of his language, and, with his assistance, to translate
a few of the easy exercises of Sir Thomas Wade’s Chinese Colloquial
Course into Phö.

[Sidenote: _SUBJUGATION OF THE PHÖ._]

I should state that, according to my teacher, there is no written
character, and my aim was to preserve a specimen of a tongue which must
sooner or later become extinct. Of late years, the authorities of the
province of Kuei-chow have been endeavouring to compel the Miao-tzŭ to
adopt the Chinese dress and learn the Chinese language. Their efforts,
too, are meeting with considerable success, and it is safe to predict
that the Phö tongue is within a measurable distance of extinction.

About twenty years ago a desperate struggle commenced between the
Chinese and the Phö, the alleged origin being attempted extortion on
the part of the former. The struggle lasted for five years, and had it
not been, so say the Phö, that the Chinese obtained a supply of foreign
rifles, it would not have ended so disastrously for the aborigines. In
bright clear weather no advantage was gained by the Chinese; but the
Phö were pressed hard in rainy weather, when they were unable to keep
the powder of their matchlocks dry. In this connection I may state that
the Phö manufacture their own guns and ammunition--their powder, which
is of a brown colour, being famous for its strength and superiority
even among the Chinese.

The result of the struggle was that the Phö were terribly decimated;
and the population of the tribe is now estimated not to exceed seventy
thousand souls. The Chinese were assisted in the war against the Phö by
the Ka-tou, generally called the Hua, or Coloured Miao, and so named
because they wear fancy-coloured garments, just as the Phö are called
Black Miao because they affect dark clothes.

There can be no doubt that the Miao-tzŭ are a race altogether different
from the Chinese. In physique they are decidedly inferior; in dress,
manners, and customs they stand alone; and their language, although
it contains a considerable number of borrowed Chinese words, is
undoubtedly distinct. The problem that presents itself to the traveller
in Kuei-chow is not the affinity between the Miao-tzŭ and the Chinese,
but the relationship of the Miao-tzŭ to each other. They are divided
into a number of tribes whose traits are recognized not only by the
Chinese, but even amongst themselves; and, as I have already observed,
one tribe is prepared to go to war with the other. In physique they are
the same, but in dress they differ. Do they speak the same language?
The following is a comparative table of the numerals of three different
tribes dwelling in South-east, Central, and North-west Kuei-chow,
respectively:--

[Sidenote: _ASSIMILARITY OF DIALECTS._]

  -----------+-----------------+-----------+-----------------
       I.    |     II.         |  III.     |     IV.
    Numerals.|  S.E. Kuei-chow |  Central  | N. W. Kuei-chow
             |      Phö.       | Kuei-chow.|      Ka-tou.
  -----------+-----------------+-----------+-----------------
       1     |       Yi        |   Yi      |      Yi
       2     |       Au        |   Ou      |      Ou
       3     |       Pieh      |   Peh     |      Pu
       4     |       Hlao      |   Plou    |      Pi
       5     |       Chia      |   Psŭ     |      Pa
       6     |       Tiu       |   Tsou    |      Chou
       7     |       Hsiung    |   Hsiang  |      Chiung
       8     |       Ya        |   Yi      |      Yi
       9     |       Chu       |   Chia    |      Chu
      10     |       Chiu      |   Ku      |      Ko
  -----------+-----------------+-----------+-----------------

A glance at the above will show that there is a great resemblance; and,
as the difficulty of transcribing the living sounds is great, I have
no hesitation in saying that a more careful study will evolve a still
more marked resemblance. The transcription of the Phö sounds in column
II. may be taken as fairly accurate, for they have been repeated and
repeated by me in many hundreds of combinations without leading to a
single mistake. Nor is the comparison limited to the numerals. I have
transcribed hundreds of words of different tribes, and the resemblance
is equally evident.

The conclusion I have arrived at, after careful comparison and
research, is that the Miao-tzŭ tribes of Kuei-chow are branches of the
same stem, speaking somewhat different dialects of the same language.
This conclusion, I must not omit to mention, is at variance with the
statements of my Phö teacher, who insisted that the Ka-tou tongue is
totally unintelligible to a Phö; but I am inclined to think that he was
more than anxious to disclaim all affinity with his quondam enemy.

But there is another proof that they are of the same stock. At a
gathering of the Phö held once a year, representatives of the other
tribes are present and take part in the proceedings. This gathering,
which takes place at full moon of the third Chinese month, is of a
character altogether different from the annual fair held during the
third month at Ta-li Fu, where many different races meet. The latter is
a market pure and simple, whereas the former appears to partake of a
religious nature, and to be connected with the coming harvests.

What the religious aspect is, it is difficult to say, for deep
potations would seem to be the order of the day. The Miao-tzŭ, like the
Lolos, are great drinkers, the wine being a native spirit. Art is not
wanting among them; the women are exceedingly skilful at embroidery,
and the beautiful silver ornaments--rings, clasps, bracelets,
ear-rings, brooches, and necklaces--which they wear on _fête_ days, are
highly finished. Some of the sterner sex also affect one large silver
ear-ring in, if my memory is not at fault, the left ear.

The dress of the Phö male consists of black loose trousers surmounted
by a short jacket with tight sleeves. The garments of the female are
far more striking. They consist, to begin at the top, of a black
turban, short jacket and kilt reaching almost to the feet, the wrists
and backs of the sleeves and the hem of the kilt being ornamented with
embroidery, usually with silk. At the gathering in question, music and
dancing are much indulged in.

The musical instruments are manufactured from bamboos of different
sizes, some of them from twelve to fifteen feet long, fitted with a
mouth-piece, their lower ends being inserted in a large hollow cylinder
(the hollowed out trunk of a tree), while the upper end of the longest
reed is usually surmounted by a cone made of the sheath which grows at
the joints of large bamboos. This instrument is called the _ki_, and
from it a loud booming noise is, owing to the presence of the cylinder,
extracted. The musicians move round in a circle as they play, followed
on the outskirts by the young women, who dance in a slow, solemn
manner. Of course the ladies, like their Lolo and Shan sisters, do not
bind their feet. They lead altogether a freer life than the Chinese,
both sexes sitting down to meals at the same table, and entering fully
into the conversation even in the presence of a foreigner.

[Sidenote: _MUSIC AND DANCING._]

The language of the Phö, while following to a great extent the
Chinese idiom, exhibits at the same time considerable divergence.
A “cart-before-the-horse” principle is very marked throughout. An
example or two will suffice to explain my meaning. The Chinese for
“beef” and “mutton” is “niu jou” and “yang jou”--that is, “ox-meat”
and “sheep-meat.” The Phö, on the other hand, say “ngi lia” and “ngi
li,” which, literally translated, mean “meat-ox” and “meat-sheep.”
Again, for “good man” the Chinese say “hao jên,” where “good man” is
the subject of the sentence; the Phö say “nai ghou”--“man good,” and
“very good man” is “nai ghou kuai,” that is, the adjective follows
the noun and the adverb the adjective. There are eight tones readily
distinguishable, but they are not so marked as in Chinese, where a
false tone may lead to endless confusion. I have read over sentence
after sentence to my teacher, carefully avoiding to distinguish tones,
and, as a rule, he has interpreted in Chinese the exact meaning
intended to be conveyed. With these brief remarks I leave the language
to the student of philology. Appended are a few exercises and a
short vocabulary in English and Phö. Those conversant with Chinese
will at once detect the large admixture of Chinese words, which are
for the most part only slightly modified; but the two most striking
peculiarities of the language are the aspirated _l_ and the _v_ sound.




EXERCISES

IN

THE PHÖ LANGUAGE.


EXERCISE I.--SINGLE WORDS.

  1. One.               Yi.
  2. Two.               Au.
  3. Three.             Pieh.
  4. Four.              ‘Hlao.
  5. Five.              Chia.
  6. Six.               Tiu.
  7. Seven.             Hsiung.
  8. Eight.             Ya.
  9. Nine.              Chu.
  10. Ten.              Chiu.
  11. Some.             Nao hsiu.
  12. A thousand.       Yi say.
  13. Several.          Hao nao.
  14. A hundred.        Yi pa.
  15. Ten thousand.     Yi ver.
  16. Not.              A.
  17. To come.          Ta.
  18. Many.             Nao.
  19. Few.              Hsiu.
  20. To be; have.      Mai.
  21. Good.             Ghou.
  22. Some; few.        Pa.
  23. Numerative.       Lai.
  24. To return.        Loh.
  25. Odd; more.        Ka.
  26. Man; men.         Nai.
  27. Long.             Ta.
  28. Inch.             Sai.
  29. Share; part.      Fai.
  30. Single.           Chĭāng.
  31. Catty.            Chiang.
  32. Flesh; meat.      Ngi.
  33. Cow.              Lia.
  34. Sheep.            Li.
  35. Fish.             Nieh.
  36. Bushel.           Toh.
  37. Wheat.            Ka mieh.
  38. Rice.             Sai; Kah.
  39. Buckwheat.        Chiu.
  40. Door.             Tiu.
  41. Tooth; teeth.     Mpi.
  42. Li--a measure.    Li.
  43. Mountain.         Pieh.
  44. High.             ‘Hi.

WORDS COMBINED.

    1.--16. 19. 20. 34. 57. 68.

    2.--17. Two or three hundred. 2 or 3 thousand. 2 or 3. 3 or 5. Five
    or seven hundred men.

    3.--One. 27. 1865.

    4.--1,000,300. 570,610. 700,020.

    5.--1,000,000. 350,000. 5,000,001. 60,507. 100,000.

    6.--70,191. 10,000,000. 461,000.

    7.--50,088. 98,402. 1005. 4072. 8367. 10,006. 103.

    8.--118. 254. 9,993,000.

    9.--A number of people have come. There are some people. How many
    people are there? There are several people come. Upwards of 30,000.

    10.--Some score. Several score. Ten and more. Two. Some. Over ten.
    Eight or nine. Ten and more. Nine or ten. Two hundred and more.
    5000 and more.

    11.--3-4/10 inches. A single one. Five catties of beef. Six catties
    of mutton. Some catties of fish.

    12.--Seven bushels of wheat. Nine bushels of rice. One bushel of
    buckwheat.

    13.--Some teeth. Several myriads of li in length. Forty thousand
    li. There is a mountain full two hundred li high.

    1.--Chiu tiu. Chiu chu. Au chiu. Pieh chiu ‘hlao. Chia chiu hsiung.
    Tiu chiu ya.

    2.--Chiu hsiung. Au pieh pa. Au pieh say. Pieh au lai. Pieh chia
    lai. Chia hsiung pa nai.

    3.--Yi. Au chiu hsiung. Yi say ya pa tiu chiu chia.

    4.--Yi pa ver pieh pa lai. Chia chiu hsiung ver tiu pa ka. Hsiung
    chiu ver au chiu.

    5.--Yi pa ver. Pieh chiu chia ver. Chia pa ver yi. Tiu ver chia pa
    hsiung. Chiu ver.

    6.--Hsiung ver yi pa chu chiu yi. Yi say ver. ‘Hlao chiu tiu ver yi
    say.

    7.--Chia ver ya chiu ya. Chu ver ya say ‘hlao pa au. Yi say chia.
    ‘Hlao say hsiung chiu au. Ya say pieh pa tiu chiu hsiung. Yi ver
    tiu. Yi pa pieh.

    8.--Yi pa chiu ya. Au pa chia chiu ‘hlao. Chu pa chu chiu chu ver
    pieh say.

    9.--Mai pa lai nai ta. Mai pa lai. Mai hao nao nai. Mai nao hsiu
    nai ta. Pieh ver nao.

    10.--Pa chiu lai. Pa chiu lai. Chiu nao lai. Au lai. Pa lai. Chiu
    lai nao. Ya chu lai. Chiu lai nao. Chu lai chiu lai. Au pa nao.
    Chia say.

    11.--Pieh sai ‘hlao fai ta. Chiang lai. Chia chiang ngi lia. Tiu
    chiang ngi li. Pa chiang nieh.

    12.--Hsiung toh ka mieh. Chu toh sai. Yi toh chiu.

    13.--Pa tiu mpi. Pa ver li ta. Mai ‘hlao ver li. Mai pieh ‘hi au pa
    nao li.


EXERCISE II.--SINGLE WORDS.

  1. Thou.                   Moung.
  2. I.                      Vai.
  3. He.                     Ngi.
  4. They.                   Ngi Tau.
  5. You.                    Mich.
  6. We.                     Pieh.
  7. This.                   Nung.
  8. At.                     Niang hang.
  9. That.                   Moung.
  10. That.                  Ai.
  11. Son.                   Pu tia.
  12. What.                  Kai shi.
  13. To buy.                Mai.
  14. To sell.               Mei.
  15. To get.                Tao.
  16. Very.                  Kuai; va.
  17. Who?                   Tê shi.
  18. To want.               Ou.
  19. To be.                 Tiao.
  20. East.                  Keh nich.
  21. Daughter.              Po a.
  22. Things.                Keh nung keh ai.
  23. Large; great.          ‘Hlioh.
  24. Small.                 Niu.
  25. Sign of poss. case.    Pieh.
  26. As.                    Liu.
  27. That.                  Tieh.
  28. Whence.                Kêng hang.

WORDS COMBINED.

    1.--Thine. Mine. His.

    2.--You. We. They.

    3.--Your. Our. Their.

    4.--We two men.

    5.--This. That.

    6.--Here. There.

    7.--As large as this. As small as that.

    8.--What man?

    9.--What thing or things?

    10.--Who is that man? That man is a good man.

    11.--To buy things. To sell things.

    12.--He is a trader. What does he sell? He sells a good many things.

    13.--I want good ones. Have you any? None.

    14.--This is very good. That is bad.

    15.--Who is it that has come? There is no one come.

    16.--What place is he from? He is not of this place.

    17.--How many people have come? A good number.

    18.--I do not want this one. They want it.

    19.--This is ours. That is theirs.

    20.--Have you got this thing? We do not want it.

    21.--How many people are there there? Ten people and more.

    22.--Is he come? He is not come.

    23.--This man is very good. That man is very bad.

    24.--Whose is this thing? It is ours. How many have you of these?
    Not many.

    25. Have you got any very good ones there? None good. Unless you
    have some very good, we do not want any.

    1.--Moung pieh. Vai pieh. Ngi pieh.

    2.--Mieh. Pieh. Ngi tau.

    3.--Mieh pieh. Pieh pieh. Ngi tau pieh.

    4.--Au au lai nai _or_ Vai au lai nai.

    5.--Tieh nung. Tieh ai.

    6.--Niang hang nung. Niang hang ai.

    7.--‘Hlioh liu nung. Niu liu moung.

    8.--Kai shi nai.

    9.--Kai shi keh nung keh ai.

    10.--Tieh nai tiao tê shi. Tieh nai tiao lai nai ghou.

    11.--Mai keh nung keh ai. Mei keh nung keh ai.

    12.--Ngi tiao mai mei nai. Mei kai shi. Mei hao nao keh nung keh ai.

    13.--Vai ou ghou ti. Mai a mai. A mai.

    14.--Tieh nung ghou kuai. Tieh moung a ghou.

    15.--Mai kai shi nai ta. A mai nai ta.

    16.--Ngi kêng hang to ta. Ngi a tiao hang nung nai.

    17.--Ngi tau ta nao hsiu nai. Ngi tau ta hao nao nai.

    18.--Vai a ou lai nung. Ngi tau ou lai nung.

    19.--Tieh nung tiao pieh pieh. Tieh nung tiao ngi tau pieh.

    20.--Mieh mai tieh nung a mai. Pieh a ou tieh nung.

    21.--Mai nao hsiu nai moung. Mai chiu nao nai.

    22.--Ngi ta a pa. Ngi a pa ta.

    23.--Tieh nai nung ghou kuai. Tieh nai moung kuai a ghou.

    24.--Tieh nung tê shi nai pieh. Pieh nai pieh. Moung mai nao hsiu
    lai tieh nung. A mai nao.

    25.--Mieh hang moung ghou kuai a mai. A mai ghou. Mieh a mai ghou
    kuai pieh a ou.


EXERCISE III.--SINGLE WORDS.

  1. To enter.                   Pou.
  2. Wall of a city.             Hao.
  3. House, home.                Chieh.
  4. Inhabit, dwell.             Niang.
  5. Dust.                       Ka pai.
  6. Street.                     Ka.
  7. Up, ascend.                 Chieh.
  8. Numerative of houses.       Say.
  9. A room.                     Ch’ung.
  10. Inside.                    Keh tiung.
  11. To open.                   Pu.
  12. A shop.                    P’au.
  13. To shut.                   Su.
  14. Window.                    Kantlong.
  15. To go out.                 ‘Hliu kou.
  16. To go away.                Moung.
  17. To go towards.             Moung.
  18. Outside.                   Keh kou.
  19. The head.                  Koh.
  20. To know.                   Pang.
  21. Road.                      Keh.
  22. To do.                     Ai.
  23. To pass.                   Tioh.
  24. Trade.                     Chiang.

WORDS COMBINED

    1.--To live in a house. 2.--To live at home. 3.--Inside the city
    walls. Outside the city walls. 4.--Inside. Outside.

    5.--In a room. 6.--Three houses. 7.--Eighteen rooms. 8.--Four
    shops. 9.--Shut the door. 10.--Open the window. 11.--To go out. To
    come in. 12.--To pass, to go past.

    13.--Going or walking. 14.--To go up the street. 15.--Walking in
    the street. 16.--To go east. To go west. 17.--The eastern and
    western divisions of the city. 18.--To know. 19.--What doing?
    or, why? 20.--Where do you live? I am in the city. 21.--How many
    buildings have you over there? Thirty-five.

    22.--Is the house you live in large or small? I live in three
    small rooms. 23.--This house is a great deal better than that one.
    24.--Open the door. Shut the window. 25.--To come into the room.

    26.--There is a great deal of dust outside. 27.--What is he doing
    at home? He is not at home. Do you know where he is gone? He is
    gone up the street.

    28.--That man keeps seven shops. Dealing in what? And where are
    they all?

    29.--They are inside the city. Three in the east division and four
    in the west. We have no such thriving business here.

    30.--Those shops have a large number of customers.

    31.--There are five or six people come out. Who are they? I do
    not know. 32.--No one lives in this room. 33.--That shop is mine.
    34.--He did not come in. He went past westwards. What has he gone
    out to do? He is gone up the street to buy something.

    35.--There are a great number of people in the street.

    1.--Niang chieh. 2.--Niang chieh. 3.--Hao keh tiung. Hao keh kou.
    4.--Keh tiung. Keh kou.

    5.--Ch’ung chieh keh tiung. 6.--Pieh lai chieh. 7.--Chiu ya ch’ung
    chieh. 8.--‘Hlao lai p’au. 9.--Su tiu. 10.--Pu kantlong. 11.--‘Hliu
    kou. Pou chieh. 12.--Tioh moung.

    13.--‘Hei keh. 14.--Chieh ka. 15.--Tioh ka ‘hei keh. 16.--Moung keh
    nieh. Moung keh chioh. 17.--Hao keh nieh. Hao keh chioh. 18.--Pang.
    19.--Ai kai shi. 20.--Moung niang hang to. Vai niang hao keh tiung.
    21.--Mieh niang ai mai hao nao chieh. Mai pieh chiu chia chieh.

    22.--Moung niang lai chieh ‘hlioh niu. Vai niang pieh ch’ung chieh
    niu. 23.--Lai chieh nung pi lai chieh ai ghou kuai. 24.--Tiu pu yeh
    _or_ Pu tiu kantlong su yeh _or_ Su kantlong. 25.--Pou chieh ta.

    26.--Keh kou ‘hlioh ka pai. 27.--Ngi chieh keh tiung ai kai shi. A
    niang chieh. Moung hang to, moung pang a pang. Chieh ka moung.

    28.--Tai lai nai mai hsiung lai p’au. Ngi lai p’au mai mei kai shi.
    Pu niang hang to.

    29.--Niang hao keh tiung. Hao keh nieh mai pieh lai. Hao keh chioh
    mai ‘hlao lai. Pieh niang hang nung a mai tieh nai chiang ‘hlioh.

    30.--Lai p’au mai keh nung keh ai nao nai.

    31.--Keh kou ta chia tiu lai nai. Kai shi nai. Vai a pang. 32.--Lai
    ch’ung chieh nung a mai nai niang. 33.--Lai p’au tiao vai pieh.
    34.--Ngi a pou ta. Tioh moung chioh. Ngi moung ai kai shi. Chieh ka
    mai keh nung keh ai.

