* * * * * +------------------------------------------------------------+ | Transcriber's Note: | | | | Obvious typographical errors have been corrected in | | this text. For a complete list, please see the bottom of | | this document. | | | | Macrons are shown as [=o] and [=u] | | | +------------------------------------------------------------+

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[Illustration: THE AUTHOR IN WESTERN CHINA. ]

AN AUSTRALIAN IN CHINA

BEING THE NARRATIVE OF A QUIET JOURNEY ACROSS CHINA TO BURMA

BY GEORGE ERNEST MORRISON M. D. EDIN. , F. R. G. S. 

_THIRD EDITION_

LONDON: HORACE COX WINDSOR HOUSE, BREAM'S BUILDINGS E. C. 

MDCCCCII

TO

JOHN CHIENE, M. D. , F. R. C. S. E. , F. R. S. E. , ETC. , PROFESSOR OF SURGERY IN THE UNIVERSITY OF EDINBURGH, WHO GAVE ME BACK THE POWER OF LOCOMOTION. 

I GRATEFULLY

INSCRIBE THIS VOLUME. 

CONTENTS. 

 CHAPTER I. PAGES INTRODUCTORY--MAINLY ABOUT MISSIONARIES AND THE CITY OF HANKOW 1-11

 CHAPTER II. FROM HANKOW TO WANHSIEN, WITH SOME ACCOUNT OF CHINESE WOMEN AND THE RAPIDS OF THE YANGTSE 12-23

 CHAPTER III. THE CITY OF WANHSIEN, AND THE JOURNEY FROM WANHSIEN TO CHUNGKING 24-34

 CHAPTER IV. THE CITY OF CHUNGKING--THE CHINESE CUSTOMS--THE FAMOUS MONSIEUR HAAS, AND A FEW WORDS ON THE OPIUM FALLACY 35-49

 CHAPTER V. THE JOURNEY FROM CHUNGKING TO SUIFU--CHINESE INNS 50-62

 CHAPTER VI. THE CITY OF SUIFU--THE CHINA INLAND MISSION, WITH SOME GENERAL REMARKS ABOUT MISSIONARIES IN CHINA 63-75

 CHAPTER VII. SUIFU TO CHAOTONG, WITH SOME REMARKS ON THE PROVINCE OF YUNNAN--CHINESE PORTERS, POSTAL ARRANGEMENTS, AND BANKS 76-96

 CHAPTER VIII. THE CITY OF CHAOTONG, WITH SOME REMARKS ON ITS POVERTY, INFANTICIDE, SELLING FEMALE CHILDREN INTO SLAVERY, TORTURES, AND THE CHINESE INSENSIBILITY TO PAIN 97-106

 CHAPTER IX. MAINLY ABOUT CHINESE DOCTORS 107-114

 CHAPTER X. THE JOURNEY FROM CHAOTONG TO TONGCHUAN 115-124

 CHAPTER XI. THE CITY OF TONGCHUAN, WITH SOME REMARKS UPON INFANTICIDE 125-134

 CHAPTER XII. TONGCHUAN TO YUNNAN CITY 135-147

 CHAPTER XIII. AT YUNNAN CITY 148-157

 CHAPTER XIV. GOLD, BANKS, AND TELEGRAPHS IN YUNNAN 158-170

 CHAPTER XV. THE FRENCH MISSION AND THE ARSENAL IN YUNNAN CITY 171-182

 CHAPTER XVI. THE JOURNEY FROM YUNNAN CITY TO TALIFU 183-201

 CHAPTER XVII. THE CITY OF TALI--PRISONS--POISONING--PLAGUES AND MISSIONS 202-217

 CHAPTER XVIII. THE JOURNEY FROM TALI, WITH SOME REMARKS ON THE CHARACTER OF THE CANTONESE, CHINESE EMIGRANTS, CRETINS, AND WIFE-BEATING IN CHINA 218-232

 CHAPTER XIX. THE MEKONG AND SALWEEN RIVERS--HOW TO TRAVEL IN CHINA 233-243

 CHAPTER XX. THE CITY OF TENGYUEH--THE CELEBRATED WUNTHO SAWBWA--SHAN SOLDIERS 244-259

 CHAPTER XXI. THE SHAN TOWN OF SANTA, AND MANYUEN, THE SCENE OF CONSUL MARGARY'S MURDER 260-269

 CHAPTER XXII. CHINA AS A FIGHTING POWER--THE KACHINS--AND THE LAST STAGE INTO BHAMO 270-281

 CHAPTER XXIII. BHAMO, MANDALAY, RANGOON, AND CALCUTTA 282-291

ILLUSTRATIONS. 

_Mostly from Photographs by_ MR. C. JENSEN _of the Imperial ChineseTelegraphs. _

 THE AUTHOR IN WESTERN CHINA _Frontispiece. _

 THE AUTHOR'S CHINESE PASSPORT _page_ 8

 ON A BALCONY IN WESTERN CHINA 14

 THE RIVER YANGTSE AT TUNG-LO-HSIA 34

 MEMORIAL ARCHWAY AT THE FORT OF FU-TO-KUAN 34

 CHUNGKING, FROM THE OPPOSITE BANK OF THE YANGTSE 38

 A TEMPLE THEATRE IN CHUNGKING 44

 ON THE MAIN ROAD TO SUIFU 52

 CULTIVATION IN TERRACES 58

 SCENE IN SZECHUEN 58

 OPIUM-SMOKING 72

 A TEMPLE IN SZECHUEN 84

 LAOWATAN 84

 THE OPIUM-SMOKER OF ROMANCE 93

 PAGODA BY THE WAYSIDE, WESTERN CHINA 118

 THE BIG EAST GATE OF YUNNAN CITY 146

 VIEW IN YUNNAN CITY 156

 SOLDIERS ON THE WALL OF YUNNAN CITY 168

 THE PAGODA OF YUNNAN CITY, 250 FEET HIGH 174

 THE VICEROY OF TWO PROVINCES 180

 THE AUTHOR'S CHINESE NAME 182

 THE GIANT OF YUNNAN 184

 THE "EAGLE NEST BARRIER, " ON THE ROAD TO TALIFU 192

 SNOW-CLAD MOUNTAINS BEHIND TALIFU 204

 MEMORIAL IN A TEMPLE NEAR TALIFU 220

 THE DESCENT TO THE RIVER MEKONG 232

 INSIDE VIEW OF A SUSPENSION BRIDGE 236

 THE RIVER SALWEEN 240

 THE RIVER SHWELI AND ITS SUSPENSION BRIDGE 242

 THE SUBURB BEYOND THE SOUTH GATE OF TENGYUEH 250

 CHINESE MAP OF CHUNGKING 292

 ROUGH SKETCH-MAP OF CHINA AND BURMA _at end. _

AN AUSTRALIAN IN CHINA. 

CHAPTER I. 

INTRODUCTORY--MAINLY ABOUT MISSIONARIES AND THE CITY OF HANKOW. 

In the first week of February, 1894, I returned to Shanghai from Japan. It was my intention to go up the Yangtse River as far as Chungking, andthen, dressed as a Chinese, to cross quietly over Western China, theChinese Shan States, and Kachin Hills to the frontier of Burma. Theensuing narrative will tell how easily and pleasantly this journey, which a few years ago would have been regarded as a formidableundertaking, can now be done. 

The journey was, of course, in no sense one of exploration; it consistedsimply of a voyage of 1500 miles up the Yangtse River, followed by aquiet, though extended, excursion of another 1500 miles along the greatoverland highway into Burma, taken by one who spoke no Chinese, who hadno interpreter or companion, who was unarmed, but who trusted implicitlyin the good faith of the Chinese. Anyone in the world can cross over toBurma in the way I did, provided he be willing to exercise for a certainnumber of weeks or months some endurance--for he will have to travelmany miles on foot over a mountainous country--and much forbearance. 

I went to China possessed with the strong racial antipathy to theChinese common to my countrymen, but that feeling has long since givenway to one of lively sympathy and gratitude, and I shall always lookback with pleasure to this journey, during which I experienced, whiletraversing provinces as wide as European kingdoms, uniform kindness andhospitality, and the most charming courtesy. In my case, at least, theChinese did not forget their precept, "deal gently with strangers fromafar. "

I left Shanghai on Sunday, February 11th, by the Jardine Matheson'ssteamer _Taiwo_. One kind friend, a merchant captain who had seen lifein every important seaport in the world, came down, though it was pastmidnight, to bid me farewell. We shook hands on the wharf, and for thelast time. Already he had been promised the first vacancy in JardineMatheson's. Some time after my departure, when I was in Western China, he was appointed one of the officers of the ill-fated _Kowshing_, andwhen this unarmed transport before the declaration of war was destroyedby a Japanese gunboat, he was among the slain--struck, I believe, by aJapanese bullet while struggling for life in the water. 

I travelled as a Chinese, dressed in warm Chinese winter clothing, witha pigtail attached to the inside of my hat. I could not have been morecomfortable. I had a small cabin to myself. I had of course my ownbedding, and by paying a Mexican dollar a day to the Chinese steward, "foreign chow, " was brought me from the saloon. The traveller who caresto travel in this way, to put his pride in his pocket and a pigtail downhis back, need pay only one-fourth of what it would cost him to travelas a European in European dress. 