    35.---Tiu ka nai nao.


EXERCISE IV.--SINGLE WORDS.

  1. Before.                          Keh tang.
  2. Behind.                          Keh kai.
  3. To call; bid.                    Koh.
  4. To stand up.                     Hsiu.
  5. To rise.                         Fa.
  6. To recline.                      Pang.
  7. Earth; ground.                   Tah.
  8. Fast.                            ‘Hi.
  9. Slow.                            A ‘hi.
  10. All.                            Tou.
  11. To love.                        A.
  12. To sit.                         Niang.
  13. Chair (sedan).                  Cho.
  14. Storey (upper).                 Pang.
  15. Below; down.                    Nga.
  16. To return.                      Loh.
  17. To arrive at.                   Leh.
  18. Donkey.                         Lui.
  19. Mule.                           Luh.
  20. Numerative of horses, &c.       Tei.
  21. Numerative of carts, &c.        Lai.
  22. A pace.                         Tuoh.
  23. Language.                       Si.
  24. Public office.                  Ngah.
  25. To speak.                       Kang.
  26. Horse.                          Ma.
  27. Cart.                           Lioh.
  28. Fast (of animals).              Hang.


WORDS COMBINED.


    1.--To recline. To sit. To rise. To stand up. To walk. To go on
    foot.

    2.--To go fast. To go slow.

    3.--In front. In rear.

    4.--To come back. To have arrived.

    5.--Do you like it or not? Not at all.

    6.--To call somebody. Call some one here.

    7.--A public office. Upstairs. On the ground.

    8.--A cart. A sedan chair. Three horses. Two mules. Four donkeys.

    9.--He is lying down on the road. Tell him to get up.

    10.--I am, or was, sitting upstairs. He is, or was, sitting down
    below.

    11.--He was on foot. I came in a cart. He came on foot.

    12.--I walk fast. He walks slow.

    13.--I was walking in front. He was behind.

    14.--Is that man come back or not? He is not back, but he soon will
    be. Where is he gone to? He has gone to the public office. Did he
    go in a chair or in a carriage? In a small chair. He does not like
    being in a carriage.

    15.--Do you like that man? I do not like any of those men.

    16.--Has he been buying horses? No. Mules and donkeys. If he wanted
    to buy horses, there is not a horse to be had. How many mules or
    donkeys has he bought? Three mules and seven donkeys.

    17.--Which are the better, the mules from this place or those from
    that? The mules here are not so good as those there. The mules here
    are slower than what you get there. Both the mules and donkeys from
    that place are fast.


    1.--Pang. Niang. Fa lo. Hsiu. ‘Hei moung. ‘Hei Keh.

    2.--‘Hei ‘hi. ‘Hei a ‘hi.

    3.--Keh tang. Keh kai.

    4.--Loh. Leh yeh.

    5.--Ā a ā. Tou a ā.

    6.--Koh nai. Koh nai loh.

    7.--Ngah. Ku pang. Ka tah.

    8.--Lai lioh. Yi lai cho. Pieh tei ma. Au tei luh. ‘Hlao tei lui.

    9.--Ngi niang tiu keh pang. Koh ngi fa loh.

    10.--Vai niang ku pang niang. Ngi ka tah niang.

    11.--Ngi yi tuoh yi tuoh ‘hei. Vai niang lioh loh. Ngi ‘hei keh loh.

    12.--Vai ‘hei ‘hi. Ngi ‘hei a ‘hi.

    13.--Vai keh tang ‘hei. Ngi keh kai ‘hei.

    14.--Ngi tieh nai loh a pa. Ngi a pa loh. Ngi loh ‘hi. Ngi moung
    hang to. Chieh ngah moung yeh. Ngi niang cho moung, ngi niang lioh
    moung. Niang yi lai cho niu. Ngi a ā niang lioh.

    15.--Ngi tieh nai moung ā a ā. Ngi tau au pieh nai vai tou a ā.

    16.--Ngi mai tiao ma a tiao. Ngi mai luh lui. Ngi ou mai ma yi tei
    ma tou a mai. Luh lui mai hao nao tei. Mai pieh tei luh hsiung tei
    lui.

    17.--Hang nung pieh luh ghou hang ai pieh luh ghou. Hang nung pieh
    luh a mai hang ai pieh luh ghou. Hang nung pieh luh pi hang ai pieh
    hang. Hang ai pieh luh lui tou hang.


EXERCISE V.--SINGLE WORDS.

  1. True.                      Tei.
  2. Upright.                   Ta ti.
  3. To copy.                   Cha.
  4. To write.                  Sei.
  5. To teach.                  Chiao.
  6. To learn.                  Liu.
  7. To request.                Sai.
  8. To see.                    Ngieh.
  9. To lay hold of.            Tieh.
  10. Written words.            Li.
  11. Before (in time).         Hsüeh.
  12. To recognize.             Hsiang.
  13. To seek.                  Hao.
  14. To repay.                 Poh.
  15. To wish.                  Hang.
  16. To tell; inform.          Hsieh.
  17. To remember.              Nieh.
  18. To ask.                   Nai
  19. To ride.                  Chieh.
  20. To run; gallop.           Yeh.
  21. Like; similar.            Toh.


WORDS COMBINED.

    1.--Teacher. 2. To teach. 3. A pupil. 4. To take hold of a book.
    To read. 5. To look out characters. To recognize characters. 6. To
    copy. To write.

    7.--To look out for a teacher. To engage a teacher. Be so good as
    to inform me.

    8.--I ask you. Be so good as to tell me.

    9.--Do you remember.

    10.--Correct pronunciation. Intelligible diction.

    11.--To see. Have you seen it or not? Have you not seen it yet? I
    have seen it.

    12.--To ride. To run. Did you come on foot or on horseback? I came
    on horseback. That horse gallops fast.

    13.--Have you found a teacher? I have.

    14.--Teacher, please teach me to talk.

    15.--Teacher, please look out a word for me in the book. What word?
    I want to find the word _Ngieh_, to see.

    16.--Have you ever met with this word? I have. Tell me what word it
    is. I do not remember the word. Are there any other words that you
    do not remember? Of course there are. I remember but few compared
    with the number I forget.

    17.--Your pronunciation is correct. So is your diction.

    18.--I will ask you whether you know this word or not. I have never
    seen this word.

    19.--I have requested a teacher to come and teach me. He will not
    come. What is it you requested him to teach? I asked him to teach
    us the spoken language. He says he objects to come on account of
    the large number of pupils.

    20.--Tell me, is that man’s pronunciation as good as yours? My
    pronunciation is not very good. He knows more words than I do.

    1.--Hsiang li.

    2.--Tung tu.

    3.--Chu tai.

    4.--Tieh pai tu. Ngieh li.

    5.--Chau li. Hsiang li.

    6.--Chia lo. Sei li.

    7.--Chau hsiang li. Hla hsiang li. ‘Hla chiao.

    8.--Vai nai moung. ‘Hla moung hsieh.

    9.--Nieh a nieh.

    10.--Ghou ho shay. Kau si toh a.

    11.--Pang yeh. Moung ngieh ku a pa. Moung a pa ngieh ku. Ngieh yeh.

    12.--Chieh yeh. Moung ‘hei keh ta kai chieh ma ta. Vai chieh ma ta.
    Tieh ma yeh hang.

    13.--Moung hao hsiang li a pa. Hao yeh.

    14.--‘Hla hsiang li chiao si.

    15.--‘Hla hsiang ta pai tu [tou vai] hao lai li. Hao lai li toh. Ou
    hao ngieh lai li.

    16.--Lai li moung ngieh ku a pa. Ngieh ku yeh. Moung hsieh vai lai
    li tiao kai shi. Vai a nieh lai li. Niang mai nieh lai li a mai.
    Kai shi a mai. Ngieh hsiu a ngieh nao.

    17.--Moung ghou ho. Kang si toh.

    18.--Vai nai moung lai li nung moung hsiang a hsiang. Lai li nung
    vai a pa pang ku.

    19.--Vai ‘hla hsiang li chiao vai. Ngi a hang ta ‘hla ngi chiao
    moung kai shi. ‘Hla ngi chiao pieh kang si. Ngi chiu chu tai nao a
    hang ta.

    20.--Moung hsieh vai, tieh lai nai ai pieh ho mai moung pieh ghou a
    mai. Vai pieh ho a mai ghou. Ngi hsiang li pi vai hsiang nao.


EXERCISE VI.--SINGLE WORDS.

  1. Paper.                     Tu.
  2. Sheet.                     Lieh.
  3. Pen.                       Chieh.
  4. Numerative of pen.         Kai.
  5. Ink.                       Mö.
  6. Numerative of ink.         ‘Hli.
  7. To take hold of.           Wa.
  8. Numerative of book.        Pai.
  9. Book.                      Tu.
  10. To study.                 Ngi.
  11. To end; finish.           Chiu.
  12. To be right; able.        Ku-i.
  13. To give.                  Pai.
  14. Officer.                  Kuei lieh.
  15. To meet.                  Hui.
  16. To divide.                Fai.
  17. To hear.                  Tang.
  18. Clear.                    Ka.
  19. Also.                     Nung.
  20. Understand.               Tang.
  21. Peaceful                  Pi.
  22. A sound                   Poh.
  23. To forget.                Tung.
  24. To err.                   Sa.
  25. To be able.               Pang.
  26. A month.                  Pu.


WORDS COMBINED.

    1--A sheet of paper. A volume. Two cakes of ink. Five pens.

    2--To understand. To hear. To have forgotten.

    3.--Quite right. To have finished. Not to be able to. It will do
    well enough.

    4.--Bring that volume here for me. Show me that sheet of paper.
    Bring me ten pens and two cakes of ink.

    5.--I hear that you are learning a language, and getting on very
    well. Can you distinguish four dialects? I can distinguish them all.

    6.--Have you read that book yet? I have read four-fifths of it.
    Do you understand it? There are portions of it that I do not
    understand. There are also some words that I do not know.

    7.--How long have you been studying? I have been studying ten
    months. Do you remember all the words in the book you have been
    studying? Not all. I have forgotten a good number, and there are
    some I do not remember accurately.

    8.--Does that man understand the language? I have heard people say
    that he does not. Does he know the written characters? That he
    does. He knows four or five thousand. How do you know? Last month
    we read together. If I tell him to copy, will he be able to? There
    is no reason why he should not.

    9.--Tell me, do you understand him when he speaks?

    10.--You must on no account forget the books you read. Certainly
    not. You are quite right.

    1.--Yi lieh tu. Yi pai tu. Au ‘hli mö. Chia kai chieh.

    2.--Tang. Tang. Tung keh.

    3.--Ya sa. Chiu yeh. A pang. Ku-i.

    4.--Moung ta pai tu tiao vai. Lieh tu moung vai nieh. Moung tou vai
    mai chiu kai chieh, au ‘hli mö.

    5.--Vai tang moung liu si, liu si ghou kuai. ‘Hlao tiu si moung
    pang keh fai a pang. ‘Hlao tiu tou fai lu.

    6.--Yi pai tu moung nieh chiu a pa. Chiu fai vai ngieh chiu ya fai.
    Ming pai a ming pai. Mai pa fai a ming pai. Mai au pieh lai li a
    hsiang.

    7.--Moung tung li hao nao tai. Val tung chiu ta pieh tu. Tieh tu li
    moung tou nieh a nieh. Nieh a chiu. Tung keh pa lai. Tu nieh sa yeh.

    8.--Ngi tieh nai tang si a tang. Vai tang chiu ngi a tang tau. Ngi
    hsiang li a hsiang. Li si hsiang. Hsiang chiu ‘hlao chia say li.
    Moung hsieh pang. ‘Hla vai pieh niang yi tiao ngieh li. Vai koh ngi
    sei li, ngi pang a pang. A mai a pang.

    9.--Vai nai moung, ngi pieh si moung tang loh kai tang a loh.

    10.--Moung tung ku li, a keh tung keh. A sa. Moung chiu tiao a sa.


EXERCISE VII.--SINGLE WORDS.

  1. Mat.                       Tieh.
  2. Bed.                       Ch’u.
  3. Curtain.                   Hsiao.
  4. To spread.                 Pou.
  5. Cover, lid.                Mo.
  6. Table.                     Tang.
  7. Chair.                     Kuei yüeh.
  8. Wax.                       La.
  9. Lamp.                      Tai.
  10. Numerative of lamp.       Lai.
  11. Numerative of boat.       Chao.
  12. Wine.                     Chu.
  13. Cup.                      O.
  14. Tea.                      Chiang.
  15. Bowl.                     Ti.
  16. Kitchen.                  Kau sao.
  17. To boil.                  Hao.
  18. Rice.                     Ka.
  19. Cooking pan.              Vi.
  20. Fork.                     Tia.
  21. Spoon.                    Tiao Kên.
  22. To spoil.                 P’a.
  23. Fire.                     Tu.
  24. To use.                   Hsia.
  25. Difficult                 Hsia.
  26. To drink.                 Hou.
  27. Boat.                     Niang.
  28. Bedding.                  Pang pung.

WORDS COMBINED.


    1.--A bed. 2.--Curtains. Mats. Bedding.

    3.--A table. A chair. 4.--A lamp. A candlestick.

    5.--Kitchen. A knife. A fork. A spoon. A cooking pan. A cooking-pan
    lid. A tea cup. A wine cup.

    6.--To boil rice. 7.--It is spoiled. 8.--He spread a mat on the
    bed. 9.--I want to lie down on this bed. Be quick and make the bed.
    10.--Are there curtains upon the bed?

    11.--He is lying on the bed. I was sitting on a chair.

    12.--It is very dark in the room, bring a lamp.

    13.--Some one has taken the lamp away.

    14.--Who took away the candlestick that was on the table? It was I
    that took it to the kitchen.

    15.--There is no fire in the kitchen.

    16.--A _vi ka_ is a pan for boiling rice. A _vi mo_ is the lid of a
    rice pan. Tea cups may have covers.

    17.--There is no great difference between a wine cup (_o chu_) and
    a wine bowl (_ti chu_).

    18.--The chairs and tables in that room are all spoiled.

    19.--Have you bought those tea cups I told you to buy? I have.
    Have you bought several? Twenty. Where did you buy them? They were
    bought in a shop outside the city.

    20--Have you mats in your apartments? There are mats on all the
    beds in our apartments.

    1.--Yi lai ch’u. 2.--Hsiao. Pêng tieh. Pang pung.

    3.--Yi tieh tang. Yi lai Kuei yüeh. 4.--Yi lai tai. La tai.

    5.--Kau sao. Yi ti tiu. Yi lai tia. Yi lai tiao kên. Yi lai vi ka.
    Yi lai ka mo vi. Yi lai o chiang. Yi lai o chu.

    6.--Hao ka. 7.--P’a yeh. 8.--Ngi niang ku ch’u pou tieh. 9.--Vai
    ou niang lai ch’u nung pang yeh. Moung hang tai ta pung pou tiao.
    10.--Lai ch’u mai hsiao a mai.

    11.--Ngi niang ku ch’u pang yeh. Vai niang kuei yüeh.

    12.--Chung chieh ‘hui tieh tai ta.

    13.--Mai nai tieh lai tai moung yeh.

    14.--Tieh tang keh vai lai la tai, tê shi tieh moung yeh. Tiao vai
    ta tiao kau sao tieh moung yeh.

    15.--Kau sao a mai tu.

    16.--Vi ka tiao hao ka hsia. Vi mo tiao vi ka mo. O chiang tou ku i
    mai mo.

    17.--O chu ti chu au lai nung hsia fai.

    18.--Chung chieh tang kuei yüeh tou p’a yeh.

    19.--Vai koh moung mai o chiang moung mai a pa. Mai yeh. Mai tao pa
    lai. Mai tao au chiu lai. Niang hang to mai lo. Tou niang hao keh
    kou tiu pau mai lo.

    20.--Mieh pieh tiu chieh mai tieh a mai. Pieh pieh tiu chieh ku
    ch’u tou mai tieh.


EXERCISE VIII.--SINGLE WORDS.

  1. Furniture.                 Chia shih.
  2. Stool.                     Tang.
  3. Numerative of stool.       Lai.
  4. To upset.                  Koh.
  5. Pot.                       Chieh.
  6. Flower.                    Pieh.
  7. Vase.                      To.
  8. To break.                  T’u.
  9. To receive.                Shou.
  10. To repair.                Hsüeh.
  11. Plate.                    Pieh.
  12. Saucer.                   Pieh niu.
  13. To eat.                   Nang.
  14. A little.                 Nang.
  15. To blow.                  Choh.
  16. Extinguish.               Ta.
  17. To burn.                  Pieh.
  18. A stove.                  Sao.
  19. Empty.                    Kung.
  20. Full.                     Pai.
  21. With.                     Na.
  22. To reckon.                Sui.
  23. In fragments.             Sai.
  24. To light.                 Tiao; tou.
  25. To pour.                  Liang.
  26. To pour (as tea).         Chia.
  27. To take.                  Tieh.
  28. In.                       Tiu.
  29. Is; to be.                Si.

WORDS COMBINED.

    1.--Furniture. 2.--A stool. 3.--A stove.

    4.--Flower vase. Wine pot. Tea pot. Dishes. Plates.

    5.--Light the lamp. Blow out the lamp. Light the fire. Blow out the
    fire.

    6.--To pour or upset water. 7.--Empty pot. The pot is full.

    8.--To spoil by breaking. To mend.

    9.--Everything that is used in a house is furniture.

    10.--Beds, tables, chairs, stools, are all room furniture.

    11.--Table furniture consists of knives, forks, spoons, plates,
    rice bowls and wine cups.

    12.--Stoves are of different sizes. The house stove for cooking
    rice is large. Bedrooms have all small stoves. The stove used to
    warm a room is a small stove.

    13.--May flower vases also be considered furniture? They may be so
    considered.

    14.--Wine pots, tea pots, and tea cups are all miscellaneous
    furniture.

    15.--The water in the cup is poured into the pan.

    16.--_Chia chiang_ means to ask some one to pour tea into the cups.

    17.--Have you lit the lamp? I lit it; but he blew it out.

    18.--To blow out a lamp is to extinguish the flame of the lamp. To
    extinguish fire is to put out a fire (as) in a fireplace.

    19.--Is there water in these two kettles? One is full, the other is
    empty. Fill the empty one with water.

    20.--Who is it that has broken the flower vase? I do not know who
    it was. Had I not better get some one to mend it at once? Yes, you
    had much better tell some one to mend it.

    1.--Chia shih. 2.--Yi lai tang. 3. Yi lai sao.

    4.--To pieh. Chieh chu. Chieh chiang. Pieh. Pieh niu.

    5.--Tou tai. Choh tai. Tiao tu. Ta tu.

    6.--Liang ou. 7.--Kung chieh. Chieh pai.

    8.--T’u p’a yeh. Hsüeh hsüeh.

    9.--Tiu chieh hsia keh nung keh ai tou tiao chia shih.

    10.--Ch’u, tang, kuei yüeh, tang tou tiao tiu chieh chia shih.

    11.--Nang ka pieh chia shih tiao tu, tia, tiao kên, pieh niu, ti
    ka, o chu.

    12.--Lai sao mai ‘hlioh mai niu a toh. Chieh sao hao ka tiao sao
    ‘hlioh. Chieh ch’u keh tiung tou mai sao niu. Tiu chieh hsia sao
    tiao tu tiao sao niu.

    13.--Lai to pieh tou sui tiao chia shih a tiao. To pieh tou sui
    tiao chia shih.

    14.--Chieh chu, chieh chiang, o chiang tou si hsia chia shih.

    15.--Ti ou liang tiao tiu vi.

    16.--Chia chiang koh nai pa chiang chia tiao tiu o.

    17.--Moung tou tai a pa. Vai tou ku tai. Tiao ngi choh ta yeh.

    18.--Choh tai tiao ta tai tu. Ta tu tiao ta sao pieh tu.

    19.--Au lai chieh keh tiung mai ou a mai. Yi lai pai yi lai kung.
    Moung pa lai kung liang pai ou.

    20.--Lai to pieh tê shi tui tu. Vai a pang tê shi. Hang moung koh
    nai hsüeh hsüeh, ku i a ku i. Koh nai hsüeh hsüeh ghou kuai.