But I was, I found, unwittingly travelling under false pretences. Whenthe smart chief officer came for my fare he charged me, I thought, toolittle. I expressed my surprise, and said that I thought the fare wasseven dollars. "So it is, " he replied "but we only charge missionariesfive dollars, and I knew you were a missionary even before they toldme. " How different was his acuteness from that of the Chinese compradorewho received me on the China Merchants' steamer _Hsin Chi_, in which Ionce made a voyage from Shanghai to Tientsin, also in Chinese dress! Theconversation was short, sharp, and emphatic. The compradore looked at mesearchingly. "What pidgin belong you?" he asked--meaning what is yourbusiness? Humbly I answered, "My belong Jesus Christ pidgin"; that is, Iam a missionary, to which he instantly and with some scorn replied, "Nodam fear!"

We called at the river ports and reached Hankow on the 14th. Hankow, theChinese say, is the mart of eight provinces and the centre of the earth. It is the chief distributing centre of the Yangtse valley, the capitalcity of the centre of China. The trade in tea, its staple export, isdeclining rapidly, particularly since 1886. Indian opium goes no higherup the river than this point; its importation into Hankow is nowinsignificant, amounting to only 738 piculs (44 tons) per annum. Hankowis on the left bank of the Yangtse, separated only by the width of theHan river from Hanyang, and by the width of the Yangtse from Wuchang;these three divisions really form one large city, with more inhabitantsthan the entire population of the colony of Victoria. 

Wuchang is the capital city of the two provinces of Hunan and Hupeh; itis here that the Viceroy, Chang Chi Tung, resides in his official yamenand dispenses injustice from a building almost as handsome as theAmerican mission-houses which overlook it. Chang Chi Tung is the mostanti-foreign of all the Viceroys of China; yet no Viceroy in the Empirehas ever had so many foreigners in his employ as he. "Within the fourseas, " he says, "all men are brothers"; yet the two provinces he rulesover are closed against foreigners, and the missionaries are compelledto remain under the shelter of the foreign Concession in Hankow. With apublic spirit unusual among Chinese Viceroys he has devoted the immenserevenues of his office to the modern development of the resources of hisvice-kingdom. He has erected a gigantic cotton-mill at Wuchang withthirty-five thousand spindles, covering six acres and lit with theelectric light, and with a reservoir of three acres and a half. He hasbuilt a large mint. At Hanyang he has erected magnificent iron-works andblast furnaces which cover many acres and are provided with all thelatest machinery. He has iron and coal mines, with a railway seventeenmiles long from the mines to the river, and specially constructedriver-steamers and special hoisting machinery at the river-banks. Moneyhe has poured out like water; he is probably the only important officialin China who will leave office a poor man. 

Acting as private secretary to the Viceroy is a clever Chinese named KawHong Beng, the author of _Defensio Populi_, that often-quoted attackupon missionary methods which appeared first in _The North China DailyNews_. A linguist of unusual ability, who publishes in _The Daily News_translations from Heine in English verse, Kaw is gifted with a rarecommand over the resources of English. He is a Master of Arts of theUniversity of Edinburgh. Yet, strange paradox, notwithstanding that hehad the privilege of being trained in the most pious and earnestcommunity in the United Kingdom, under the lights of the UnitedPresbyterian Kirk, Free Kirk, Episcopalian Church, and _The_ Kirk, notto mention a large and varied assortment of Dissenting Churches of moreor less dubious orthodoxy, he is openly hostile to the introduction ofChristianity into China. And nowhere in China is the opposition to theintroduction of Christianity more intense than in the Yangtse valley. Inthis intensity many thoughtful missionaries see the greater hope of theultimate conversion of this portion of China; opposition they say is abetter aid to missionary success than mere apathy. 

During the time I was in China, I met large numbers of missionaries ofall classes, in many cities from Peking to Canton, and they unanimouslyexpressed satisfaction at the progress they are making in China. Expressed succinctly, their harvest may be described as amounting to afraction more than two Chinamen per missionary per annum. If, however, the paid ordained and unordained native helpers be added to the numberof missionaries, you find that the aggregate body converts nine-tenthsof a Chinaman per worker per annum; but the missionaries deprecate theirwork being judged by statistics. There are 1511 Protestant missionarieslabouring in the Empire; and, estimating their results from thestatistics of previous years as published in the _Chinese Recorder_, wefind that they gathered last year (1893) into the fold 3127 Chinese--notall of whom it is feared are genuine Christians--at a cost of _£350, 000_, a sum equal to the combined incomes of the ten chief London hospitals. 