EXERCISE IX.--SINGLE WORDS.

  1. The present.                Nung.
  2. Year.                       ‘Hniu.
  3. Time.                       Shih.
  4. Warm.                       Hsioh.
  5. Yesterday.                  Tai nung.
  6. Heaven; day.                Vai.
  7. Consequently.               Chiu.
  8. To fix.                     Ting.
  9. Day-time.                   Fieh.
  10. Light.                     Ka.
  11. Half.                      Tang.
  12. To engrave.                Tioh.
  13. Air; breath.               Poung.
  14. Section of time.           Shau.
  15. Cold.                      Si.
  16. Snow.                      ‘Hliu.
  17. Cool; cold.                Hui.
  18. Hurricane.                 ‘Hlioh chiang.
  19. To return.                 Tiang.
  20. To rise; get up.           Fa.
  21. Rain.                      Nung.

WORDS COMBINED.

    1.--The year before last. Last year. This year. Next year. The year
    after next. 2.--Last moon. This moon. Next moon.

    3.--The weather may be distinguished as cold, hot, cool, warm,
    windy, clear, snowy.

    4.--Time. Day-break. Day-time. Night-time. A short space of time.

    5.--That man there has studied upwards of twenty years, and has
    been a teacher five or six months.

    6.--I am going to-day, and I may be back next moon.

    7.--You were not up at eight o’clock to-day.

    8.--_‘Hniu tang_ and _Sai yang ‘hniu_ are the terms used for the
    year before last and the year after next; _‘Hla tang_ and _‘Hla
    kai_ for the moon before last and the moon after next.

    9.--At this place it rains in the hot weather and snows in the cold.

    10.--It blew hard last night, and at daybreak it was very cold.

    11.--It is his habit to go out riding in the daytime, and to go
    home at night and read.

    12.--It rained last night, but it is fine to-day.

    13.--This is a clear day.

    14.--The weather is very mild this year; not so cold as it was last
    year.

    15.--You and I have been here a good many years.

    16.--He came last year. I arrived last moon. They two were over
    here last year.

    1.--‘Hniu tang. ‘Hniu fa. ‘Hniu nung. Pu ‘hniu. Sai yang ‘hniu.
    2.--Nga ‘hla. ‘Hla nung. Chieh ‘hla.

    3.--Lai vai ku i fai, vai si, vai hsioh, vai hui, vai hsioh, ‘hlioh
    chiang, ka vai, ta ‘hliu.

    4.--Shih hou. Fieh vai. Vai ‘hliu. Yi shau.

    5.--Tai lai nai ngieh ku au chiu nao ‘hniu pieh tu, tang chia tiu
    ‘hla pieh hsiang tu.

    6.--Vai tai nung moung. Chieh ‘hla ku i tiang loh.

    7.--Moung ya tien chung a fa loh.

    8.--‘Hniu tang, sai yang ‘hniu ku i ch’iu. ‘Hla tang ‘hla kai ku i
    ch’iu.

    9.--Niang hang nung vai hsioh pieh shih hou ta nung, vai si pieh
    shih hou ta ‘hliu.

    10.--Tai nung nung chiu ‘hlioh chiang. Pieh vai pieh shih hou si va.

    11.--Ngi ā vai ‘hlu ‘hliu kou chieh ma, chiu vai tiang chieh ngieh
    tu.

    12.--Tai nung chiu vai ta nung. Tai nung ka yeh.

    13.--Tai nung ka vai.

    14.--‘Hniu nung hsioh kuai, a mai ‘hniu ta si.

    15.--Au au lai lei hang nung mai hao nao ‘hniu.

    16.--Ngi si ‘hniu fa ta. Vai si nga ‘hla ta. Ngi au lai si ‘hniu fa
    ta ku yeh.


EXERCISE X.--SINGLE WORDS.

  1. Night Watch.            Kêng.
  2. Working man.            ‘Hou.
  3. Night.                  Pang.
  4. Must.                   Tao.
  5. To strike; beat.        Tüeh.
  6. To end.                 Chiu.
  7. Early.                  Soh.
  8. Late.                   Pang.
  9. Noon.                   Tiung-tai.
  10. Length of time.        Tah pang.
  11. Affair.                Shih.
  12. Circumstances.         Ch’ing.
  13. Put; place.            ‘Hlia.
  14. Each; every.           Ka.
  15. Kind.                  Tiu.
  16. Short.                 Lai.
  17. Clouds.                Tang-ang.
  18. Dark.                  Hui.
  19. Mist.                  Ngioh.
  20. Leisure.               K’ung.
  21. To do.                 Pieh.
  22. Black.                 ‘Hlai.

WORDS COMBINED.


    1.--Every year. Every moon. Every day. 2.--Each kind.

    3.--Early in the morning. Noon. In the evening. Forenoon. Afternoon.

    4.--By night. Before midnight. After midnight.

    5.--To set the watch. To strike the watch. A watchman.

    6.--The days are long. The days are short. The nights are long. The
    nights are short.

    7.--At what time? 8.--Time for work. 9.--A dull day. Clouds. There
    is a mist. 10.--There must be one or some. 11.--Affairs. 12.--To
    place. 13.--It is ended.

    14.--He rises early; goes for a walk at noon; comes home in the
    evening and reads; and in the third watch of the night he goes to
    bed. He does the same every day.

    15.--One’s self. You must go yourself to settle the business. He
    lives by himself in that house.

    16.--It rained in the forenoon. The afternoon was fine.

    17.--It was warm before midnight, but cold after.

    18.--The third watch is midnight.

    19.--As regards the watches which a watchman strikes during the
    night, the night is divided into five. The beginning of the first
    is the watch-setting.

    20.--When the days are long there is more time to do things. When
    they are short one has no leisure for them, and they must just wait.

    21.--When will he be back? Possibly to-morrow.

    22.--Where is the tea-pot put? On the table in the room.

    23.--When the sky is overcast, the day is dull.

    24.--There was a thick mist this morning; and the mountains were
    invisible.

    1.--‘Hniu ‘Hniu. ‘Hla ‘hla. Tai tai. 2.--Ka tiu.

    3.--Tiung tah. Hsing tiung tai. Tiung pang. Chieh tai. Tiung nga
    tai.

    4.--Tiung pang. Tang pang tang. Tang pang keh.

    5.--Ting kêng. Tüeh kêng. ‘Hou kêng.

    6.--Ta tai. Lai tai. Ta pang. Lai pang.

    7.--Kai shi shih hou. 8.--Ai kou. 9.--‘Hui tai. Tang-ang. Ta ngioh.
    10.--Sung ou mai. 11--Shih ch’ing. 12.--‘Hlia. 13.--Chiu yeh.

    14.--Ngi tiung tah fa lo; Hsing tiung tai chieh ka hei; Tiung pang
    moung chieh ngieh tu; Lei pieh kêng ngi pieh chiu yeh. Ngi tai tai
    tou si tiu.

    15.--Vai chiang lai. Moung chiang lai sung ou moung pieh shih. Lai
    chieh tiao ngi chiang lai niang.

    16.--Nga tai ta nung. Chieh tai ka yeh.

    17.--Tang pang tang hsioh, tang pang keh si.

    18.--Pieh kêng tiao tang pang.

    19.--Tiung pang kêng ‘hou tüeh kêng, yi pang fai chia kêng. Tou
    kêng tou tiao ting kêng.

    20.--Ta tai pieh shih ai kou nao. Lai tai a mai k’ung, shih Ch’ing
    sung ou ‘hlia nioh.

    21.--Ngi kai shi shih ‘hou loh. Fu fa kai loh.

    22.--Chieh chiang ‘hlia tiao hang to. ‘Hlia tiao chieh keh tiung
    tang keh vai.

    23.--Keh vai tang ang pai yeh tiao vai hui.

    24.--Tai nung tiung ta ta ngioh ‘hlioh kuai; Pieh ‘hlioh tou ngieh
    a pang.


EXERCISE XI.--SINGLE WORDS.

  1. To fear.                         Hsi.
  2. Clothes.                         Uh.
  3. Dirty.                           Va.
  4. To exchange.                     Tioh.
  5. Dry.                             Nga.
  6. Clean.                           Sang niang.
  7. To brush.                        Shua.
  8. To wash.                         So; sa.
  9. Face.                            Mai.
  10. Cold.                           Sang.
  11. Leather.                        Ka li.
  12. Hands.                          Pieh.
  13. Basin.                          Keh.
  14. To stitch.                      Ngang.
  15. To patch.                       Hsi.
  16. To put on.                      Nieh.
  17. Shoes.                          Ha.
  18. To take off.                    Ta.
  19. A pair.                         Niu.
  20. Stockings.                      Wa.
  21. To change (as water).           Vai.
  22. Torn or broken.                 Ni.
  23. Long (in time).                 La.
  24. To wear.                        Tiao.
  25. Numerative of clothes.          P’ang.
  26. Water.                          Ou.

WORDS COMBINED.

    1.--To brush and wash. 2.--Dirty. Clean. 3.--Clothes. Boots. Shoes.
    Stockings.

    4.--To put on clothes. To take them off. To change clothes.

    5.--To mend by stitching. 6.--A pair of shoes. Two pair of shoes.
    Ten pair of stockings. A handkerchief. Eight articles of dress. A
    wash-hand basin.

    7.--The water in this basin is dirty. Change it and bring me some
    clean water instead to wash my face.

    8.--These clothes are dirty; take a brush and brush them. This
    article of dress is torn, call some one here to mend it.

    9.--Get up quick and dress.

    10.--He has taken off his clothes and is lying down.

    11.--He has had that thing on for several days without changing it.

    12.--It is cold to-day; you must put on something more.

    13.--Has he got on boots or shoes? He has on boots.

    14.--This handkerchief is dirty; put it in the basin and wash it.

    15.--Are you in the habit of wearing boots or shoes? In the house I
    wear shoes. When I go to the office I wear boots.

    16.--These leather boots of yours have been lying by a long time;
    they must be brushed and washed.

    17. When you wash your hands, do you prefer cold water or boiling
    water? Both are bad. Cold water is too cold; boiling water is too
    hot. Warm water is the best.

    18.--Be quick and pour this water into the pan and warm it.

    19.--This fire is out. This water has been on some time and will
    not boil.

    20.--To wash clothes it is best to use hot water. The water used to
    clean boots must be cold.

    1.--Shua so. 2.--Va. Sang niang. 3.--Uh. Ha. Ha. Wa.

    4.--Nieh uh. Ta nga loh. Vai uh.

    5.--Ngang hsi. 6.--Yi niu ha. Au niu ha. Chiu niu wa. Yi liu chang.
    Ya p’ang uh. Yi lai keh sa mai.

    7.--Keh ou nung va yeh. Vai sang niang tieh ta vai sa mai.

    8.--P’ang uh nung va tieh shua shua i shua. Yi p’ang uh nung ni
    yeh, koh lai nai ta ngang hsi.

    9.--Moung hang fa loh nieh uh.

    10.--Ngi ta uh pieh.

    11.--Yi p’ang uh nung ngi nieh hao la a vai.

    12.--Tai nung si, moung sung ou nao nieh yi p’ang uh.

    13.--Ngi tiao ha ngi tiao hsüeh. Ngi tiao tiao ha.

    14.--Liu chang nung va ‘hlia tiu keh so i so.

    15.--Moung ā tiao ha kai ā tiao hsüeh. Vai tiu chieh niang tiao ha,
    chieh ngah tiao hsüeh.

    16.--Moung pieh niu ka li hsüeh ‘hlia la, sung ou shua so.

    17.--Moung sa pieh, ā hsia ou sang ā hsia ou kai. Ou tiu a ghou. Ou
    sang sang va, ou kai kai va. Tou ghou ou hsioh.

    18.--Moung hang tieh ou nung liang tao tiu vi t’oh hsioh.

    19.--Lai tu nung ta yeh. Tieh ou nung t’oh yi tang tai t’oh a kai.

    20.--Ou so uh hsia ou hsioh tou ghou. So shua hsüeh sung ou hsia ou
    sang.


EXERCISE XII.--SINGLE WORDS.

  1. Farthest.                     Chiung.
  2. To uncap.                     ‘Hlüeh.
  3. To wear.                      Tou.
  4. To dust.                      Ma.
  5. Cap.                          Mau.
  6. To cut.                       Ma.
  7. Shoulders.                    Hang chieh.
  8. Sweat.                        Tiang.
  9. Shirt.                        Uh lai.
  10. Single.                      Tei.
  11. Lined.                       Tang.
  12. Wadded.                      Pong.
  13. Cotton.                      Mêng.
  14. Trousers.                    K’au.
  15. To cut (as clothes).         Kêng.
  16. Coat.                        Kua.
  17. Sleeve.                      Mu.
  18. Comb.                        Gah.
  19. Hair (of the head).          Ka ‘hliang.
  20. Needle.                      Chiu.
  21. Body.                        Chieh.
  22. To mend.                     P’ai.
  23. Must.                        Sung ou.
  24. A thread.                    Foh.

WORDS COMBINED.

    1.--Wadded clothes. Lined clothes. Clothes not lined.

    2.--Waistcoat. Shirt. Coat. Trousers.

    3.--Cap. To have the cap on. To take the cap off.

    4.--To sew. A needle. A thread.

    5.--A tailor. To cut out clothes. To make up clothes.

    6.--A duster. To dust clothes. 7.--To bathe.

    8.--The hair of the head. To comb the hair (head).

    9.--Clothes not lined are such as have an outside with nothing
    inside it. Clothes lined are such as have both a lining and an
    outside. Wadded clothes are clothes with cotton between the outside
    and the lining.

    10.--A waistcoat is that article of dress which has a back and
    front but no sleeves. The shirt is the garment without lining worn
    innermost of all. The coat is the garment worn outermost of all.
    When short it is called a riding jacket.

    11.--Is this pair of trousers wadded or lined?

    12.--Caps are distinguished as small caps and official caps.
    Official caps are of two sorts, winter and summer caps. Out of
    doors one must have a cap on; when one returns one may take it off.

    13.--Do you know how to sew? I do not. Then call a tailor here to
    mend my shirt.

    14.--The waistcoat is cut out but not made up yet.

    15.--The riding jacket is torn, it must be mended.

    16.--Tap the dust off the clothes with a duster.

    17.--Who is it that combs his hair with that wooden comb?

    18.--The expression _sa chieh_ means to bathe the whole body. It is
    a good thing to bathe every day.

    1.--Uh pong. Uh tang. Uh tei.

    2.--Uh liang chieh. Uh lai. Kua. K’au.

    3.--Mau. Tou mau. ‘Hlüeh mau.

    4.--Chiu foh (Ngang). Yi tieh chiu. Yi chiao foh.

    5.--Hsiang ngang. Kêng uh. Ngang uh.

    6.--Ka ‘hliang kei. Ma uh. 7.--Sa chieh.

    8.--Ka ‘hliang. Hsia koh.

    9.--Uh tei chiu mai yi tang a mai au tang. Uh tang mai pi kou pi
    tiung. Uh pong tiao uh tang keh tiung mai mêng sang.

    10.--Uh liang chieh mai keh kai keh mai a mai mu yi p’ang uh. Uh
    lai tiao keh tiung nieh pieh uh tei. Kua tiao keh kou nieh pieh uh.
    Uh lai kua koh ma kua.

    11.--Yi lai k’au nung mai mêng sang kai mai tang.

    12.--Mau fai au tiu mai mau niu mai mau ka lai. Mau ka lai mai au
    tiu mai mau hui mai mau hsioh. Nai niang tiu ka sung ou tou mau,
    pou chieh loh ku i ‘hlüeh mau.

    13.--Moung pang chiu foh a pang. Vai a pang. Moung koh hsiang kêng
    ta tieh vai pieh pang uh lai ai p’ai.

    14.--Pang uh liang chieh moung kêng yeh a pa ngang.

    15.--Pang ma kua ai ngi sung ou ngang p’ai.

    16.--Ta kah ‘hliang kei ma i ma uh chieh ka pai.

    17.--Lai gah tou ai, tiao tê shi hsia koh.

    18.--Sa chieh tiao yi chieh tou sa. Tai tai sa chieh ghou kuai.


EXERCISE XIII.--SINGLE WORDS.

  1. Silver.                        Ngi.
  2. Copper.                        Tou.
  3. Iron.                          ‘Hlou.
  4. Coin.                          Pei si.
  5. String of cash.                Tioh.
  6. A note.                        Piao.
  7. Numerative of guns, &c.        Ka.
  8. A balance.                     Tai.
  9. To weigh.                      ‘Hlia.
  10. Price.                        Ka.
  11. To be worth.                  Hsi.
  12. Dear.                         Kuei.
  13. Cheap.                        Chien-i.
  14. Suitable.                     Pi-i.
  15. Light (weight).               Fa.
  16. Heavy.                        Tiung.
  17. To borrow.                    Hsi.
  18. An account.                   Hang.
  19. To owe.                       K’eh.
  20. To expend.                    Fai.
  21. Represent.                    Tang.
  22. To be fond of.                Ghou.
  23. Weight.                       Tiung fa.
  24. Yet.                          Niang.
  25. To lend.                      T’u.
  26. Ounce.                        Liang.
  27. Gold.                         Chieh.

WORDS COMBINED.

    1.--To owe bills. To borrow money. To lend money. To owe money.

    2.--A bill or an account. 3.--To spend. 4.--Value. Cost.

    5.--Of very small value. Not dear. Cheap. 6.--Silver money. Copper
    money. Iron coin. Bank notes. 7.--An ounce of silver. A thousand
    cash. A 4000 cash note.

    8.--This is light; that is heavy. Weigh it in the balance if you do
    not know its weight.

    9.--He owes different people a good deal of money.

    10.--The expression _vai hsi pei si_ means that I get other
    people’s money for my own use. _Vai tu pei si_ means that I let
    other people have my money for their use.

    11.--His debts do not amount to less than one thousand ounces of
    silver.

    12.--_Hsia fai_ means to expend money. Our daily expenditure is not
    very large.

    13.--He loves to spend money. He is fond of spending money. He
    spends too much money.

    14.--That is not a dear house. The price asked for this fur coat is
    very small. That flower vase is worth nothing. Cotton is very low
    this year.

    15.--He has not a cash to live on.

    16.--Seven-tenths of these ten-cash pieces are copper, and
    three-tenths iron.

    17.--A _piao_ is a paper note on which is written the number of
    cash it is worth (_lit._, its buying value). It is the same as coin.

    18.--Gold is heavier than silver. Iron is lighter than silver.

    19.--If one wants to weigh things that one is buying, one must use
    the balance.

    20.--What weight are these balances equal to weighing? The largest
    will weigh 300 catties.

    1.--Hsioh hang. Hsi pei si. Tu pei si. K’eh pei si.

    2.--Hang. 3.--Hsia fai. 4.--Hsi ka. Ka pei si.

    5.--Chien-i kuai. A kuei. Chien-i. 6.--Pei si ngi. Pei si tou. Pei
    si ‘hlou. Piao. 7.--Yi liang ngi. Yi tioh pei si. ‘Hlao tioh pei si
    piao.

    8.--Lai nung fa, lai moung tiung. A pang tiung fa ta tieh tai ‘hlia
    i ‘hlia.

    9.--Ngi hsioh nai pieh hang a hsiu.

    10.--Vai hsi pei si tiao vai ta toh nai pieh pei si vai hsia. Vai
    tu pei si tiao nai tiao ta vai pieh pei si ta tiao nai hsia.

    11.--Ngi hsioh hang a ngah yi say liang ngi.

    12.--Hsia fai tiao ta pei si hsia chiu yeh. Pieh pieh tiu chieh tai
    tai hsia fai a nao kuai.

    13.--Ngi ā hsia pei si. Ngi ghou hsia pei si. Ngi ku yüeh hsia pei
    si nao.

    14.--Lai chieh moung ka pei si a kuei. Yi p’ang nung ka ‘hliang kua
    ka pei si chien-i kuai. Lai pieh to moung a hsi pei si. ‘Hniu nung
    mêng sang chien-i kuai.

    15.--Ngi tiu chieh yi lai pei si tou a mai.

    16.--Lai pei si ‘hlioh moung tang chiu lai pei si niu keh tiung mai
    hsiung fai tou pieh fai ‘hlou.

    17.--Piao tiao yi lieh tu keh vai si pei si suh mai keh tiung keh
    ai. Pei si ngi piao si chiang tioh.

    18.--Chieh pi ngi tiung. ‘Hlou pi ngi fa.

    19.--Mai keh tiung keh ai ou ‘hlia tiung fa sung ou hsia tai.

    20.--Au pieh ti tai ku i ‘hlia hao nao chiang liang. Tou ‘hlioh ku
    i ‘hlia pieh pa chiang.


EXERCISE XIV.--SINGLE WORDS.

  1. Coal.                         Mai.
  2. Charcoal.                     T’ai.
  3. Firewood.                     T’u.
  4. Flour.                        Pai.
  5. Oil.                          Tiang.
  6. Egg.                          Keh.
  7. Sugar.                        T’ang.
  8. Salt.                         Hsieh.
  9. Coarse.                       Sa.
  10. Fine.                        Moung.
  11. Broth.                       Ou.
  12. Chicken.                     Kei.
  13. To eat.                      Nêng.
  14. Milk.                        Voh.
  15. Fruit.                       Chiang.
  16. Vegetables.                  Ngau.
  17. To drink.                    ‘Hou.
  18. Prepare.                     Hao.
  19. Arrange.                     Shu.
  20. Remove.                      Hsiou.
  21. Ripe.                        Hsieh.
  22. Discuss.                     Lai.
  23. Picul (133⅓ lbs.)            Tan.
  24. Soup.                        Ch’ia.
  25. Rice.                        Sai.
  26. To make.                     Ai.
  27. Grow.                        Lai.
  28. Here.                        Ha nung.
  29. There.                       Ha moung.
  30. Raw.                         Niu.
  31. As well; also.               Niang.

WORDS COMBINED.

    1.--Firewood. Coal and charcoal. 2.--Rice and flour. White sugar.
    Fowl’s eggs. Cow’s milk. Fruit. 3.--Lamp oil. 4.--Coarse salt. Fine
    salt. 5.--To cook food. To put food on the table. To clear away,
    remove (as food).

    6.--To eat one’s meals. To drink soup. 7.--I bought yesterday 300
    catties of coal, 50 catties of charcoal, 80 catties of firewood,
    four piculs of rice, and two hundred catties of flour.

    8.--Lamp oil is made from the bean. Sweet oil is made from sesame.
    Lamp oil costs less than sweet oil. 9.--_Tiao t’u_ means to light a
    fire.

    10.--When the weather is cold, the consumption of coal and charcoal
    is larger.

    11.--In a stove one uses coal. In a chafing dish charcoal. A
    chafing dish is for use in a room. One cannot cook food or heat
    water with it.

    12.--Food is either raw or cooked. When prepared over a fire it is
    cooked. It is raw when it can be eaten in the natural state.

    13.--You go and buy me a small chicken, and three or four eggs. Do
    you want any milk as well? I should like some catties of milk if
    it is cheap. In this part of the world we do not buy milk by the
    catty, but by the cup or bottle. Fruit is not bought by the catty
    either, but by the piece.

    14.--Do you prefer flour or rice? Neither. I like soup. What soup?
    Either meat soup or chicken soup suits me.

    15.--Go and get the food ready directly. As soon as it is ready put
    it on the table.

    16.--What does _hsiou_ mean? The removal of the things when you
    have done eating.

    1.--T’u. Mai t’ai. 2.--Ka pai. Hsia tang _or_ Tang ‘hlou. Keh kei.
    Voh lia. Chiang. 3.--Tiang tai. 4.--Sa hsieh. Moung hsieh. 5.--Hao
    ngau. Shu ngau. Hsiou nioh.

    6.--Nêng ka. ‘Hou ch’ia. 7.--Vai tai nung mai pieh pa chiang mai;
    Chia chiu chiang t’ai; ya chiu chiang t’u; ‘Hlao tan sai; au pa
    chiang ka pai.

    8.--Tiang tai tiao tou ai. Ou yu tiao yu mi ai. Tiang tai pi ou yu
    chien i. 9.--Tiao t’u tiao tiao t’u.

    10.--Tai si pieh shih ‘hou hsia mai t’ai nao.

    11.--Keh sao tiao mai. Hu pai tiao t’ai. Hu pai tiu chieh tiao. A
    pang hao ka hao ou.

    12.--Ngau mai niu mai hsieh. Niang t’u keh vai hao tou tiao ngau
    hsieh. Ngau niu tiao ka ta lai ta ku i nêng tao.

    13.--Moung moung tou vai mai yi tai kei niu; Pieh chia lai keh kei.
    Niang ou voh lia a ou. Voh lia chien i vai ku i ou hsiu chiang pieh
    ha nung mai voh lia a lai chiang chiang, tou tiao lai ti lai to.
    Mai chiang si a lai chiang chiang, tou tiao lai ka lai.

    14.--Moung ā kêng ka pai ā nêng ka. Au tiu tou a ā. Vai ā ‘hou
    ch’ia. Ā ‘hou kai shi ch’ia. Ngi ch’ia kei ch’ia tou ghou.

    15.--Moung hang hao ka moung. Ka hsieh hsiu ta.

    16.--Kai shi tiao hsiou. Moung nêng chiu ka tou tieh ngah moung tou
    tiao hsiou yeh.


EXERCISE XV.--SINGLE WORDS.

  1. A capital.                  Chieh.
  2. Far.                        T’o.
  3. Near.                       Ngeh.
  4. South.                      Nan.
  5. North.                      Pei.
  6. Road.                       Keh.
  7. Straight.                   Tei.
  8. Winding.                    Koh.
  9. River.                      Tiang.
  10. Sea.                       Hai.
  11. Side.                      Pau.
  12. Deep.                      To.
  13. Shallow.                   Nieh.
  14. Boat.                      Niang.
  15. Guest.                     K’a.
  16. Inn.                       P’au.
  17. Innkeeper; Landlord.       Kuei p’au.
  18. To reckon.                 Ngieh.
  19. To receive.                Hshou.
  20. Trouble.                   Goh.
  21. Bitterness.                I.
  22. To join.                   ‘Ha.
  23. A province.                Sai.
  24. To live at.                Ai.

WORDS COMBINED.

    1.--To go to the capital. It will do to go straight or go round.

    2.--In reckoning distance, the straight road is the shortest.

    3.--The south. The north. 4.--A ship.

    5.--To be on board a ship. To cross a river. To go by sea. The
    water is deep. The water is shallow. 6.--An inn. The innkeeper.
    7.--Trouble. Sorrow. To be in trouble. To be resting.

    8.--When you went to the capital last year, where did you live? At
    an inn. I have heard it said that the inns outside the city are
    some of them not very good to stay at. That is all as the innkeeper
    is a good or a bad one. In my opinion, when one is tired, any inn
    is good. All you go to it for is to rest yourself.

    9.--When you go travelling, do you prefer a cart or a ship? That
    all depends upon the country. There are no carts in the south, and
    travellers all go by water. The vessels used in river-travelling
    are small. Sea-going vessels are larger.

    10.--The water in rivers is shallow, not so deep as in the sea.

    11.--In the voyage you made by sea the year before last, you had
    a hard time of it, hadn’t you? I had. It blew hard, and the ship
    got ashore on the coast of Shan-tung. All of us who were on board
    suffered dreadfully.

    12.--Who looks after the messing on board ship? The people of the
    ship look after it.

    13.--What costs most, travelling by water or travelling in a cart?
    One spends more travelling in a cart. What! Does the fare of a cart
    come to more than one’s passage on board a vessel? The cart costs
    more, the reason being that the people we hire our carts of in the
    north have also their money to make out of it.

    1.--Chieh chieh. Tei ‘hei, koh ‘hei, tou ku i.

    2.--Ngeh sui keh t’o ngeh, tei ‘hei ngeh koh ‘hei t’o.

    3.--Nan pau, pei pau. 4.--Yi chiao niang.

    5.--Niang niang. Tioh tiang. ‘Hei ‘hai. Ou to. Ou nieh. 6.--P’au
    k’a. Kuei p’au. 7.--‘Hi i. Hshou goh. Hsioh goh.

    8.--Moung ‘hniu fa chieh chieh niang hang to ai. Niang p’au k’a.
    Vai tang chiu hao keh kou p’au k’a mai a ghou kuai ai. Tou ngieh
    kuei p’au ghou a ghou. Sai vai chiu nai koh hang to tou ghou. Lei
    p’au keh tiung a ku hsioh goh.

    9.--Moung ‘hei keh ā niang lioh ā niang niang. Tou tiao ngieh fieh.
    Nan pau a mai lioh, ‘hei keh pieh k’a tou tiao niang niang. ‘Hei
    keh tiang tou tiao niang niu. ‘Hei hai pieh tiao niang ‘hlioh.

    10.--Tiang keh tiung ou nieh a mai hai ou to.

    11.--Moung ‘hniu tang niang hai niang hshou goh a hshou. A sa. Tiao
    ‘hlioh chiang niang niang Shan-tung pau chieh ‘hlia nieh; pieh ku
    nai ‘hi i fi a chiu.

    12.--Niang chieh nêng ka kai shi nai kuei. Tiao niang chieh kuei.

    13.--Sui ngieh pieh chieh tiao niang niang kuei tiao niang lioh
    kuei. Niang lioh pi niang niang hsia pei si nao. Hang to. Lioh ka
    pi niang ka kuei. Lioh ka kuei tiao pieh pieh pei pau keh tiang
    kuei pau ou hsia hsiu lai pei si.


EXERCISE XVI.--SINGLE WORDS.

  1. Baggage.                 ‘Hi.
  2. Box.                     Tiang.
  3. Bundle.                  Kuei.
  4. Bag.                     Tui.
  5. Felt.                    Hsi.
  6. Cotton fabric.           Hsi.
  7. To feed.                 I.
  8. Camel (one hump).        Lu.
  9. Camel (two humps).       T’u.
  10. Animals.                Tieh ‘hi.
  11. Heel.                   Lia.
  12. A set.                  Pang.
  13. Contain; pack.          Chi.
  14. Girdle.                 Hsioh.
  15. Load.                   Tu.
  16. Pursue.                 Ngong; t’ou.
  17. Follow.                 Hang.
  18. Wrap up.                Kuei.
  19. Interest.               Liang.
  20. To harm.                Ha.
  21. Injurious.              Nia; tiu.
  22. Spring.                 Ch’ün.
  23. Summer.                 Hsia.
  24. Autumn.                 Ch’iu.
  25. Winter.                 Tung.
  26. Early.                  So.
  27. Carry.                  Tiang.
  28. Wood.                   Tou.
  29. Care for.               Yeou.
  30. On.                     Vai.

WORDS COMBINED.

    1.--Baggage. Trunk. Bundle. Bag. Blanket or Felt.

    2.--A bale of cotton cloth. 3.--To feed beasts. The camel. Beast
    of burden. 4.--To put in a box. To carry things with one. To lead
    animals.

    5.--To pursue. 6.--Very dreadful, injurious.

    7.--Spring. Summer. Autumn. Winter.

    8.--_‘Hi_ means whatever a traveller carries with him. 9.--Trunks
    are made some of leather, some of wood, and will hold all sorts of
    things. A _kuei_ is a bundle of things wrapped up in anything. He
    has wrapped up that small box in a rug. A _tui_ is a bag to hold
    odds and ends. Those bags we use are made of cotton.

    10.--On a journey the beasts have to be fed as soon as one arrives
    at an inn.

    11.--Camels all come from other places.

    12.--The beast which bears a load is called a _t’u_. One may speak
    of an ass, a mule, or a horse as a _t’u_.

    13.--Take care of the baggage. It will be all right if the baggage
    is all there.

    14.--The gatekeeper is a servant. He called him to put his boxes
    into the cart.

    15.--As I came out his gatekeeper came after me, but did not
    overtake me.

    16.--Where is that man? He has gone out. If you run fast enough you
    may overtake him. He went out early, I fear it will not be possible
    to overtake him. Whether he is to be overtaken or not, you just run
    after him as hard as you can.

    17.--Winter is very cold; summer very hot; spring is not so cold as
    winter; nor is autumn so hot as summer.

    1.--‘Hi. Tiang. Kuei. Tui. Hsi.

    2.--Yi lai hsi. 3.--I tieh ‘hi. Lu t’u. Tu. 4.--Chi tiang. Tiang
    chia shih. Tioh tieh ‘hi.

    5.--Ngong t’ou. 6.--Nia tiu kuai.

    7.--Ch’ün. Hsia. Ch’iu. Tung.

    8.--‘Hi tiao ‘hei keh pieh ka nai tiang chia shih. 9.--Tiang mai ka
    li ai mai tou ai, kai shi chia shih tou ku i chi. Kuei tiao ta chia
    shih hsia kai shi kuei loh. Ngi ta hsi kuei lai tiang niu moung
    loh. Tui tiao chi ka sai. Pieh hsia tou tiao tui hsi.

    10.--Chieh keh lei p’au keh tiung sung ou i tieh ‘hi.

    11.--Lu t’u tou tiao kang ‘hi ta.

    12.--Tieh ‘hi chiao chieh a chia shih koh t’u. Lui t’u, lu t’u, ma
    t’u tou ku i ch’iu.

    13.--Moung yeou ‘hi. Tu tou tiao chieh chiu ghou.

    14.--Ngo tiu tiao hsia nai. Ngi koh ngo tiu ta tiang chi tioh lioh
    vai.

    15.--Vai ‘hliu kou moung ngi pieh ngo tiu niang keh kai ngong t’ou
    vai; ngong yi tang tai t’ou a t’ou chia.

    16.--Tai lai nai moung niang hang to. Ngi ‘hliu moung yeh. Moung
    hang yeh ku i t’ou chia ngi. Ngi so moung, hsi t’ou a chia. A lai
    t’ou chia a t’ou chia, moung hang yeh ngong ngi, chiu tiao yeh.

    17.--Tung t’ien si va; hsia t’ien hsieh va; ch’ün a mai tung si;
    ch’iu a mai hsia hsioh.


EXERCISE XVII.--SINGLE WORDS.

  1. Brains.                     ‘Hlui.
  2. Pigtail.                    Chiao mi.
  3. Ear.                        Ngi.
  4. Eye.                        Mai.
  5. Pupil of eye.               Chiu chi.
  6. Mouth.                      Lo.
  7. Lips.                       Pou lo.
  8. Beard.                      Hsieh nieh.
  9. Armpit.                     Ka sho.
  10. Arm.                       Kou.
  11. Finger.                    Ta pi.
  12. Fingernail.                Kang pi.
  13. To clutch.                 Wa.
  14. Loins; waist.              ‘Hla.
  15. Legs; thigh.               Pa.
  16. Strong; robust.            Mai^1 go.
  17. Weak.                      Mai^4 go.
  18. To pull.                   ‘Hlioh
  19. To haul.                   Toh.
  20. Disease.                   Mang.
  21. Pain.                      Mang.
  22. Strange.                   Lo.
  23. Monstrous.                 Hsüeh.
  24. Nose.                      Pao nüeh.
  25. Old.                       Lu.
  26. Tongue.                    Ni.
  27. Strength.                  Go.
  28. Woman.                     Mi.
  29. Close; tight.              Koh.
  30. Hands.                     Pi.

WORDS COMBINED.

    1.--Head. Queue. Ear. Eye. Nose. Mouth. In the mouth. The lips.
    The beard. Arm. Finger. Nail. Back and legs. 2.--Robust. Weak.
    3.--Pulling. Hauling at. To haul with great effort. To tear or
    injure in clutching hold of. 4.--Connected, consecutively. 5.--To
    be ill. Very sore. Strange.

    6.--A man’s head has brains inside it, and is therefore called a
    head-bag.

    7.--This tail of yours wants combing.

    8.--When a man is old, he can neither see well nor see clearly.
    9.--That man has a very odd-looking nose. 10.--This man is very
    strong. That man is very weak.

    11.--Have you anything the matter with you? I am weak, but not ill.
    12.--In these five or six years that you and I have not met, your
    beard has turned quite white. I have been sadly ailing for some
    years.

    13.--That man who is lying on the road has both legs broken.
    14.--To have something the matter with the back that makes it
    impossible for one to stand upright. 15.--Do you move so slowly
    because you have something the matter with you? No; it is age which
    makes me weak in the back and limbs.

    16.--He has something the matter with his tongue, and his mouth and
    lips are broken out.

    17.--It may be said that eating and speaking both are of the mouth.
    18.--That woman’s nails were so long that when she clutched hold of
    his arm they tore it. 19.--My finger is sore. 20.--What animals are
    used to draw carts? They may be drawn by mules, donkeys, or horses.

    21.--_Toh_ means to pull hard with the hand. Pull the door fast to.
    He pulled and hauled at me.

    1--Koh. Mi. Ngi. Mai. Pao nüeh. Lo. Lo keh tiung. Pou lo. Hsieh
    nieh. Kou. Ta pi. Kang pi. ‘Hla pa. 2.--Mai^1 go. Mai^4 go.
    3.--‘Hlioh. Toh. ‘Hlioh toh. Wa ni. 4.--‘Ha. 5.--Mai mang. Mang
    kuai. Lo hsüeh.

    6.--Nai koh keh tiung mai ‘hlui, chiu koh koh tou.

    7.--Moung pieh chiao mi nung sung ou hsia.

    8.--Nai lu, ngi tang a ghou, mai tou ngieh a vai. 9.--Tai nai moung
    pieh pao nüeh mai lo hsüeh. 10.--Tai nai nung mai^1 go. Tai nai ai
    mai^4 go kuai.

    11.--Moung chiao chieh mai mang a mai. A mai mang. Vai chiao chieh
    mai^4 go. 12.--Pieh chia tiu ‘hniu a pang, moung pieh hsieh nieh
    tou ‘hluh yeh. Vai pieh chiao chieh mai mang nia tiu.

    13.--Tiu ka keh vai lai nai pang ai au pa tou ni yeh. 14.--Ka ‘hla
    mai mang fa a lei loh. 15.--Moung kai shi keh keh ‘hei, chiao chieh
    mang a mang. A tiao; tiao nai lu yeh, ‘hla pa tou a ghou.

    16.--Ngi chiao ni mai mang, lo pao nüeh tou ni yeh.

    17.--Lo keh tiung nêng ka, lo keh tiung ch’iu si, tou ku i ch’iu.
    18.--Tai mi moung kang pi ta, li ngi pi kou wa ni yeh. 19.--Vai
    pieh ta pi mang. 20.--‘Hlioh lioh hsia kai shi tieh ‘hi. Hsia lu,
    lui, ma, tou ku i ‘hlioh tau.

    21.--Toh tiao nai pieh pi hsia go ‘hlioh. Lai tiu ‘hlioh koh. Ngi
    ‘hlioh toh vai.


EXERCISE XVIII.--SINGLE WORDS.

  1. Eyebrows.                        Keh nang.
  2. Jaws.                            Mang.
  3. Capture.                         Vi k’a.
  4. Chin.                            Ka kang.
  5. To build.                        Poh.
  6. Neck.                            Ka ‘hlieh.
  7. Throat.                          Ka kung.
  8. Joint.                           Yeh.
  9. To scrape.                       Kieh.
  10. To shave.                       T’i.
  11. Breast.                         Kang.
  12. The back.                       Kou.
  13. Spine.                          Tiu.
  14. Foot.                           Lao.
  15. Belly.                          Ka chiang.
  16. Wave.                           Lang.
  17. Respectable.                    Lah.
  18. Ankle.                          Tiu ngêng.
  19. Heart.                          ‘Hlu.
  20. Conduct.                        ‘Hi.
  21. To behead.                      Sai.
  22. Robbers.                        Tsui.
  23. Heads (of criminals).           Fi.
  24. The brow.                       Yen tieh.
  25. Knee-cap.                       Koh chiang.
  26. Above.                          Keh vai.
  27. Below.                          Keh ta.
  28. Bone.                           Sung.

WORDS COMBINED.

    1.--The eyebrows. The hair. The jaws. The chin. The nostrils. The
    neck. The gullet. 2.--The shoulders. The spine. The breast. The
    belly.

    3.--The knee-cap. The ankle-bone. The joints. 4.--To scrape the
    face. To shave the head. To behead.

    5.--Respectable. 6.--The eyebrows are the hair above the eyes. _Ki
    koh_ means the hair on either side of the forehead. 7.--The jaws
    are the flesh on either side of the mouth. 8.--The bone below the
    mouth is the chin. 9.--The shoulders are at the top of the back.