Hankow itself swarms with missionaries, "who are unhappily divided intoso many sects, that even a foreigner is bewildered by their number, letalone the heathen to whom they are accredited. " (Medhurst. )

Dwelling in well-deserved comfort in and around the foreign settlement, there are members of the London Missionary Society, of the TractSociety, of the Local Tract Society, of the British and Foreign BibleSociety, of the National Bible Society of Scotland, of the AmericanBible Society; there are Quaker missionaries, Baptist, Wesleyan, andIndependent missionaries of private means; there are members of theChurch Missionary Society, of the American Board of Missions, and of theAmerican High Church Episcopal Mission; there is a Medical Mission inconnection with the London Missionary Society, there is a flourishingFrench Mission under a bishop, the "_Missions étrangères de Paris_, " aMission of Franciscan Fathers, most of whom are Italian, and a SpanishMission of the Order of St. Augustine. 

The China Inland Mission has its chief central distributing station atHankow, and here also are the headquarters of a Scandinavian Mission, ofa Danish Mission, and of an unattached mission, most of the members ofwhich are also Danish. Where there are so many missions, of so manydifferent sects, and holding such widely divergent views, it is, Isuppose, inevitable that each mission should look with some disfavourupon the work done by its neighbours, should have some doubts as to theexpediency of their methods, and some reasonable misgivings as to thegenuineness of their conversions. 

The Chinese "Rice Christians, " those spurious Christians who becomeconverted in return for being provided with rice, are just those whoprofit by these differences of opinion, and who, with timely lapses fromgrace, are said to succeed in being converted in turn by all themissions from the Augustins to the Quakers. 

Every visitor to Hankow and to all other open ports, who is a supporterof missionary effort, is pleased to find that his preconceived notionsas to the hardships and discomforts of the open port missionary in Chinaare entirely false. Comfort and pleasures of life are there as great asin any other country. Among the most comfortable residences in Hankoware the quarters of the missionaries; and it is but right that themissionaries should be separated as far as possible from alldiscomfort--missionaries who are sacrificing all for China, and who areprepared to undergo any reasonable hardship to bring enlightenment tothis land of darkness. 

I called at the headquarters of the Spanish mission of Padres Agustinosand smoked a cigarette with two of the Padres, and exchangedreminiscences of Valladolid and Barcelona. And I can well conceive, having seen the extreme dirtiness of the mission premises, how littlethe Spaniard has to alter his ways in order to make them conform to themore ancient civilisation of the Chinese. 

In Hankow there is a large foreign concession with a handsome embankmentlined by large buildings. There is a rise and fall in the river betweensummer and winter levels of nearly sixty feet. In the summer the riverlaps the edge of the embankment and may overflow into the concession; inthe winter, broad steps lead down to the edge of the water which, evenwhen shrunk into its bed, is still more than half a mile in width. Ourhandsome consulate is at one end of the embankment; at the other thereis a remarkable municipal building which was designed by a former Cityconstable, who was, I hope, more expert with the handcuffs than he waswith the pencil. 

[Illustration: THE AUTHOR'S CHINESE PASSPORT. ]

Our interests in Hankow are protected by Mr. Pelham Warren, the Consul, one of the ablest men in the Service. I registered at the Consulate as aBritish subject and obtained a Chinese passport in terms of the Treatyof Tientsin for the four provinces Hupeh, Szechuen, Kweichow, andYunnan, available for one year from the date of issue. 

I had no servant. An English-speaking "boy, " hearing that I was in needof one, came to me to recommend "his number one flend, " who, he assuredme, spoke English "all the same Englishman. " But when the "flend" came Ifound that he spoke English all the same as I spoke Chinese. He was notabashed, but turned away wrath by saying to me, through an interpreter, "It is true that I cannot speak the foreign language, but the foreigngentleman is so clever that in one month he will speak Chinesebeautifully. " We did not come to terms. 

At Hankow I embarked on the China Merchants' steamer _Kweili_, the onlytriple-screw steamer on the River, and four days later, on February21st, I landed at Ichang, the most inland port on the Yangtse yetreached by steam. Ichang is an open port; it is the scene of theanti-foreign riot of September 2nd, 1891, when the foreign settlementwas pillaged and burnt by the mob, aided by soldiers of the ChentaiLoh-Ta-Jen, the head military official in charge at Ichang, "who gavethe outbreak the benefit of his connivance. " Pleasant zest is given tolife here in the anticipation of another outbreak; it is the onlyexcitement. 

From Ichang to Chungking--a distance of 412 miles--the river Yangtse, ina great part of its course, is a series of rapids which no steamer hasyet attempted to ascend, though it is contended that the difficulties ofnavigation would not be insuperable to a specially constructed steamerof elevated horse-power. Some idea of the speed of the current at thispart of the river may be given by the fact that a junk, taking thirty tothirty-five days to do the upward journey, hauled most of the way bygangs of trackers, has been known to do the down-river journey in twodays and a half. 