    10.--The space behind the shoulders is called the _tiu koh_ and the
    _tiu kou_.

    11.--What is behind the head is called the neck.

    12.--The breast is below the throat and above the belly. 13.--The
    knee-cap is the joint in the middle of the leg. The joint above the
    foot is called the ankle. 14.--When people are too young to have
    beards their faces have to be scraped.

    15.--In shaving, what is shaved off is the short hair growing
    outside the queue. Outlaws who do not shave the head are called
    long-haired rebels.

    16.--When a rebel is captured he is beheaded, and the head cut off
    is called a _koh fi_.

    17.--When you say a man is respectable, you mean that his conduct
    has nothing bad about it. When you say that that man _lai tao lah_,
    you mean that he is good-looking.

    18.--You may also say that his house is respectable--that it is a
    fine house.

    1.--Keh nang. Ka ‘hliang. Mang. Ka kang. Kang nüeh. Ka kung. Tiung
    kung. 2.--Chieh. Tiu. Kang. Ka chiang.

    3.--Koh chiang. Sung ngêng. Yeh. 4.--Kieh mai. T’i koh. Sai koh.

    5.--Lah. 6.--Keh nang tiao mai keh vai ka ‘hliang. Ki koh tiao yen
    tieh au p’i pieh ka ‘hliang. 7.--Mang tiao lo au p’i pieh ngi.
    8.--Lo pi ta pieh sung tiao ka kang. 9.--Chieh tiao kou keh vai.

    10.--Au chieh keh kai pieh ‘hli koh tiu koh tiu kou.

    11.--Lai koh keh ta koh ka kung.

    12.--Kang tiao ka kung keh ta ka chiang keh vai. 13.--Koh chiang
    tiao tou ka tiung pieh sung yeh. Lao keh vai pieh sung yeh chiu koh
    tiu ngêng. 14.--Nai i a mai hsieh nieh pieh shih ‘hou sung ou kieh
    mai.

    15.--T’i koh; T’i pieh tiao chiao mi pieh pi kou pieh ka ‘hliang
    lai. A t’i koh tiao tsui moung koh ta ‘hliang tsui.

    16.--Vi k’a tsui chiu sai. Sai lo pieh koh chiu koh fi.

    17.--Ch’iu lai nai lah tiao ch’iu lai nai moung pieh ‘hi a mai kai
    shi a ghou. Ch’iu lai nai moung lai tao lah tiao ch’iu ngi lai tao
    ghou ngieh.

    18.--Ngi pieh lai chieh poh tao lah tou ch’iu tao.




ENGLISH-PHÖ VOCABULARY.


  ------------------------+------------------------
         ENGLISH.         |          PHÖ.
  ------------------------+------------------------
  Able, to be             | Pang; Hang; Ku-i
  About to                | Nung
  Above                   | Keh vai
  According to            | Sai
  Account (bill)          | Hang
  Add, to--to             | Lai
  Advantage               | Liang
  Affair                  | Shih
  Again                   | Niang
  Ago, a moment           | Fa
  Air                     | Poung
  All                     | Tou
  Alley                   | Ka
  Allow                   | Hsüeh
  Also                    | Nung; niang
  Ancestor                | Kau
  Animals                 | Tieh ‘hi
  Ankle                   | Tiu ngêng
  Arm                     | Kou
  Armpit                  | Ka sho
  Arrange                 | Shu
  Arrive at               | Leh
  As                      | Liu
  As well                 | Niang
  Ascend                  | Chieh
  Ashamed                 | Shi sa
  Ask                     | Tou; Nai
  At                      | Niang hang
  Attend to               | Kuei
  Authorise               | Chün
  Autumn                  | Ch’iu
  Avoid                   | Vieh
  Back, the               | Kou
  Bag                     | Tui
  Baggage                 | ‘Hi
  Balance, a              | Tai
  Ball                    | Poh
  Bamboo                  | Tou ki
  Basin                   | Keh
  Be, to                  | Mai; Tiao; Si
  Beans                   | Tou pang
  Beard                   | Hsieh nieh
  Beasts                  | Tieh ‘hi
  Beat, to                | Tüeh
    „   (the ground)      | Pieh
  Because                 | Yi vai
  Bed                     | Ch’u
  Bedding                 | Pang pung
  Bee                     | Keh vah
  Beeswax                 | Chieh
  Before (place)          | Keh tang
    „    (time)           | Hsüeh
  Beginning, in the       | Tang tang
  Behave, to              | Ta
  Behead                  | Sai
  Behind                  | Keh kai
  Belly                   | Ka chiang
  Below                   | Nga; Keh ta
  Bend, a                 | Kung
  Bestow                  | Hsiang pai
  Bid, to                 | Koh
  Bind                    | Suh
  Bitterness              | I
  Black                   | ‘Hlai
  Blow, to                | Choh
  Blue                    | Lieh
  Boar, wild              | Pa ghou
  Boat                    | Niang
  Body (person)           | Chieh
  Boil, to                | Hao
  Bone                    | Sung
  Book                    | Tu
  Borrow                  | Hsi
  Bowl, a                 | Ti
  Box                     | Tiang
  Brains                  | ‘Hlui
  Break, to               | T’u
  Breast, the             | Kang
  Breath                  | Poung
  Brick                   | Hsüeh
  Bridge, a               | Luh
  Bright                  | Ka
  Brightness              | Ka
  Brisk                   | Niang ‘hui
  Broad                   | Fieh
  Broken                  | Ni
  Broom                   | Tioh
  Broth                   | Ou
  Brother (elder)         | Tiah
     „    (younger)       | Tei uh
  Brow, the               | Yen tieh
  Brush, to               | Shua
  Buckwheat               | Chiu
  Buffalo                 | Niang
  Build                   | Poh
  Bundle, a               | Kuei
  Burn, to                | Pieh
  Bury                    | Liang
  Bushel                  | Toh
  Busy                    | Niah
  Button                  | Koh
  Button-hole             | Niang
  Buy                     | Mai
  Cabbage                 | Go ‘hlou
  Cage                    | Nguh
  Call, to                | Koh
  Camel                   | Lu; T’u
  Cap                     | Mau
  Capital (of a province) | Chieh
  Capture                 | Vi k’a
  Care for                | Yeou
  Carpenter               | Hsiang tou
  Carpet                  | Ch’i ta
  Carrot                  | Go pang hsia
  Carry, to               | Tiang
    „    on shoulder      | Keh
  Cart                    | Lioh
  Cast, to                | Yoh
  Catty                   | Chiang
  Certainly               | A sa.
  Chair                   | Kuei yüeh
    „   (Sedan)           | Cho
  Change, to              | Kieh
    „    (as water)       | Vai
  Charcoal                | T’ai
  Cheap                   | Chien-i
  Chicken                 | Kei
  Child                   | Ka-tai
  Children                | Ngang a
  Chin                    | Ka kang
  Choose                  | Tioh
  Circumstances           | Ch’ing
  Clean                   | Sang niang
  Clear                   | Ka
  Close (tight)           | Koh
  Cloth                   | Hsi
  Clothes                 | Uh
  Clouds                  | Tang ang
  Clutch                  | Wa
  Coal                    | Mai
  Coarse                  | Sa
  Coat                    | Kua
  Coin, a                 | Pei si
  Cold                    | ‘Hui; Si
  Collar, a               | ‘Hlieh
  Colour                  | Ka mai
  Comb                    | Gah
  Comb, to                | Hsia
  Come, to                | Ta
  Comfortable             | ‘Hla
  Commission, to          | Sai
  Communicate             | Ch’üeh
  Company, to bear one    | Pai
  Complete                | Yeh
  Conduct                 | ‘Hi
  Confused                | Nioh
  Consequently            | Chiu
  Constant                | Ka ka
  Consult                 | Hsiang
  Contain                 | Chi
  Continual               | Ka ka
  Cool                    | ‘Hui
  Copper                  | Tou
  Copy, to                | Cha
  Correct, to             | Kieh
  Cotton (raw)            | Mêng
    „    (fabric)         | Hsi
  Cover, a                | Mo
  Cow                     | Lia
  Crack, to               | ‘Hlah
  Crape                   | Hsiah
  Crow, a                 | Au voh
  Cup                     | O
  Curtain                 | Hsiao
  Cut open                | P’a
   „  (clothes)           | Kêng
  Cypress                 | Tou hsiang
  Damp                    | Hsiu
  Dark                    | ‘Hui
  Daughter                | Po a
  Day                     | Vai
  Daytime                 | Fieh
  Dear                    | Kuei
  Deceive                 | ‘Hla
  Deck (of a boat)        | Pi niang
  Deep                    | To
  Dense (wood)            | Toh
  Depressed               | Mang ‘hi
  Detain                  | ‘Hlia
  Die, to                 | Ta
  Difficult               | Hsia
  Dilly-dally             | ‘Hliao ta
  Dirty                   | Va
  Discuss                 | Lai
  Disease                 | Mang
  Disorder                | Lui
  Dispense with           | Vieh
  Disperse                | Say
  Divide                  | Fai
  Do                      | Pieh; ai
  Dog                     | Koh
  Donkey                  | Lui
  Door                    | Tiu
  Down                    | Nga
  Draw out                | ‘Hlia
  Dreadful                | Nia tiu
  Dream                   | Pang
  Dream, to               | ‘Hlieh
  Drink, to               | Hou
  Drum                    | Li
  Dry                     | Nga
  Duck                    | Kah
  Dust                    | Ka pai
  Dust, to                | Ma
  Dwell                   | Niang
  Dye, to                 | Tou
  Each                    | Ka
  Ear                     | Ngi
  Early                   | So
  Earth                   | Tah
  East                    | Keh nieh
  Eat                     | Nêng
  Egg                     | Keh
  Eight                   | Ya
  Empty                   | Kung
  End                     | T’i
  End, to                 | Chiu
  Enemy                   | Hsi
  Engrave                 | Tioh
  Enough                  | Ko
  Enter                   | Pou
  Envelope                | Ku
  Err                     | Sa
  Escape, to              | Chu
  Eternal                 | Sang sang
  Every                   | Ka
  Examine                 | Cha; kau
  Exchange                | T’ioh
  Expect                  | Sang nieh
  Expend                  | Fai
  Extinguish              | Ta
  Extreme                 | Chiang
  Eye                     | Mai
  Eyebrow                 | Keh nang
  Face, the               | Mai
  Far                     | T’o
  Farthest                | Chiung
  Fast                    | ‘Hi; Hang
  Fear, to                | Hsi
  Feed, to                | I
  Feel (touch), to        | Sang
  Felt (fabric)           | Hsi
  Female                  | A
  Fern                    | Ho chiang
  Fetch                   | ‘Hlioh
  Few                     | Hsiu; Pa
  Fight, to               | Tüeh
  Fine                    | Moung
  Finger                  | Ta pi
  Fir                     | Tou kei
  Fire                    | T’u
  Firewood                | T’u
  First                   | Tang tang
  Fish                    | Nieh
  Five                    | Chia
  Fix, to                 | Ting
  Flat                    | P’i
  Flesh                   | Ngi
  Float, to               | Ch’a
  Flour                   | Pai
  Flow, to                | ‘Hlao
  Flower                  | Pieh
  Follow                  | Hang
  Fond of                 | Ghou
  Foolish                 | Niah
  Foot, the               | Lao
   „    (a measure)       | Ch’i
  Forest                  | Ghou
  Forget                  | Tung
  Fork, a                 | Tia.
  Four                    | ‘Hlao
  Fowl                    | Kei
  Fragments, in           | Sai
  Frank                   | Niang ‘hui
  Friend                  | Ka pou
  Fruit                   | Chiang
  Full                    | Pai
  Furniture               | Chia shih
  Gain, to                | Hsüeh
  Gallop, to              | Yeh
  Generation              | Pai
  Get, to                 | Tao
  Girdle, a               | Hsioh
  Give                    | Pai
  Go away                 | Moung
   „ out                  | ‘Hliu kou
   „ towards              | Moung
  Goat                    | Li ghou
  Gold                    | Chieh
  Gong                    | Nioh
  Good                    | Ghou
  Good-looking            | Niang
  Goods                   | Hu
  Goose                   | Ngieh
  Granary                 | Niung
  Grandson                | ‘Hlieh
  Grasp, to               | Wa
  Grass                   | Niang
  Grasshopper             | Kou
  Grave, a                | Pa liang
  Gray                    | Hsiang
  Great                   | ‘Hlioh
  Green                   | Nioh
  Grief                   | A shi
  Ground, the             | Tah
  Grow                    | Lai
  Guest                   | K’a
  Hair                    | Ha ‘hliang
  Half                    | Tang
  Hand                    | Pi
  Hang, to                | Tioh
   „    up                | Fi
  Hard                    | Koh
  Hare                    | Lo
  Harm, to                | ‘Ha
  Haul, to                | Toh
  Have                    | Mai
  He                      | Ngi
  Head                    | Koh
   „   of criminal        | Fi
  Hear                    | Tang
  Heart                   | ‘Hlu
  Heavens                 | Vai
  Heavy                   | Tiung
  Heel                    | Lia
  Helm                    | Tui niang
  Here                    | Ha nung
  High                    | ‘Hi
  Hold (ship’s)           | Niang nung
  Hold (in hand), to      | Luh
   „   (of), to lay       | Tieh
   „   (of), to clutch    | Wa
  Home                    | Chieh
  Hope, to                | Sang nieh
  Horn                    | Ki
  Horse                   | Ma
  Hot                     | Hsioh
  House                   | Chieh
  Hundred                 | Pa
  I                       | Vai
  Idle                    | Ngai
  In                      | Tiu
  Inch                    | Sai
  Inform                  | Hsieh
  Inhabit                 | Niang
  Injure                  | ‘Ha
  Injurious               | Nia tiu
  Ink                     | Mö
  Inn                     | P’au
  Insect                  | Ai tiou
  Inside                  | Keh tiung
  Interest                | Liang
  Iron                    | ‘Hlou
  Jaws                    | Mang
  Join, to                | ‘Ha
  Joint (of body)         | Yeh
  Jump                    | Ti; Shu
  Kill                    | Ma
  Kind (sort)             | Tiu
  Kitchen                 | Kau sao
  Kite (bird)             | ‘Hlieh
  Kneecap                 | Koh chiang
  Know                    | Pang
  Lake                    | Ung
  Lamp                    | Tai
  Language                | Si
  Large                   | ‘Hlioh
  Late                    | Pang
  Laugh, to               | Tioh
  Layer                   | Lang
  Leaf                    | Nou
  Learn                   | Liu
  Leather                 | Ka li
  Leg                     | Pa
  Leisure                 | K’ung
  Lend                    | T’u
  Length (time)           | Tah pang
  Leopard                 | Mpieh
  Letter                  | Sai
  Lie, to tell a          | ‘Hli si
  Light                   | Ka
    „   (weight)          | Fa
    „   to                | Tiao
  Lightning               | Li foh
  Like                    | Toh
  Lime                    | Gi ‘hui
  Lined                   | Tang
  Lips                    | Pou lo
  Little, a               | Nang
  Live at, to             | Ai
  Load (pack)             | Tu
  Loins                   | ‘Hla
  Long                    | Ta
  Lose                    | Fa; Fieh
  Louse                   | Keh hsiang
  Loutish                 | Niah
  Love, to                | A
  Magpie                  | Au kah
  Make                    | Ai
  Male                    | Tia
  Man                     | Nai
  Many                    | Nao
  Market, a               | Hsiang
  Mast                    | Tou niang
  Master                  | Ka
  Mat                     | Tieh
  Meat                    | Ngi
  Medicine                | Chia
  Meet, to                | Hui
  Mend                    | P’ai
  Method                  | Hsiang
  Milk                    | Voh
  Miserly                 | K’ei
  Miss, to                | Fa
  Mist                    | Ngioh
  Moist                   | Li
  Monstrous               | Lo hsüeh
  Month                   | Tu
  Moon                    | ‘Hla
  Mountain                | Pieh
  Mouth                   | Lo
  Move (act), to          | Tioh
  Mulberry                | Chieh
  Mule                    | Luh
  Musket                  | Hsiung
  Must                    | Tao; Sung ou
  Nail                    | Tiang
   „   (finger)           | Kang pi
  Name                    | Pieh
  Narrow                  | Ngi
  Nation                  | Kuei
  Near                    | Ngeh
  Neck                    | Ka ‘hlieh
  Needle                  | Chiu
  New                     | ‘Hi
  Niggardly               | K’ei
  Night                   | Pang
  Nine                    | Chu
  Noon                    | Tiung tai
  North                   | Pei
  Nose                    | Pao nüeh
  Not                     | A
  Note (bank)             | P’iao
  Numerative of boats     | Chao
       „        books     | Pai
       „        carts     | Lai
       „        clothes   | P’ang
       „        guns      | Ka
       „        horses    | Tei
       „        houses    | Say
       „        ink       | ‘Hli
       „        lamps     | Lai
       „        men       | Lai
       „        pens      | Kai
       „        stools    | Lai
  Oak                     | Tou kau
  Oar                     | ‘Hliu niang
  Odd (over)              | Ka
  Office (public)         | Ngah
  Officer (military)      | Kuei lieh
  Oil                     | Tiang
  Old (years)             | Lu
   „  (not new)           | Koh
  On                      | Vai
  One                     | Yi
  Onion                   | Gha sung
  Open, to                | Pu
  Or                      | Hu
  Order (in series)       | Ka
  Ounce                   | Liang
  Outside                 | Keh kou
  Owe (money)             | K’eh
  Ox                      | Lia
  Place, a                | Tuoh
  Pack, to                | Chi
  Pain                    | Mang
  Paint, to               | ‘Ha
  Pair, a                 | Niu
  Pan, cooking            | Vi
  Paper                   | Tu
  Part                    | Fai
  Pass, to                | Tioh
  Paste                   | ‘Hnieh
  Patch, to               | Hsi
  Peaceful                | Pi
  Peas                    | Vieh chioh
  Pen                     | Chieh
  Pheasant                | Niung
  Picul                   | Tan
  Pig                     | Pa
  Pigeon                  | Koh ghoa
  Pipe (tobacco)          | Tiung yeh
  Pit, a                  | Kang
  Pity, to                | Ch’i kuei
  Place, to               | ‘Hlia
    „    a                | Tiao
    „    in a series      | Ka
  Plates                  | P’ieh
  Play, to                | A chieh
  Plough                  | Kah
  Point, a                | Ngah
  Poor                    | Hsia
  Possessive particle     | Pieh
  Pot                     | Chieh
  Pour, to                | Chia; Liang
  Powder                  | Chia pa
  Prepare                 | Hao
  Present, the            | Nung
     „     to             | Pai
  Price                   | Ka
  Prohibit                | A hsüeh
  Prompt                  | Niang ‘hui
  Proud                   | Au
  Province, a             | Sai
  Pull                    | ‘Hlioh
  Pupil                   | Chu tai
    „   of eye            | Chiu chi
  Pursue                  | Ngong; T’ou
  Put, to                 | ‘Hlia
   „   on                 | Nieh
  Queue                   | Chiao mi
  Quick (temper)          | ‘Hi
    „   (speed)           | Hang
  Quiet                   | T’ieh
  Rage, to be in a        | Toh
  Rain                    | Nung
  Raise                   | Sai
  Rat                     | Nieh
  Raw                     | Niu
  Rebel, to               | Fieh
  Receive                 | Hshou
     „    (a guest)       | Sei
  Reckon                  | Sui; Ngieh
  Recline                 | Pang
  Recognise               | Hsiang
  Red                     | Hsiau
  Rejoice                 | Ka ‘hi
  Relatives               | Hsiu ka
  Release, to             | Hsiang
  Remember                | Nieh
  Remove                  | Hsiou
  Repair                  | Hsüeh
  Repay                   | Poh
  Repeatedly              | Chi chiang
  Repose, to              | Hui
  Represent               | Tang
  Request, to             | Sai; Tou
  Resemble                | Tung
  Respectable             | Lah
  Return, to              | Loh; Tiang
  Rice                    | Ka; Sai
  Ride, to                | Chieh
  Ridge (mountain)        | Fai ‘hlong
  Right, to be            | Ku-i
  Ripe                    | Hsieh
  Rise, to                | Fa
  River                   | Tiang
  Road                    | Keh
  Robber                  | Tsui; Nieh lei
  Room, a                 | Ch’ung
  Root (tree)             | Chiung
  Round                   | ‘Hlui
  Rounds, to go the       | ‘Ha
  Rub, to                 | Mang
  Run, to                 | Yeh
   „   against            | Luh
  Sad                     | Mang ‘hi
  Salt                    | Hsieh
  Saucers                 | P’ieh niu
  Scatter                 | Tiang
  Scrape, to              | Kieh
  Sea                     | ‘Hai
  See, to                 | Ngieh
  Seek                    | Hao
  Select, to              | Tioh
  Sell                    | Mei
  Sentence (words)        | Ho
  Set, a                  | Pang
  Seven                   | Hsiung
  Several                 | Hao nao
  Shallow                 | Nieh
  Shame                   | Sa
  Share                   | Fai
  Shave                   | T’i
  Sheep                   | Li
  Sheet (paper)           | Lieh
  Shine                   | Chieh
  Shirt                   | Uh lai
  Shoes                   | ‘Ha
  Shop                    | P’au
  Short                   | Lai
  Shoulders               | Hang chieh
  Shut                    | Suh
  Side                    | Pau; P’i
  Sides (body)            | Hang
  Silk                    | Hsieh
  Silly                   | Niah
  Silver                  | Ngi
  Similar                 | Toh
  Sing                    | Tiao
  Single                  | Tei; Chiang
  Sit                     | Niang
  Six                     | Tiu
  Sleep, to               | Pieh ‘hlai
  Sleeve                  | Mu
  Slow                    | A ‘hi
  Small                   | Niu
  Snow                    | ‘Hliu
  Soft                    | Mai
  Soldier                 | Lieh
  Some                    | Nao hsiu; Pa
  Son                     | Pu tai
  Sound, a                | Poh
  Soup                    | Ch’ia
  South                   | Nan
  Sovereign               | Vang
  Sow, to                 | Tiang
  Spacious                | Fieh
  Sparrow                 | Nau tioh
  Speak                   | Kang
  Spider                  | Keh gah
  Spine, the              | Tiu
  Spirit, a               | Sai
  Spoil, to               | P’a
  Spoon                   | Tiao kên
  Spread                  | Pou
  Spring                  | Ch’ün
  Sprinkle                | Tia
  Sprouts                 | I
  Staff, a                | Pang
  Stand up                | Hsiu
  Stars                   | Tai kai
  Steal                   | Nieh
  Still (quiet)           | T’ieh
  Stitch                  | Ngang
  Stockings               | Wa
  Stone, a                | Gi
  Stool, a                | Tang
  Storey, upper           | Pang
  Stove, a                | Sao
  Straight                | Tei
  Strange                 | Lo
  Street                  | Ka
  Strength                | Go
  Strike, to              | Tüeh
  String (of cash)        | Tioh
  Strong                  | Mai^1 go
  Study, to               | Ngi
  Stupid                  | Chiu niu
  Stutterer               | La
  Subscribe               | Chiang
  Suddenly                | Ngai
  Sugar                   | T’ang
  Suitable                | Pi-i
  Summer                  | Hsia
  Sun                     | Tai
  Surname                 | Sai
  Swallow, to             | Kuai
  Sweat                   | Tiang
  Sweep, to               | Ch’ieh
  Swim, to                | Ch’a
  Table                   | Tang
  Take, to                | Tieh
   „    off               | Ta; ‘Hlüeh
  Tea                     | Chiang
  Teach                   | Chiao
  Teacher                 | Hsiang li
  Tell                    | Hsieh
  Temple                  | Nioh
  Ten                     | Chiu
  Tender                  | Igi
  Terrace, a              | Tiang
  That                    | Ai; Moung; Tieh
  There                   | Ha moung
  They                    | Ngi tau
  Thick                   | Ta
  Thigh                   | Pa
  Thin                    | Ngieh
  Thing                   | Keh nung keh ai
  Think                   | Niah
  This                    | Nung
  Thou                    | Moung
  Thousand                | Say
  Thousand, ten           | Ver
  Thread                  | Foh
  Three                   | Pieh
  Throat                  | Ka kung
  Throw, to               | Yoh
  Thunder, to             | Poh foh
  Tie up                  | Chiah
  Tiger                   | Hsioh
  Tile, a                 | Ngai
  Time                    | Shih
  Time, a long            | La
  Tin                     | Say
  Tobacco                 | Yeh
  Together with           | ‘Ha
  Tongue                  | Ni
  Tooth                   | Mpi
  Torn                    | Ni
  Towards                 | Sang
  Trade                   | Chiang
  Treat, to               | Ta
  Tree                    | Tou
  Trifle                  | A chieh
  Trouble                 | Goh
  Trousers                | K’au
  True                    | Tei
  Turnip                  | Go pang ‘hluh
  Two                     | Au
  Typhoon                 | ‘Hlioh chiang
  Ugly                    | Hsia ka
  Uncap, to               | ‘Hlüeh
  Understand              | Tang
  Up                      | Chieh
  Up, to get              | Fa
  Upright                 | Ta ti
  Upset, to               | Koh
  Urge                    | Sui
  Use, to                 | Hsia
  Vase                    | To
  Vegetables              | Ngau
  Very                    | Kuai; Va
  Village                 | Yüeh
  Visit, to               | Ch’iu
  Wadded                  | Pong
  Wait                    | Tang
  Waist                   | ‘Hla
  Wall, city              | Hao
  Want, to                | Ou
  Warm                    | Hsioh
  Wash                    | So; Sa
  Watch (night)           | Kêng
  Wave, a                 | Lang
  Wax                     | La
  We                      | Pieh
  Weak                    | Mai ^4go
  Wear, to                | Tou; Tiao
  Weigh                   | ‘Hlia
  Weight                  | Tiung fa
  Well, a                 | Mai
  Wet                     | Hsiu
  What?                   | Kai shi
  Wheat                   | Ka mieh
  Whence                  | Kêng hang
  White                   | ‘Hluh
  Who?                    | Tê shi
  Wild                    | Ghou
  Wind                    | Chiang
  Winding                 | Koh
  Window                  | Kantlong
  Wine                    | Chu
  Winter                  | Tung
  Wish, to                | Hang
  With                    | ‘Ha; Na
  Woman                   | Mi
  Wood, a                 | Ghou
  Wooden                  | Tou
  Wool                    | ‘Hliang li
  Words                   | Li
  Worth, to be            | Hsi
  Wrap, to                | Kuei
  Write                   | Sei
  Yam                     | Nah
  Year                    | ‘Hniu
  Yellow                  | Fieh
  Yesterday               | Tai nung
  Yet                     | Niang
  You                     | Moung
  You (pl.)               | Mieh
  Youth                   | Yi




NOTE ON OPIUM CULTIVATION IN CHINA AND INDIA.


In Chapter II. I made special reference to the cultivation of the poppy
and to the method of harvesting opium in Western China; but subsequent
personal observation in the eastern provinces has taught me that the
process, employed in the west, of collecting the juice is not the only
system practised in China. At Wênchow, in the province of Chêkiang,
where the poppy is extensively grown, a small instrument resembling a
carpenter’s plane takes the place of the multi-bladed wooden handle,
and the workman planes the skin of the capsule from the top downwards,
leaving a thin shaving adhering to the lower end of the poppy-head.
This is repeated four or five times round the same capsule at due
intervals. A dry cloudy day is selected for harvesting the drug, for
sunshine and rain are said to be inimical to a good collection. In
the former, the sap will not flow freely, while the latter dilutes
the drug. As soon as the side of the capsule has been planed, the
sap exudes from the exposed surface--sometimes so rapidly as to drop
down on the leaves and stem and be lost--and the collector, provided
with only a hollow bamboo wherewith he roughly scrapes off the juice,
follows close on the heels of the workman with the plane.

That the system in use in Western China approximates very nearly to
the Indian method will be seen from the following remarks on opium
cultivation in Western Malwa, for which I am indebted to my brother,
Andrew Hosie, C.M., M.D., Army Medical Staff, Mhow:--

“Opium cultivation in Western Malwa is carried on entirely by the
subjects of the native princes who rule in this part of India. The
seasons in Malwa are three, the hot, the rainy, and the cold; the hot
prevailing from the middle of March to the middle of June, the rainy
from the middle of June to the end of September, and the cold from that
onwards to the middle of March. The average rainfall is about thirty
inches, and the extremes of heat and cold experienced in Northern
India are wanting in this region. The soil is of the cotton variety,
resting on disintegrating trap rock. It is well watered by numerous
small streams, which ultimately find their way into the Jumna. Along
the banks of these streams, towards the end of the rainy season, the
industrious ryot and his family set about preparing the fields for
the poppy planting. They are first carefully manured with the village
refuse, ploughed and rolled after a most primitive fashion, and then
divided into rectangular plots about five feet by four, with a raised
border of earth some four inches high all round. These plots are so
arranged as to allow of their being watered with the greatest facility
from the stream or wells in the immediate vicinity. The seed having
been sown in the plots, the watering commences, the poppy, like the
sugar cane, being one of the thirstiest of plants. Morning and evening,
the ryot with his bullocks may be seen at the wells dragging up the
big skins of water, which is run by a series of gutters into the plots
all over the thirsty fields. This watering is carried out every third
day. The seeds having germinated and reached a few inches in height,
the superfluous plants are carefully weeded out, leaving ample space
for every individual plant remaining. About the beginning of January
they burst into beautiful red and white flowers, and the odour of the
poppy pervades the land. Towards the end of February, when the petals
begin to fall, and the capsules are still unripe and filled with milky
juice, the collection of the crop begins. In the evening, the opium
collector goes round and with a sharp knife scarifies each capsule on
one side in three parallel perpendicular cuts. He is careful that these
cuts are only superficial, for, if they penetrated into the interior
of the capsule, a loss of opium would take place and the oil-bearing
seed be spoiled. Next morning the collector goes round and collects
the tears of opium which have exuded during the night; these, as he
collects them, he either places in the palm of his hand or in a small
flat dish. The morning collection having been made, it is placed in an
earthenware vessel containing linseed oil. After this the process of
scratching and collecting is repeated three times on opposite sides of
the same capsule. It takes about a month to collect the whole crop.
Here the ryot’s dealing with the opium ends; it is conveyed to the
opium merchants at such centres as Indore, the capital of the Maharajah
Holkar, where it is made up for exportation.

“Malwa opium is found in many varieties, the principal of which are
flat circular cakes of about 4 to 8 and 16 ounces in weight, without
any external covering, soft blackish brown, with a heavy odour, and
pungent, bitter taste. Another variety occurs in balls about 10
ounces in weight, covered with broken poppy petals, dry, hard, and
brittle, and of a reddish colour. The yield of morphia--the true test
of quality--varies from 3 to 8 per cent., a very good percentage, so
that Malwa opium is looked upon in the medical world as being a very
reliable drug.

“After the opium crop has been obtained, the capsules are collected,
crushed, and the seed gathered. From this a yellowish oil is extracted,
much used by the natives for burning and cooking purposes. The seeds
themselves have no narcotic properties, and enter into the ingredients
of curries, and in some parts a sort of bread is made from them.

“Opium in its crude form is largely consumed by the cultivators
themselves, but not, as far as I am aware, to much excess. I have often
asked why they took it, and the answer has invariably been that it made
them feel happy, and that they were only by it able to do their day’s
work.

“Opium has been called the gift of God to man, and its many uses in
alleviating human suffering justify the expression; but the miserable
wrecks of humanity one sees from its abuse remind one forcibly how a
good may be turned to an evil, a blessing to a curse.

“Mhow, May 8, 1889.”




INDEX.


  _Abutilon avicennae_, 22, 169

  Agencies at Ch’ung-k’ing, Mercantile, 213

  Agents at Ch’ung-king, British, 217

  Agriculture in Yün-nan, 205

  _Alba cera_, 189

  _Aleurites cordata_, 18

  Alien races, 123

  Alpenstocks, Buddhist, 176

  Amherst pheasants, 134

  Ammunition, Stone, 66;
    Phö, 227

  Andrew, Mr. George, 134

  Anhui, 190

  Aniline dyes, 83

  Animals, Chinese cruelty to, 44, 64

  An-ning Chou, 56, 140, 143

  An-ning River, 110, 111, 114, 116, 191, 192, 195

  An-pien, 185

  An-p’ing Hsien, 37, 38

  An-shun Fu, 35, 38, 39, 40

  Aquatic plants, 17

  _Arachis hypogæa_, 83

  Arbre, Memoire sur la cire d’, 189

  Archways, Memorial, 39, 45, 71, 84

  Armadillo skins, 91

  _Arum aquaticum_, 163

  Asbestos cloth, 106

  Ash, 170, 197

  _Atlas Sinensis, Novus_, 189


  Baber, Mr., 70, 104, 105, 112, 113, 127, 133, 134, 140, 172,
          190, 191, 192

  Bamboo, 22, 27, 73, 82, 84, 88, 89, 160, 163, 165, 167;
    hats, 44;
    paper, 19

  Bangles, 38

  Banyan, 22, 72, 82, 163, 171, 184

  Bark paper, 153

  Barley, 16, 36, 37, 40, 50, 59

  Barrow, Chinese, 89

  _Batatas edulis_, 169

  Beads, 124, 136

  Bean-curd, 68;
    bean-sauce, 169

  Beans, 12, 22, 25, 37, 68, 71, 72, 82, 113, 115, 125, 126, 141,
          149, 163, 165, 167, 172

  Bedroom, Description of a Chinese, 81

  Beech, 88

  Bees, 110

  Bees’ wax, 136

  Beetle, Wax insect, 193, 197

  Beggars, 40, 85, 91, 172, 175

  Bells of pack-animals, 67

  Bhamo, 55, 139, 204, 205

  Birthday, Queen’s, 51

  Blakiston, Captain, 8, 16

  Blue Books, 217

  _Boehmeria nivea_, 73

  Botanist’s paradise, A, 135

  Bracelets, 230

  _Brachytarsus_, 193, 194

  Bracken, 37, 72

  Bramble, 129

  Brick tea, 93, 95, 209;
    its picking, value and carriage, 93-95;
    carriers, 20, 94, 99;
    preparation, 93;
    Russian, 95;
    standard of sale, 94;
    three qualities of brick tea, 94;
    transport, 94, 209

  Bridges, 48, 62, 67, 84, 90, 91, 93, 97, 143, 152, 153, 158,
          166, 167, 177, 181;
    floating, 93;
    natural, 48, 62, 154;
    plank, 9;
    suspension, 67

  Bristles, Pigs’, 90

  Brius, 125

  Bronze pagodas, 174, 175;
    temple, 174

  Brooches, 96, 230

  Broumton, Mr., 226

  _Broussonetia papyrifera_, 153

  Buckwheat, 45, 48, 59, 149, 169

  Buddha, 171, 175

  Buddha, Glory of, 162, 174-175, 177

  Buddha’s hand, 32;
    tree, 100

  Buddhist alpenstocks, 176;
    priests, 172, 175;
    temples, 173, 175

  Buffalo, White wax, 193

  Buffaloes, 37, 124

  Bugs, 151

  Burmah, 34, 56, 138, 145, 157, 296;
    Upper, 138, 203;
    trade with China, 125, 139, 145


  Cactus, 43, 100, 128

  Caindu, 112, 122

  Cakes, Insect-wax, 191

  Cakes, Poppy-seed, 37

  Camel, 140

  _Camellia thea_, 56

  Canals, Irrigating, 88, 171

  Candles, Wax, 191

  Cane-brakes, 82

  Canton, 31, 86, 144, 204, 205;
    Canton peddlers, 139;
    Canton province, 142;
    Canton River, 41

  Carajan, Western, 129, 130

  Caravan, 14, 67, 68, 70, 142, 148, 149, 162, 179, 183

  Carcases of pack-animals, 64

  Carp, 137

  _Carthamus tinctorius_, 83

  Carts, 32, 46, 55, 66, 121, 149

  Cash currency, 15

  Cassia, 113

  Catastrophe, A mining, 154

  Cave dwellings, 168, 170;
    exploring, 47;
    limestone, 40, 154;
    Man-tzŭ caves, 168;
    of the spirits, 42

  Cement, A natural, 165

  Central Provinces of China, 160, 222

  Cereals:--
    Barley, 16, 36, 40, 50, 59
    Buckwheat, 45, 48, 59, 149, 169
    Indian corn, or maize, 68, 113, 149, 163, 172
    Millet, 163
    Oats, 45, 47, 48, 59, 149
    Rice, 15, 36, 68, 113, 163, 224
    Wheat, 12, 22, 25, 36, 37, 40, 46, 50, 59, 71, 82, 99,
          113, 115, 128, 141, 147, 149

  Chair coolies, 14;
    Hongs, 15

  Chambers of Commerce:--Bengal, 221;
    Manchester, 202;
    Shanghai, 190, 217

  Ch’ang--a Chinese measure of distance, 101

  Chan-i Chou, 40, 50, 51, 145, 147

  Chan-i-Chou Plain, 147, 148-149

  Chanseaume, Père, 189

  Chao-t’ung Fu, 65, 145, 155, 222;
    Lake, 65;
    Plain, 65, 66, 152, 222

  Ch’ao Chou, 140

  Chao-chou Fu, 142

  Charcoal, 78, 84

  Chefoo Agreement, 2, 8, 210, 211, 212, 216

  Chê-kiang, 73, 190, 287

  Chên-nan Chou, 140

  Chên-ning Chou, 40, 41

  Ch’êng Hai, 125

  Ch’êng-tu Fu, 70, 85-87, 89, 92, 144

  Ch’êng-tu Plain, 84, 88

  Ch’i-chiang Hsien, 19, 20, 21, 22

  Ch’i-chiang River, 20, 24, 208

  Ch’i-hsing River, 153;
    Bridge, 153

  Chi-kan-shih, 186

  Chia-ling River, 12, 71, 162, 163, 164, 168, 208, 209

  Chiang-ti, 64, 65

  Chia-ting Fu, 21, 87, 101, 102, 162, 170, 177, 178, 193,
          194, 195, 196, 197

  Chien-ch’ang, 70, 87, 99, 102, 111, 112, 192, 193, 195, 196;
    Valley, 115, 140, 192, 194, 195, 197, 200, 209

  Chien Chou, 83;
    Plain, 83, 84

  Chien-wei Hsien, 195

  “Chih Yün-nan K’u,” 46

  Chihli, 85, 190

  Ch’ih-shui Hsün, 156

  Ch’ih-shui River, 28, 155, 208

  Chimneyless houses, 51, 52

  Chin-chi Pass, 92

  Chin Chiang, 111, 124, 126, 184, 204

  Chin-chiang-kai, 126, 127

  Chin-sha Chiang, 69, 204

  Chin-yin-shan, 154

  China, Commercial Metropolis of, 13;
    grass, 163;
    Inland Mission, 55, 144, 226;
    “Nouvelle Rélation de la Chine,” 189;
    Old Commercial Highway in, 31;
    root, 106;
    South Western, 57, 203, 224;
    trade, 203;
    Western, 1, 2, 8, 57, 60, 76, 87, 95, 111, 114, 117, 139,
          143, 145, 171, 190, 201, 203, 210, 212, 216, 217, 220,
          221, 223, 224, 225, 287.