Believing that I could thus save some days on the journey, I decided togo to Chungking on foot, and engaged a coolie to accompany me. We wereto start on the Thursday afternoon; but about midnight on Wednesday Imet Dr. Aldridge, of the Customs, who easily persuaded me that by takingthe risk of going in a small boat (a _wupan_), and not in an ordinarypassenger junk (a _kwatze_), I might, with luck, reach Chungking as soonby water as I could reach Wanhsien at half the distance by land. TheDoctor was a man of surprising energy. He offered to arrange everythingfor me, and by 6 o'clock in the morning he had engaged a boat, hadselected a captain (_laoban_), and a picked crew of four young men, whoundertook to land me in Chungking in fifteen days, and had given themall necessary instructions for my journey. All was to be ready for astart the same evening. 

During the course of the morning the written agreement was brought me bythe laoban, drawn up in Chinese and duly signed, of which a Chineseclerk made me the following translation into English. I transcribe itliterally:--

Yang Hsing Chung (the laoban) hereby contracts to convey Dr. M. ToChungking on the following conditions:--

 1. The passage-money agreed upon is 28, 000 cash (_£2 16s. _), which includes all charges. 

 2. If Chungking is reached in twelve days, Dr. M. Will give the master 32, 500 cash instead; if in thirteen days 31, 000, and if in fifteen days 28, 000. 

 3. If all goes well and the master does his duty satisfactorily, Dr. M. Will give him 30, 000 cash, even if he gets to Chungking in fifteen days. 

 4. The sum of 14, 000 cash is to be advanced to the master before starting; the remainder to be paid on arrival at Chungking. 

 (Signed) YANG HSING CHUNG. 

 Dated the 17th day of the 2nd moon, K, shui 20th year. 

The Chinaman who wrote this in English speaks English better than manyEnglishmen. 

CHAPTER II. 

FROM ICHANG TO WANHSIEN, WITH SOME ACCOUNT OF CHINESE WOMEN AND THERAPIDS OF THE YANGTSE KIANG. 

The agreement was brought me in the morning; all the afternoon I wasbusy, and at 8 p. M. I embarked from the Customs pontoon. The boat was awupan (five boards), 28 feet long and drawing 8 inches. Its sail waslike the wing of a butterfly, with transverse ribs of light bamboo; itsstern was shaped "like a swallow's wings at rest. " An improvisedcovering of mats amidships was my crib; and with spare mats, sliptduring the day over the boat's hood, coverings could be made at nightfor'ard for my three men and aft for the other two. It seemed a fraillittle craft to face the dangers of the cataracts, but it was manned byas smart a crew of young Chinese as could be found on the river. It waspitch dark when we paddled into the stream amidst a discharge ofcrackers. As we passed under the _Kweili_, men were there to wish me_bon voyage_, and a revolver was emptied into the darkness to propitiatethe river god. 

We paddled up the bank under the sterns of countless junks, past thewalled city, and then, crossing to the other bank, we made fast andwaited for the morning to begin our journey. The lights of the city weredown the river; all was quiet; my men were in good heart, and there wasno doubt whatever that they would make every effort to fulfil theircontract. 

At daylight we were away again and soon entered the first of the greatgorges where the river has cleft its way through the mountains. 

With a clear and sunny sky, the river flowing smoothly and reflectingdeeply the lofty and rugged hills which fall steeply to the water'sedge, a light boat, and a model crew, it was a pleasure to lie at easewrapped in my Chinese pukai and watch the many junks lazily falling downthe river, the largest of them "dwarfed by the colossal dimensions ofthe surrounding scenery to the size of sampans, " and the fishing boats, noiseless but for the gentle creaking of the sheers and dip-net, silently working in the still waters under the bank. 

At Ping-shan-pa there is an outstation of the Imperial Maritime Customsin charge of a seafaring man who was once a cockatoo farmer in SouthAustralia, and drove the first team of bullocks to the Mount Browndiggings. He lives comfortably in a house-boat moored to the bank. He isone of the few Englishmen in China married in the English way, asdistinct from the Chinese, to a Chinese girl. His wife is one of theprettiest girls that ever came out of Nanking, and talks Englishdelightfully with a musical voice that is pleasant to listen to. Iconfess that I am one of those who agree with the missionary writer inregarding "the smile of a Chinese woman as inexpressibly charming. " Ihave seen girls in China who would be considered beautiful in anycapital in Europe. The attractiveness of the Japanese lady has been thetheme of many writers, but, speaking as an impartial observer who hasbeen both in Japan and China, I have never been able to come to anyother decision than that in every feature the Chinese woman is superiorto her Japanese sister. She is head and shoulders above the Japanese;she is more intellectual, or, rather, she is more capable ofintellectual development; she is incomparably more chaste and modest. She is prettier, sweeter, and more trustworthy than the misshapencackling little dot with black teeth that we are asked to admire as aJapanese beauty. The traveller in China is early impressed by thecontrast between the almost entire freedom from apparent immorality ofthe Chinese cities, especially of Western China, and the flauntingindecency of the _Yoshiwaras_ of Japan, with "their teeming, seething, busy mass of women, whose virtue is industry and whose industry isvice. "