  Ch’ing-chên Hsien, 36, 37

  Ch’ing-ch’i Hsien, 98-99

  Ching-liu River, 167

  Ch’ing-lung Hai, 141

  Ching-mu tree, 88

  Ching-shui River, 180

  Ch’ing T’an Rapid, Descent of the, 9-11

  Chiu-ya-p’ing, 124

  Chiung Chou, 90, 91, 92, 93

  Chou-pa-ch’ang, 180, 181

  Ch’u-hsiung Fu, 142

  Ch’ung-k’ing, 2, 8, 9, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 22, 31, 51,
          69, 70, 71, 72, 134, 135, 142, 145, 156, 158, 160,
          162, 168, 178, 185, 187, 188, 193, 195, 209, 212,
          213, 214, 215, 216, 217,218, 219, 220, 222, 226

  Ch’ung-shu (or “Insect Tree”), 192

  Ch’ung-tu-ch’ang, 183, 184

  _Citrus sacrodactylus_, 100

  Civility, Chinese, 48

  Civil War, Ravages of, 38, 127-128, 145, 205

  Clays, Coloured, 150

  Coal, 6, 16, 24, 28, 36, 42, 44, 48, 65, 72, 75, 83, 95, 97,
          122, 150, 152, 157, 163, 166, 207, 220;
    dust as fuel, 29

  _Coccus pe-la_, 193, 194, 199

  Cocoons, 21, 193

  Coir, 8, 175

  Colquhoun, Mr., 55, 203, 221

  Commerce, Bengal Chamber of, 221;
    Manchester Chamber of, 202;
    Shanghai Chamber of, 190, 217

  Commissioner, Financial, 154

  Competitive Examinations in China, 147-148

  “_Comptes Rendus_,” 189

  Confucius, 90

  Conservative character of the Chinese, 212

  Consular Officer at Ch’ung-k’ing, 2, 13

  Contempt for foreigners, Chinese official, 53

  Copper, 24, 49, 60, 96, 102, 113, 119, 120, 152, 154, 205, 207, 221

  _Coptis teeta_, 95

  Cormorant fishing, 110

  Cotton, 76, 89, 100, 102, 113, 126, 160, 164, 166, 169, 209, 222;
    foreign cottons, 34, 160, 209;
    native cottons, 64, 76, 160, 209

  “Country of the Golden Teeth,” 138

  Courtesy, 134;
    marked Chinese, 142

  “Crackling-flea Tree,” 192

  Crampoons, 97

  Cucumbers, 167

  _Cudrania triloba_, 21, 169

  Customs, Chinese Imperial Maritime, 200

  Cypress, 22, 84


  Date tree, 100

  Davenport, Mr., 140

  Dawson, Lieutenant, 217

  Deers’ horns, 91

  Defences, Native, 66

  Degrees, Chinese, 148

  Deity, A roadside, 157

  Devotees, 42

  Dice, 72

  Diet, Chinese, 20

  Dinner, A sumptuous, 52

  Discomforts of travel, 15, 39, 61, 63, 64, 114, 118, 128,
          141, 149, 163, 180, 182, 183, 184, 225

  Dog, Tribute to my, 52

  Dogs, Tibetan, 134

  “Dragon-Prince” temple, 41

  Duck, Wild, 53, 141, 144, 166

  Dyes, 83, 96, 113

  Dysentery, 188


  Ear-rings, 38, 39, 96, 124, 230

  Earthquake in the Plain of Chien-ch’ang, 112

  Eastern export, Chief articles of, 208

  Eldorado, A Chinese, 115

  Entomology, Chinese, 194

  Erh Hai, 129, 132

  Escorts, 33, 37, 41, 48, 53, 98, 107, 109, 143, 177, 179, 181, 183

  “Eternal Peace” Bridge, 65

  Ethnology of non-Chinese races, 225

  Europe, 208

  Evaporation (salt) sheds, 78

  “Evergreen Tree,” 192

  Examinations in China, Competitive, 147-148

  Exchange in China, 15

  Expedition (1861), Upper Yang-tsze, 184, 220


  Fair at Ta-li Fu, 134, 230

  Fan palm, 163, 167

  Fans, 73

  Father, A sporting French Missionary, 60-61

  _Fatsia papyrifera_, 22

  Feathers, Novel use of, 72

  Fêng-tu Hsien, 209

  Ferry-boats, 156

  Fever, 108, 128, 177, 179, 180

  Financial Commissioner of Yün-nan, 154

  Fir, 22, 44, 88, 128, 163, 166, 167, 180

  Fire-wells, 80

  Fish, 17, 53, 66, 137, 168

  Fishing in the Yang-tsze, Method of, 18

  Floating bridge, 93

  “Flying Dragon” Pass, 95

  Folklore, 139

  Food of the Chinese, Daily, 15

  Fording a torrent, 62

  Foreign Office, 161, 190, 191

  Fortune, R., 190

  Fossils, 43

  France, 208, 212

  _Fraxinus Chinensis_, 169, 197

  French Bishop, 55;
    Commission, 130;
    Consul, 50;
    hospitality, 60-61, 124;
    the French in Tonquin, 2

  Friar’s Balsam, 92

  Frogs, Bull, 166

  Fruit trees, 116;
    Wild, 110

  Fruits:--date, 94, 100;
    melons, 163, 167;
    orange, 94;
    orange groves, 84, 163;
    pear, 94, 100, 116;
    strawberry, 22;
    walnut, 149

  Fu Chiang River, 164

  Fu Chou, 31, 209

  Fu-kuan-ts’un, 185

  Fu-lin, 100

  Fu-lu-ch’ang, 178

  Fu-shun Hsien, 76

  Fu t’ou-kuan, 12, 24, 163

  Fuel, Coal-dust, 29

  Fuhkien, 190, 201


  Gall-nuts, 31

  Geese, 144

  Gill, Captain, 8, 190

  Gingalls, 178

  Ginger, 163

  Ginseng, 176

  Glory of Buddha, 162, 174-175, 177

  Goats, 59, 123, 124

  Goître, 49, 52, 115, 116

  Gold, 154

  Gold-silver-Mountain, 154

  “Golden River” (Chin-Chiang), 111, 126, 184, 191, 192

  “Golden Summit,” 174, 175

  “Golden Teeth,” Country of the, 138

  Gorges of the Yang-tsze, 7, 8, 9, 30, 214, 215, 217

  Governor-Generals, or Viceroys, in China, 85

  Governor of Kuei-chow, 33

  Graduates, Chinese, 148

  “Granary” Gorge, 9

  Granite, 29;
    granite foundations of houses, 126

  Grass, China, 163;
    cloth, 73, 75, 164, 169;
    plains, 37, 43

  Gravestones, 129

  Great Khan, The, 1

  Great River (Upper Yang-tsze), The, 16, 71, 207

  Great Wall, The, 44

  Greed, Chinese, 44

  Grooves, Trade, 212

  Grosvenor Mission, 57, 68, 134, 140

  Ground-nuts, 83, 169;
    ground-nut oil, 83

  Guard-houses, 33, 107, 108, 109

  Guerilla warfare against the Lolos, 181


  Hailstorm, Terrific, 36, 116

  Hainan, 190

  Hai-t’ang, 104, 106

  Hallett, Mr., 203

  Han Dynasty, Minor, 81

  Hanbury, Daniel, 190

  Hang-chou, 118, 119, 120;
    Valley, 119

  Hankow, 2, 3, 11, 34, 95, 173, 206, 211, 212, 218, 219

  Harpies, Official, 85

  Hats, Bamboo, 44;
    Straw, 142

  Hawthorn, 155

  Heads, Exposed, 58

  “Heaven-born-bridge,” 154

  “Heaven’s Bridge,” 154

  Hei (or Black) Miao, 226

  Hei-wu Hai-tzŭ, 125

  Hemp, 22, 68, 163, 169;
    hempen clothes, 152

  Hêng River, 67, 68, 158, 160, 185, 204

  Hides, 208

  Highwaymen’s punishment, 58

  Ho-chiang Hsien, 156

  Ho Chou, 162, 163, 164, 166;
    Plain, 164

  Ho-hsi, 116

  Ho-pei Hsün, 156

  Ho-pien Hsün, 117

  Hodgson, Mr., 105

  Hogs’ tusks, 124

  Holkar, The Maharajah, 289

  Honeysuckle, 22

  Hooker, Sir Joseph, 191

  Horse-boy’s death, 188

  Horse-pistol, 139, 187

  Horses, 38

  Hosie, Dr., 288

  Hou-p’o, The drug, 95

  Hsi Chiang (or West River), 204

  Hsi-tsang, 130

  Hsia-kuan, 136, 138, 139

  Hsiao Hsiang Ling Pass, 108, 109

  Hsiao-kuan, 97

  Hsiao-shao, 108, 109

  Hsin-ching Hsien, 89, 90

  Hsin-p’ai-fang, 71

  Hsing-lung-ch’ang, 167

  Hsü-chou Fu (or Sui Fu), 9, 57, 67, 69, 155, 160, 162,
          185, 187, 188, 220

  Hsü-yung T’ing, 155, 158

  Hsüan-wei Chou, 150, 151

  Hsüeh-shan range, 156, 157

  Hua (or Coloured) Miao, 228

  Hu-kwang, 189

  Huang-chia-p’ing, 128

  Huang-kuo-shu, 41

  Huang-lien, The drug, 95

  Huang-ni-p’u, 97, 98

  Huang-sha, 198

  Huang-shui-k’ou, 68

  Hui-li Chou, 114

  Hui-lung-ch’ang, 124

  Hunan, 28, 35, 40, 189, 190;
    braves, 181

  Hŭng River, 67

  Hupeh, 28, 189, 209


  Ichang, 2, 3, 4, 5, 8, 9, 11, 18, 210, 211, 212, 213, 214,
          215, 217, 218, 219

  I-li River, 60

  Immigrants, Chinese, 28, 145, 207

  Imperial Palace, Tea for the, 93

  Indian Corn, or maize, 68, 113, 149, 163, 172

  Indian Empire, 2, 140, 203, 204;
    Opium cultivation in Western Malwa, India, 288-290

  Indigo, 163

  Indore, 289

  Inns, 85, 92, 97, 104, 106, 113, 139, 142, 149, 180, 184, 185;
    poetical description of, 25

  Inquisitiveness, Chinese, 34, 52, 141, 150

  Insect White Wax:--35, 102, 114, 120, 141, 161, 170, 195, 261;
    tree, 169, 170, 171, 178, 191, 192;
    culture, trees, insects, uses and value, 189-201

  Inventiveness, Chinese, 96

  Iron, 24, 31, 95, 97, 113, 121, 150, 166, 174, 207;
    bridges, 30-31;
    pans, 24, 89, 97

  Irrawaddy, River, 204

  Irrigation, Ingenious, 26, 121


  Jên-huai River, 208

  Julien, Stanislaus, 189

  Jumna, River, 288

  _Juncus effusus_, 92

  Jung-ch’ang Hsien, 72, 75, 167

  Jung-ching Hsien, 93, 97

  Jung-ching River, 97


  Ka-tou tribe, 228;
    tongue, 229

  Kan-shui, 24

  Kao-ch’iao, 144

  Kao-shan-p’u, 156

  Keppel, Admiral, 217

  Kerosene oil, 200

  Kew, Royal Gardens at, 161, 192, 193

  Khan, The Great, 1

  Ki--a musical instrument of the Phö, 231

  Kilts, Miao-tzŭ, 24, 230

  K’o-tu River, 151, 152

  Ku-lu River, 27

  Ku-tsung tribe, 130, 134, 224

  Ku-yü tea, 93-94

  Kuan-ai Customs barrier, 31

  Kuan-tzŭ-yao, 45

  Kuang-t’ung Hsien, 140

  Kuei-chow, 2, 14, 16, 19, 20, 21, 22, 24, 28, 31, 32,
          39, 40, 41, 45, 48, 59, 76, 94, 96, 115, 145,
          150, 151, 152, 153, 155, 156, 160, 190, 203, 206,
          207, 219, 220, 221, 222, 224, 226, 227, 228

  K’uei-chow Fu (K’uei Fu), 209, 214, 217, 220

  Kuei-yang Fu, 32, 33, 34, 36, 44, 145, 147, 207, 226

  K’un ming Hsien, 56, 155

  K’un-ming Lake, 56

  Kuang-t’an River, 31, 208

  Kuo-chin-ch’ang, 142

  Kwang-si, 43, 49, 189, 203


  La-kou, 198

  La-sha, 198

  Lai-yuan-p’u, 149, 150

  Lakes:--Chao-t’ung 65;
    Ching-lung, 141;
    Sung-ming, 53;
    Yün-nan, 53, 56;
    Lake of the Black Mist, 125

  Lan-ma-lu, 157

  Lan-tsang River, 139

  Lang-t’ai T’ing, 41, 42

  Lang-wang-shan, 42

  Lao-chün-tung, Temple of, 16

  Lao-wa-t’an or Lao-ya-t’an, 67, 68

  Lead, 50, 64, 152, 205

  Leguilcher, Père, 130, 142

  “Leather” paper, wrongly called, 153

  “_Lettres Edificantes_,” 189

  Li--a Chinese measure of distance, 156

  Li-chiang Fu, 130, 221

  Li-su--a Man-tzŭ tribe, 124

  Liang-shui-ching, 63

  Licentiates, Chinese, 148

  Lien-ch’ien-tzŭ, 160

  Life-boats, 10

  _Ligustrum lucidum_, 121, 192, 193, 194, 195, 199

  Likin, 213, 216, 219

  Limestone, 16, 28, 48, 151, 163, 166

  “Lion’s Bridge,” 75

  Lions, Stone, 45

  Little, Mr., 8

  Liu-sha River, 100

  Lolos, 55, 59, 66, 102, 103, 104, 105, 106, 108, 110, 123,
          162, 179, 181, 182, 224, 225, 230;
    a Chinese army destroyed by the, 107;
    deputation of, 123;
    dress of the, 106, 110;
    frequent raids of the, 107;
    ornaments of the, 107;
    weapons of the, 104

  London, 148

  Looms, 89, 164

  Lu Chou, 20, 72, 154, 155, 158, 160

  Lu-fêng Hsien, 140, 143

  Lu-fêng Bridge, 143

  Lu-fêng Plain, 143

  Lu-ku, 110, 115

  Lumber, 164

  Lung-ch’ang Hsien, 75

  Lung-ch’ang, Mines near, 75

  Lung-tung, 99


  Ma, Imperialist Commander, 133

  Ma-kai, 50

  Ma-lung Chou, 51, 52

  Ma-pien River, 180, 181

  Ma-pien Ting, 177, 180, 181, 182

  Magalhaes, Gabriel de, 189

  _Magnolia sp._, 95

  Maize (or Indian corn), 68, 113, 149, 163, 172

  Malwa, Western, 288

  Man-i-ssŭ, 184

  Man-tzŭ, 122, 130, 179, 225, 226;
    caves, 168;
    ornaments, 124;
    tribes, 123, 124;
    turbans, 124;
    women, 123-124

  Manchester Chamber of Commerce, 202

  Manuring, A new method of, 45

  Mao-chien tea, 94

  Mao-k’ou, 43;
    River, 43

  Marble quarries, 134, 135, 148

  March, A forced, 182

  Margary, A. R., 34, 47, 57, 140

  Maritime Customs, Chinese Imperial, 200

  Market-towns, 21, 71

  Martini, 189

  Marvellous, Fact mixed with the, 161

  McLachlan, Mr., 193

  Medicines, 91, 92, 113, 117, 164, 176, 208;
    Chinese distrust of foreign, 92

  Mekong, 139, 204

  Melons, 163, 167

  Memorial portals, 71

  “Memoire sur la cire d’arbre,” 189

  Mêng-shan Hills, 93

  Mêng-tzŭ Hsien, 50, 142

  Mesny, Mr., 144

  Metals:--copper, 24, 49, 60, 96, 102, 113, 119, 120, 152,
          154, 205, 207, 221;
    gold, 154;
    iron, 24, 31, 95, 97, 113, 121, 150, 166, 174, 207;
    lead, 50, 64, 152, 205;
    quicksilver, 207;
    silver, 15, 151, 152, 154;
    tin, 66, 142, 205;
    zinc, 113

  Metamorphosis, Wax insect, 190, 199

  Mhow, 288

  Mi-tsang (or “Granary”) Gorge, 9, 214

  Miao, Hei (or black), 226

  Miao, Hua (or coloured), 228

  Miao-tzŭ, 24, 28, 29, 32, 37, 38, 152, 206, 224, 227, 228,
          229, 230;
    dress, 152, 230;
    ornaments, 230

  Mien-hua-ti, 124

  Mien-shan, 110

  Mien-tien, 51

  Millet, 163, 169, 172

  Mills, Water, 88

  Min River, 69, 76, 87, 89, 91, 101, 102, 162, 168, 169, 170,
          174, 196, 208

  Min-chia tribe, 130;
    maidens, 136

  Ming Dynasty, 112, 174

  Ming-shan District, 92

  Ming-shan Hsien, 91, 92, 93

  Mining in China, 75, 154, 205

  Missionaries and Mission Stations:--55, 60, 113, 124, 130,
          134, 142, 143, 144, 190, 226;
    Les Missions Etrangères de Paris, 55;
    China Inland Mission, 55, 144, 226

  Mo-ni-ch’ang, 157

  Mohammedan Rebellion, 54, 125, 127, 132, 205;
    cemetery, 71, 130;
    leader, Tu Wên-hsiu, 133

  Mohammedans, 55, 134

  Monkeys, 176

  Morphia, 290

  Mu-kua-shao, 151

  Mulberry, 21, 22, 71, 100, 113, 114, 163, 165, 181

  Mules, 49, 96, 117

  Musical Instruments of the Phö, 230-231

  Musk, 117, 208;
    false, 136


  Na-ch’i-Hsien, 39, 160

  Nan-ching-kai, 104

  Nan Ho River, 91, 92

  Nan-k’ou Pass, 44

  Nan-kuang, 69;
    River, 67, 68, 158, 160, 208

  Nationalities, Different, 55

  “Natural Bridge,” 62, 154

  Nature, A child of, 157

  Nei-chiang Hsien, 168, 169

  New Year, The Chinese, 72

  Ni-tien-ch’ang, 181

  Ning-yuan Fu, 87, 96, 108, 111, 112, 113, 114, 115, 116, 117,
          118, 192;
    Lake of, 112;
    Plain, 110, 115

  Niu-êrh (or white wax beetle), 193

  Niu-lan River, 64, 65

  Non-Chinese Villages, 38

  Novel plan to prevent animal depredations, A, 72


  O-Mei Hsien, 170, 171, 177, 179

  O-mei, Mount, 162, 170, 172, 175, 196;
    Excursion to, 171-177;
    Plain, 178

  Oak, 28, 29, 30, 44, 125, 128, 140, 163, 167, 180

  Oats, 45, 47, 48, 59, 149

  Obstruction, Official, 177

  Octroi, 219

  Ohio, Petroleum used for street-lighting in, 79

  Open ports in China, 216

  Opium, 5, 6, 8, 11, 16, 17, 21, 29, 32, 39, 40, 41, 57, 83, 139,
          148, 157, 169, 185, 208, 213, 287;
    oil from opium capsules, 290;
    Note on opium cultivation in Western Malwa, India, 288-290

  Orange groves, 84, 163

  Originality, Chinese, 96

  Ornaments, Silver, 99, 110

  Otter-fishing, 168

  Oxen, 38


  _Pachyma cocos_, 106

  Pack-animals, Ornaments of, 135

  Paddy-land, 40, 72, 84, 163, 165, 166, 167, 169;
    planting, 58

  Pagodas, 84, 136, 164, 174, 175

  Pai-chang-ch’ang (or Pai-chang-yi), 91, 92

  Pai-chang valley, 91

  Pai-la-shu (or white wax tree), 197

  Pai-shui, 48, 49, 50;
    River, 41

  Pai-yen-ching, 115, 122;
    salt wells, 121-122

  Pai-yi (a Man-tzŭ tribe), 124

  Palace, Tea for the Imperial, 93

  Palm, 22, 163, 167;
    palm-coir, 175

  Pan-pien-ch’ing, 61

  Panorama, A magnificent, 129, 136

  Pans, Iron, 24, 79

  Pao-kê-ts’ao-shu, 192

  Paper, bamboo, 19;
    bark, 153;
    straw, 25;
    factories, 19

  Parasites, Soldier, 86

  Parliamentary Papers on China, 2;
    on Insect White Wax, 191

  Passports, 18

  Pear, Prickly, 117

  Pear trees, 94, 100, 116

  Pearls, 112, 113

  Peas, 12, 71, 82

  Peculation, Official, 49

  Peking, 29, 86, 93, 148, 154

  Pe-sê T’ing, 49, 204

  Petroleum, 79

  _Pharmaceutical Journal_, 190

  Pharmacopœia, The Chinese, 91

  Pheasants, 44;
    Amherst, 134, 141

  Phö:--224, 226-231;
    ammunition of the, 227;
    annual religious gathering of the, 230;
    dress of the, 230;
    language, 228-229;
    language and vocabularies, 231-285;
    language dying out, 227;
    music and dancing, 231;
    musical instruments, 230-231;
    ornaments of the, 230;
    struggle between the Chinese and the, 227;
    women, 231