The small feet of the Chinese women, though admired by the Chinese andpoetically referred to by them as "three-inch gold lilies, " are in oureyes a very unpleasant deformity--but still, even with this deformity, the walk of the Chinese woman is more comely than the gait of theJapanese woman as she shambles ungracefully along with her little bentlegs, scraping her wooden-soled slippers along the pavement with a noisethat sets your teeth on edge. "Girls are like flowers, " say the Chinese, "like the willow. It is very important that their feet should be boundshort so that they can walk beautifully with mincing steps, swayinggracefully, and thus showing to all that they are persons ofrespectability. " Apart from the Manchus, the dominant race, whose womendo not bind their feet, all chaste Chinese girls have small feet. Thosewho have large feet are either, speaking generally, ladies of easyvirtue or slave girls. And, of course, no Christian girl is allowed tohave her feet bound. 

[Illustration: ON A BALCONY IN WESTERN CHINA. ]

Leaving Ping-shan-pa with a stiff breeze in our favour we slowly stemmedthe current. Look at the current side, and you would think we were doingeight knots an hour or more, but look at the shore side, close to whichwe kept to escape as far as possible from the current, and you saw howgradually we felt our way along. 

At a double row of mat sheds filled with huge coils of bamboo rope ofall thicknesses, my laoban went ashore to purchase a towline; he tookwith him 1000 cash (about two shillings), and returned with a coil 100yards in length and 600 cash of change. The rope he brought was made ofplaited bamboo, was as thick as the middle finger, and as tough aswhalebone. 

The country was more open and terraced everywhere into gardens. Ourprogress was most satisfactory. When night came we drew into the bank, and I coiled up in my crib and made myself comfortable. Space wascramped, and I had barely room to stretch my legs. My cabin was 5 feet 6inches square and 4 feet high, open behind, but with two little doors infront, out of which I could just manage to squeeze myself sideways roundthe mast. Coir matting was next the floor boards, then a thick Chinesequilt (a _pukai_), then a Scotch plaid made in Geelong. My pillow wasChinese, and the hardest part of the bed; my portmanteau was beside meand served as a desk; a Chinese candle, more wick than wax, stuck into aturnip, gave me light. 

This, our first day's journey, brought us to within sound of the worstrapid on the river, the Hsintan, and the roar of the cataract hummed inour ears all night. 

Early in the morning we were at the foot of the rapid under the bank onthe opposite side of the river from the town of Hsintan. It was anexciting scene. A swirling torrent with a roar like thunder was frothingdown the cataract. Above, barriers of rocks athwart the stream stretchedlike a weir across the river, damming the deep still water behind it. The shore was strewn with boulders. Groups of trackers were on the banksquatting on the rocks to see the foreign devil and his cockleshell. Other Chinese were standing where the side-stream is split by theboulders into narrow races, catching fish with great dexterity, dippingthem out of the water with scoop-nets. 

We rested in some smooth water under shelter and put out our towline;three of my boys jumped ashore and laid hold of it; another with hisbamboo boat-hook stood on the bow; the laoban was at the tiller; and Iwas cooped up useless in the well under the awning. The men startedhauling as we pushed out into the sea of waters. The boat quivered, thewater leapt at the bow as if it would engulf us; our three men wereobviously too few. The boat danced in the rapid. My men on boardshrieked excitedly that the towrope was fouling--it had caught in arock--but their voices could not be heard; our trackers were brought towith a jerk; the hindmost saw the foul and ran back to free it, but hewas too late, for the boat had come beam on to the current. Our captainfrantically waved to let go, and the next moment we were tossed bodilyinto the cataract. The boat heeled gunwale under, and suddenly, but thebowman kept his feet like a Blondin, dropped the boat-hook, and jumpedto unlash the halyard; a wave buried the boat nose under and swamped mein my kennel; my heart stopped beating, and, scared out of my wits, Ibegan to strip off my sodden clothes; but before I had half done thesail had been set; both men had miraculously fended the boat from arock, which, by a moment's hesitation, would have smashed us in bits orburied us in the boiling trough formed by the eddy below it, and, withanother desperate effort, we had slid from danger into smooth water. Then my men laughed heartily. How it was done I do not know, but I feltkeen admiration for the calm dexterity with which it had been done. 

We baled the water out of the boat, paid out a second towrope--this onefrom the bow to keep the stern under control, the other being made fastto the mast, and took on board a licensed pilot. Extra trackers, hiredfor a few cash, laid hold of both towlines, and bodily--the waterswelling and foaming under our bows--the boat was hauled against thetorrent, and up the ledge of water that stretches across the river. Wewere now in smooth water at the entrance to the Mi Tsang Gorge. Twostupendous walls of rock, almost perpendicular, as bold and rugged asthe Mediterranean side of the Rock of Gibraltar seem folded one behindthe other across the river. "Savage cliffs are these, where not a treeand scarcely a blade of grass can grow, and where the stream, which israther heard than seen, seems to be fretting in vain efforts to escapefrom its dark and gloomy prison. " In the gorge itself the current wasrestrained, and boats could cross from bank to bank without difficulty. It was an eerie feeling to glide over the sunless water shut in by thestupendous sidewalls of rock. At a sandy spit to the west of the gorgewe landed and put things in order. And here I stood and watched thejunks disappear down the river one after the other, and I saw the truthof what Hosie had written that, as their masts are always unshipped inthe down passage, the junks seem to be "passing with their human freightinto eternity. "

An immensely high declivity with a precipitous face was in front of us, which strained your eyes to look at; yet high up to the summit and tothe very edge of the precipice, little farmsteads are dotted, and everyyard of land available is under cultivation. So steep is it that thescanty soil must be washed away, you think, at the first rains, and onlyan adventurous goat could dwell there in comfort. My laoban, Enjeh, pointing to this mighty mass, said, "_Pin su chiao_;" but whether thesewords were the name of the place, or were intended to convey to me hissense of its magnificence, or dealt with the question of theprecariousness of tenure so far above our heads, I had no means todetermine. 

My laoban knew twelve words of English, and I twelve words of Chinese, and this was the extent of our common vocabulary; it had to be carefullyeked out with signs and gestures. I knew the Chinese for rice, flourcake, tea, egg, chopsticks, opium, bed, by-and-by, how many, charcoal, cabbage, and customs. My laoban could say in English, orpidgin English, chow, number one, no good, go ashore, sit down, by-and-by, to-morrow, match, lamp, alright, one piecee, and goddam. Thislast named exotic he had been led to consider as synonymous with "verygood. " It was not the first time I had known the words to be misapplied. I remember reading in the _Sydney Bulletin_, that a Chinese cook inSydney when applying for a situation detailed to the mistress hisundeniable qualifications, concluding with the memorable announcement, "My Clistian man mum; my eat beef; my say goddam. "

There was a small village behind us. The villagers strolled down to seethe foreigner whom children well in the background called "_Yangkweitze_" (foreign devil). Below on the sand, were the remains of ajunk, confiscated for smuggling salt; it had been sawn bodily in two. Salt is a Government monopoly and a junk found smuggling it isconfiscated on the spot. 

Kueichow, on the left bank, is the first walled town we came to. Herewe had infinite difficulty in passing the rapids, and crossed andrecrossed the river several times. I sat in the boat stripped andshivering, for shipwreck seemed certain, and I did not wish to bedrowned like a rat. For cool daring I never saw the equal of my boys, and their nicety of judgment was remarkable. Creeping along close to thebank, every moment in danger of having its bottom knocked out, the boatwould be worked to the exact point from which the crossing of the riverwas feasible, balanced for a moment in the stream, then with sail setand a clipping breeze, and my men working like demons with the oars, taking short strokes, and stamping time with their feet, the boat shotinto the current. We made for a rock in the centre of the river; wemissed it, and my heart was in my mouth as I saw the rapid below us intowhich we were being drawn, when the boat mysteriously swung half roundand glided under the lee of the rock. One of the boys leapt out with thebow-rope, and the others with scull and boat-hook worked the boat roundto the upper edge of the rock, and then, steadying her for the dashacross, pushed off again into the swirling current and made like fiendsfor the bank. Standing on the stern, managing the sheet and tiller, andwith his bamboo pole ready, the laoban yelled and stamped in hisexcitement; there was the roar of the cataract below us, towards whichwe were fast edging stern on, destruction again threatened us and allseemed over, when in that moment we entered the back-wash and were againin good shelter. And so it went on, my men with splendid skill doingalways the right thing, in the right way, at the right time, withunerring certainty. 

At Yehtan rapid, which is said to be the worst on the river in thewinter, as the Hsintan rapid is in summer, three of the boys wentashore to haul us up the ledge of water--they were plainly insufficient. While we were hanging on the cataract extra trackers appeared frombehind the rocks and offered their services. They could bargain with usat an advantage. It was a case well known to all Chinese "of speaking ofthe price after the pig has been killed. " But, when we agreed to theirterms, they laid hold of the towrope and hauled us through in a moment. Here, as at other dangerous rapids on the river, an official lifeboat isstationed. It is of broad beam, painted red. The sailors are paid eightycash (_2d. _) a day, and are rewarded with 1000 cash for every life theysave, and 800 cash for every corpse. 