  Pi-chi-kuan, 144

  Pi-chieh Hsien, 153, 154, 155

  Pictures on white marble, 135-136

  Pig, A familiar, 63

  Pigeons, 42

  Pilgrims, 170, 171, 175;
    at their devotions, 175

  Pilot, A river, 186

  Pines, 59, 82, 91, 110, 116, 119, 124, 125, 136, 140, 172, 173;
    boards, 102, 114;
    forests, 122, 175;
    sprouts, 114

  P’ing-i Hsien, 46, 47, 48

  P’ing-pa, 103

  P’ing-shan Hsien, 185, 220

  “Pinnacle Pagoda,” Blakiston’s, 16

  Pith paper, 22;
    plant, 22

  Pits, Clay, 150

  Plague, Yün-nan, 128

  P’o-kung, 41

  Polo, Marco, 112, 122, 126, 129

  Ponies, 39, 44, 49, 50, 51, 59, 61, 66, 86, 89, 96, 109, 117, 124

  Pony, The Yün-nan, 50

  Poppy, 11, 12, 16, 25, 27, 28, 32, 36, 37, 40, 46, 48, 59, 71, 84,
          99, 113, 115, 125, 126, 128, 129, 132, 141, 149, 155, 165,
          287, 288;
    extraction of the juice, 17

  Potatoes, 48, 51, 59, 149, 169, 175

  Poverty around Ch’ing-chên, 37

  Poverty and riches always hand in hand, 84

  Powder, Miao-tzŭ, 227

  Prayer, A dying patriot’s, 133

  Press, Native, 33

  Prince, The White, 138

  Prisoner, A distinguished, 89

  Privet, 116, 121, 192

  Proclamation, A Chinese, 154-155

  Provisions, Tinned, 16

  Public street-lighting in China, 200

  P’u-êrh Fu, 55, 56;
    tea, 56, 64, 66

  Pumelo, 22, 82

  “Pure soluble scarlet,” 83


  Quarters, Strange, 149

  Queen’s Birthday, The, 51, 149

  Quicksilver, 207


  Races, Non-Chinese, 224, 225

  Railways, 65, 146, 157

  Rain-coat incident, 58

  Rainstorm, A tremendous, 149

  Ramie fibre, 73

  Rape, 16, 37, 71, 82, 99;
    oil, 164

  Rapids, 8, 9, 11, 159, 180, 185, 187, 206, 214, 217, 218, 219, 220

  Rathouis, Père, 190

  Red River, The, 204

  Reed fences, 114

  Refuges, Stone, 38, 66

  Rest-houses, Official, 33

  Revenue, Board of, 155

  Review of Chinese troops, 134

  Revolver, Advantage of being armed with a, 119

  _Rhamnus sp._, 96

  Rhubarb, 208

  _Rhus vernicifera_, 164

  Rice, 15, 36, 68, 113, 123;
    broth, 184;
    fields, 17, 45, 58, 88, 163, 196, 224;
    hulling, 27, 88;
    mills, 88;
    paper, 22;
    paper manufacture, 23

  Richthofen, Baron von, 70, 90, 190

  Rings, 38, 230

  Riot at Hang-chou, 119

  Rivers, Underground, 48, 152

  Roads, 32, 140, 149, 183

  Rocks, Fortress-shaped, 82

  Romance in Chinese topographical names, 154

  Roofs, Chinese, 100

  Rose, Wild, 22

  Ruins in Kuei-chow, 29

  Rush wicks, 92


  Sacred Mountain of Western China, 95, 162, 170

  Safflower, 83, 113, 164

  Salt, 20, 39, 55, 64, 75, 76, 102, 115, 120, 121, 142, 144,
          153, 160, 164, 207, 208;
    brine, 80;
    carriers, 20;
    cones, 111, 122;
    currency, 122;
    evaporation, 121;
    Government control of, 79;
    granular, 79;
    junks, 160;
    pan, 79;
    wells, 75, 80, 84, 87, 121, 142, 144, 168, 170

  Salutes, Chinese, 45

  Salwen, River, 204

  Samaritan, A good, 182

  Sandals, Straw, 39, 92, 104

  Sandalwood, 171

  Sandstone, 48, 125

  _Sapium sebiferum_, 169

  Scales, Wax insect, 192, 193, 195, 197, 200

  School, A Chinese, 59

  Sentries, Chinese, 109

  Sericulture, 21, 170;
    Goddess of, 71

  Sha-shih, 3

  Shan States, 56, 157, 203;
    the Shans, 55, 130, 224

  Shan-hu-shu, 63, 64

  Shan-tung, 189

  Shang-kuan, 130, 136;
    Plain, 130

  Shanghai, 2, 24, 201, 205, 211, 212;
    Chamber of Commerce, 190, 217;
    native press, 33;
    papers, 143

  Shao-shang, 123

  Shê-hung Hsien, 73

  Shê-tz’ŭ, 142

  Sheep, 59, 124

  Shells, Fresh-water, 137

  Shên-ching-kuan, 45

  Shifting sands in the Yang-tsze, 3

  Shih-ch’i-ch’ang, 186

  Shuan-ma-ts’ao, 103

  Shuang-liu Hsien, 89

  Shui-p’ang-p’u, 141

  Shui-t’ang-p’u, 151;
    silver mine of, 151

  Shun-ching Fu, 83

  Shweli River, 204

  Sifans, 99, 101, 122, 222;
    reputed immorality, 102;
    language, 104-105;
    modesty of the, 103;
    ornaments, 99;
    probably Tibetans, 124;
    tribes, 102

  Signboards, Shop, 86

  Silk, 30, 68, 113, 165, 169, 208, 209, 220;
    embroidery, 230;
    weaving, 170

  Silkworm, 21;
    diet, 21;
    eggs, 21, 165

  Silver, 152, 154;
    ingots, 15;
    mine, 151, 152

  Sincerity, Chinese, 97

  _Sinensis, Novus Atlas_, 189

  Skiffs, 66

  Skins, Tiger and leopard, 134

  Snow, 48, 83, 84, 97, 104, 119, 129, 132, 137;
    storm, 107

  Soda, 125

  Songkoi River, 50, 56, 143, 204

  Songs, Boat, 7, 166

  _Sorghum vulgare_, 163

  Soup-kitchens, 85

  Soy, 164

  Spring, A fine water, 65

  Spirits, 164

  Ssŭ-ch’uan:--2, 3, 4, 11, 20, 28, 30, 31, 51, 61, 64, 67,
          68, 70, 76, 81, 106, 107, 116, 121, 123, 125, 145,
          155, 156, 157, 160, 161, 164, 167, 185, 190, 192,
          193, 200, 203, 204, 206, 207, 208, 210, 211, 212,
          213, 214, 215, 216, 219, 221, 222, 223, 224, 226;
    fertility of, 167;
    frontier, 9, 11;
    hemp, 169;
    import and export trade of, 213;
    people, 165-166;
    Plain, 84;
    products of, 164, 208;
    Viceroy of, 14;
    waterways, 208

  Stalactites, 47

  Statements unreliable, Chinese, 97, 183

  Steatite (or soapstone) ornaments, 201

  _Sterculia platanifolia_, 169

  _Stillingia sebifera_, 169

  Stockades, 108

  Stone tablets, 71

  Straw hats, 142;
    straw paper, 19;
    straw sandals, 39

  Strawberry, 22

  Suburbs, Absence of, 30

  Sugar, 76;
    factories, 75, 83;
    cane, 126, 169, 208

  Sui-fang tea, 94

  Sui Fu, _i.e._, Hsü-chou Fu, 9, 57, 67, 69, 155,
          160, 162, 185, 187, 188, 220

  Sultan at Ta-li-Fu, The so-called, 130, 133

  Summer drink, A Chinese, 137

  Sung-k’an, 25

  Sung-ming Lake, 53

  Superstition, 60, 98, 113

  Swallows, 166

  Sweet-briar, 129, 155

  Sweet oil, Poppy, 37

  Sweet potatoes, 169

  Sweet-tea, 172-173

  “Switzerland,” The Chinese, 206


  Ta-chien-lu, 94, 99, 100

  Ta-ch’ung River, 111, 191

  Ta-Hsiang-Ling Pass, 97, 99, 109;
    ascent of the, 98

  Ta-kuan River, 204, 208

  Ta-kuan T’ing, 67

  Ta-li Fu, 55, 70, 87, 114, 125, 128, 129, 130, 131,
          132, 137, 138, 139, 141, 142, 204, 205, 230;
    annual fair at, 134;
    Lake, 132, 134, 136, 137, 139, 140;
    marble quarries of, 135;
    Plain, 132, 136, 139;
    ruins at, 138;
    siege of, 133;
    the so-called “Sultan” at, 130, 133

  Ta-ping River, 204;
    Valley, 205

  Ta-shu-pao, 102

  Ta-tsu Hsien, 166, 167

  Ta-tu River, 100, 101, 103, 170, 171, 178, 196, 226

  Ta-wang-miao, 128, 129

  Taels, 4, 15

  Tallow tree, The, 169, 181

  “Tam O’ Shanters,” 110

  T’ang-t’ang, 151

  Tariff Import Duty, 210

  Taros, 163, 167

  Tartar garrisons, 86;
    quarter at Ch’êng-tu, 84

  Taxation of foreign goods, Grinding. 213, 216

  Tea:--Brick tea, 93, 95, 209;
    picking, value, and carriage of brick tea, 93-95;
    brick tea carriers, 20, 94, 99;
    preparation of brick tea, 93;
    Russian brick tea, 95;
    standard of sale of brick tea, 94;
    three qualities of brick tea, 94;
    tea for the Imperial palace, 93;
    tea-growing districts and plantations, 68, 93, 97, 166;
    tea hongs, 94, 95;
    P’u-êrh tea, 56, 64, 66;
    sweet tea, 172-173;
    Tibetan way of eating tea, 95

  Teal, 144

  Tê-ch’ang, 195

  Tei-li-pao, 117

  Temples, 15, 40, 41, 42, 71, 120, 156, 171, 172, 173, 174, 175;
    “Temple of a Myriad Ages,” 172;
    temple of the Goddess of Sericulture, 71

  Têng-hsiang, 109

  Theatrical performances, 72

  Thunderstorm, A terrible, 43

  Tibet, 20, 87, 93, 94, 99, 209;
    caravan, 117;
    criminal, 89;
    mountains, 126;
    ornaments, 96;
    pilgrims, 95;
    travellers, 89, 134;
    way of eating tea, 95

  T’ien-ch’iao, 154

  Tien Ch’ih Lake, 56

  T’ien-ch’üan Chou, 93

  T’ien-shêng-ch’iao, 154

  Tigers, 176;
    bones of, 91

  Tin, 66, 142, 205

  Ting-nan-pa, 182

  T’o River, 72, 76, 82, 83, 167, 168, 169, 208

  Tobacco, 68, 92, 142, 163, 164, 208

  Tonquin, 2, 50, 142, 203

  Torrents, Mountain, 47, 62

  Town, A deserted, 127-128

  Trackers, Boat, 7-8

  Transit, certificates, 210, 212, 213;
    duty, 210;
    pass system, 210;
    regulations, 212;
    trade, 210

  Travelling:--boat, 4, 5, 7;
    discomforts, 15, 39, 61, 63, 64, 114, 118, 128, 141,
          149, 163, 180, 182, 183, 184, 225;
    in China, 39

  Tree-planting, Ingenious plan for, 165

  Trees, Deeply embedded immense, 114

  Trial, A roadside, 143

  Tsang-shan range, 129, 132, 136, 137, 138;
    Marble quarries of the, 134

  Tsun-i Fu, 28, 29, 30

  Tu-kê-t’ang, 64

  Tu Wên-hsiu, The Mohammedan leader, 133

  Tung-ching-shu (or “Evergreen Tree”), 192

  Tung-ch’uan Fu, 49, 59, 60, 64, 145, 155

  Tung-ch’uan Plain, 61, 222

  Tung-kai-ch’ang, 178

  T’ung-liang Hsien, 166

  T’ung-ma, 169

  T’ung River, 170

  Tung-t’ing Lake, 34, 206

  T’ung-tzŭ Hsien, 21, 26;
    valley, 26, 28;
    tunnelling on the T’ung-tzŭ River, 28;
    inundations, 28

  Turbans, Man-tzŭ, 124;
    Miao-tzŭ, 24, 230;
    Sifan, 102

  Typhoid fever, 177

  Tzŭ Chou, 82, 83

  Tzŭ-chu-p’ing, 178, 179

  Tzŭ-liu-ching 75, 76;
    salt wells, 76-81, 87, 160, 168

  Tz’ŭ-yang Hsien, 83


  Underground Rivers, 48, 152

  “Upper Fortress” (Shang-kuan), 130

  Upper Yang-tsze Expedition (1861), The, 184, 220


  Varnish tree, The, 164-165

  Vegetables, 164

  _Viburnum phlebotrichum_, 173

  Viceroys, or Governor-Generals, in China, 85

  Vinçot, Père, 143

  Vocabulary, English-Phö, 273-285


  Wa-wa, 100, 101

  Wade, Sir Thomas, 105, 227

  Wahab, Mr., 55

  Walnut trees, 149

  Wan Hsien, 11, 209

  Wan-nien-ssŭ, Temple of, 172, 173

  Wan-wan T’an, 187

  Wang-shan Temple, 42

  Watch-towers, 66, 180

  Water, Chinese abhorrence of cold, 137

  Watercress, 100

  Waterfall, Pai-shui, 41

  Waterproof coat, A bearer and his, 58

  Water-wheels, 26, 96

  Wax, Insect White, 35, 102, 114, 120, 141, 161, 170, 195, 261;
    tree, 169, 170, 171, 178, 191, 192;
    culture, trees, insects, uses, and value, 189-201

  Weapons of the Lolos, 104

  Wei-ning Chou, 152, 153, 154;
    Lake, 152;
    Plain, 152

  Weights in China, 15

  Wênchow, 287

  “West of the River” (Ho-hsi), 116

  West River (Canton River), 41, 43, 49, 50, 56, 144, 150, 204, 205

  Westwood, 193

  Wheat, 12, 22, 25, 36, 37, 40, 46, 47, 50, 59, 71, 82, 99, 113, 115,
          128, 141, 147, 149;
    mills, 88;
    planting and tillering, 22

  Whirlpools, 257

  “White Prince,” The, 138

  White wax, Insect, 35, 102, 114, 120, 141, 161, 170, 195, 261;
    tree, 169, 170, 171, 178, 191, 192;
    culture, trees, insects, uses, and value, 189-201

  “Winding Rapid,” The, 187

  Wood-oil tree, 18, 21, 72, 163, 167, 169, 181, 197

  Woollen goods, 209

  Wu Chiang River, 30, 31, 32, 37, 153;
    suspension bridge, 30, 31

  Wuhu, 2


  Ya-an Hsien, 93

  Ya-chou Fu, 87, 92, 93, 94, 95, 96

  Ya Ho (River), 91, 92, 93, 95, 101, 170, 171

  Ya-lung River, 111, 116, 117, 118, 191

  Ya-pien-yen (Opium), 11

  Yang-lin, 53, 57, 58, 59

  Yang-tsze River, 2, 3, 4, 8, 11, 12, 16, 18, 20, 31,
          33, 39, 49, 56, 57, 59, 60, 64, 68, 69, 71, 73,
          76, 102, 111, 140, 144, 145, 150, 153, 155, 156,
          158, 160, 162, 163, 166, 169, 177, 178, 181, 182,
          184, 185, 191, 201, 204, 205, 206, 207, 208, 209,
          213, 214, 215, 216, 217, 218, 220, 221, 222;
    Head waters of the, 124;
    Upper Yang-tsze Expedition (1861), 184, 220;
    Upper Yang-tsze Steam Navigation Co., 9

  Yarn, Cotton, 89

  Year, The China New, 72

  Yen-yuan Hsien, 114, 115, 120

  Yuan River, 34, 206;
    rapids on, 206

  Yüeh-hsi Plain, 107

  Yüeh-hsi T’ing, 107

  Yün-nan, 2, 14, 15, 20, 28, 31, 33, 35, 40, 41, 44, 45, 46,
          48, 49, 50, 53, 55, 56, 57, 59, 70, 76, 87, 91, 96,
          97, 99, 106, 108, 114, 120, 122, 123, 125, 134, 135,
          142, 145, 146, 147, 151, 152, 154, 156, 157, 160, 185,
          191, 203, 204, 206, 207, 219, 220, 221, 224, 226;
    population, 205

  Yün-nan Fu, 53, 54, 56, 57, 67, 114, 134, 139, 140, 142, 145,
          153, 156, 205;
    Lake, 53, 144;
    Plain, 60

  Yün-nan-yi, 141

  Yün-yang Hsien, 12

  Yung-ch’uan Hsien, 72, 73

  Yung-ning Hsien, 153, 158, 160

  Yung-ning River, 39, 145, 153, 155, 158, 159, 160, 208;
    descent of, 158-159;
    its importance as a trade route, 160

  Yung-pei T’ing, 87, 124, 126, 205;
    Plain, 125, 126


  Zinc, 113

[Illustration: SKETCH MAP

OF

SOUTH WESTERN CHINA

To illustrate the journeys of

ALEXANDER HOSIE, H.B.M. CONSULAR SERVICE, CHINA.]


GEORGE PHILIP AND SON, PRINTERS, LONDON AND LIVERPOOL.




       *       *       *       *       *




Transcriber's Note


In the section EXERCISES IN THE PHÖ LANGUAGE, the lists of single words
were printed on facing pages. Duplicate headings have been removed from
the text.


The following apparent errors have been corrected:

p. vi "C’hung-k’ing" changed to "Ch’ung-k’ing"

p. xx "Tient-sin" changed to "Tien-tsin"

p. 11 "aquaintance" changed to "acquaintance"

p. 35 "courtesey" changed to "courtesy"

p. 40 "aquaintance" changed to "acquaintance"

p. 45 "_THE YUN-NAN FRONTIER._" changed to "_THE YÜN-NAN FRONTIER._"

p. 83 "hypogœa" changed to "hypogæa"

p. 91 "their is" changed to "there is"

p. 140 "may seen" changed to "may seem"

p. 147 "Yün-nan--Kuei-chow" changed to "Yün-nan-Kuei-chow"

p. 161 "Omei" changed to "O-mei"

p. 169 "_Cudrania triloba Hance_" changed to "_Cudrania triloba, Hance_"

p. 173 "tea-leaf" changed to "tea-leaf."

p. 182 "in need" changed to "in need."

p. 195 "27° 24′" changed to "27° 24′."

p. 211 "£750,000!" changed to "£750,000;"

p. 241 "1. Pang." changed to "1.--Pang."

p. 241 "2. ‘Hei" changed to "2.--‘Hei"

p. 242 "7--To look" changed to "7.--To look"

p. 243 "Li" changed to "Li."

p. 243 "Hsiang" changed to "Hsiang."

p. 246 "20--Have" changed to "20.--Have"

p. 249 "Choh tai.." changed to "Choh tai."

p. 250 "warm" changed to "warm,"

p. 251 "nao ‘hniu" changed to "nao ‘hniu."

p. 261 "9. Sa" changed to "9. Sa."

p. 264 "1. Baggage." changed to "1.--Baggage."

p. 265 "7.--Ch’un" changed to "7.--Ch’ün"

p. 266 "8--When" changed to "8.--When"

p. 269 "T’i koh" changed to "T’i koh."

p. 293 "avicennæ" changed to "avicennae"

p. 293 "hypogœa" changed to "hypogæa"

p. 293 "22, 87," changed to "22, 27,"

p. 294 "(or “Insect Tree”)" changed to "(or “Insect Tree”),"

p. 295 "El Dorado" changed to "Eldorado"

p. 300 "Shê-tzü" changed to "Shê-tz’ŭ"

p. 301 "Têng-hsian" changed to "Têng-hsiang"

p. 302 "Shang-k’uan" changed to "Shang-kuan"


The following possible errors have been left as printed:

p. 2 China, No. 2 (1884); and China, No. 2 (1885)

p. 106 the hills of Ssŭ-ch’uan, and Yün-na

On p. 300, the reference "<i>Sterculia platanifolia</i>, 169" does not match the text.


The following are inconsistently used in the text:

Miao-Tzŭ and Miao-tzŭ

Ning-yüan and Ning-yuan

Szechuan, Szechuen, and Ssŭ-ch’uan


Inconsistent hyphenation and punctuation have otherwise been kept as printed.</p>








End of Project Gutenberg's Three Years in Western China, by Alexander Hosie