Wushan Gorge, the "Witches' Gorge, " which extends from Kuantukou toWushan-hsien, a distance of twenty miles, is the longest gorge on theriver. 

Directly facing us as we emerged from the gorge was the walled town ofWushan-hsien. Its guardian pagoda, with its seven stories and itsupturned gables, like the rim of an official hat, is down-stream fromthe city, and thus prevents wealth and prosperity being swept by thecurrent past the city. 

Beyond there is a short but steep rapid. Before a strong wind with allsail set we boldly entered it and determined which was the stronger, thewind or the current. But, while we hung in the current calling andwhistling for the wind, the wind flagged for a moment; tension beingremoved, the bow swung into the rocks; but the water was shallow, and ina trice two of the boys had jumped into the water and were holding theboat-sides. Then poling and pulling we crept up the rapid into smoothwater. Never was there any confusion, never a false stroke. To hear myboys jabber in their unintelligible speech you pictured disorder, anddisaster, and wild excitement; to see them act you witnessed suchcoolness, skill, and daring as you had rarely seen before. My boys wereall young. The captain was only twenty, and was a model of physicalgrace, with a face that will gladden the heart of the Chinese maidenwhom he condescends to select to be the mother of his children. 

Junks were making slow progress up the river. The towpath is here on theleft bank, sixty feet above the present level of the river. Barefootedtrackers, often one hundred in a gang, clamber over the rocks "like apack of hounds in full cry, " each with the coupling over his shoulderand all singing in chorus, the junk they are towing often a quarter of amile astern of them. When a rapid intervenes they strain like bondmen atthe towrope; the line creaks under the enormous tension but holds fast. On board the junk, a drum tattoo is beaten and fire-crackers let off, and a dozen men with long ironshod bamboos sheer the vessel off therocks as foot by foot it is drawn past the obstruction. Contrast withthis toilsome slowness the speed of the junk bound down-stream. Its mastis shipped; its prodigious bow-sweep projects like a low bowsprit; theafter deck is covered as far as midships with arched mat-roof; coils ofbamboo rope are hanging under the awning; a score or more of boatmen, standing to their work and singing to keep time, work the yulos, aslooking like a modern whaleback the junk races down the rapids. 

Kweichou-fu, 146 miles from Ichang, is one of the largest cities on theUpper Yangtse. Just before it is the Feng-hsiang Gorge the "WindboxGorge" where the mountains have been again cleft in twain to let passthe river; this is the last of the great gorges of the Yangtse. 

We had left the province of Hupeh. Kweichou is the first prefecturalcity that the traveller meets in Szechuen; for that reason my laobanrequired me to give him my passport that he might take it ashore andhave it viséed by the magistrate. While he was away two Customsofficials searched my boat for contraband goods. When he returned, hehad to pay a squeeze at the Customs station. We clawed with our hookedbamboos round the sterns of a hundred Szechuen junks, and were againarrested at a likin boat, and more cash passed from my laoban to theofficials in charge. We went on again, when a third time we came face onto a likin-barrier, and a third time my laoban was squeezed. After thiswe were permitted to continue our journey. For the rest of the daywhenever the laoban caught my eye he raised three fingers and with arueful shake of the head said "Kweichou haikwan (customs) no good"; andthen he swore, no doubt. 

My little boat was the smallest on the river. In sailing it could holdits own with all but the long ferry boats or tenders which accompany thelarger junks to land the trackers and towline. These boats carry a hugesquare sail set vertically from sheer legs, and are very fast. But inrowing, poling, and tracking we could beat the river. 

Anping was passed--a beautiful country town in a landscape of red hillsand rich green pastures, of groves of bamboo and cypress, of prettylittle farmhouses with overhanging eaves and picturesque temples inwooded glens. 

At Chipatzu there are the remains of a remarkable embankment built ofhuge blocks of dressed stone resting upon a noble brow of natural rock;deep Chinese characters are cut into the stone; but the glory isdeparted and there are now only a few straggling huts where there wasonce a large city. 

The river was now at its lowest and at every point of sand and shingle, meagre bands of gold puddlers were at work washing for gold in cradlerockers. To judge, however, from the shabbiness of their surroundingsthere was little fear that their gains would disturb the equilibrium ofthe world's gold yield. 

CHAPTER III. 

THE CITY OF WANHSIEN, AND THE JOURNEY FROM WANHSIEN TO CHUNGKING. 

At daylight, on March 1st, we were abreast of the many storied pagoda, whose lofty position, commanding the approach to the city, brings goodfortune to the city of Wanhsien. A beautiful country is this--thechocolate soil richly tilled, the sides of the hills dotted withfarmhouses in groves of bamboo and cedar, with every variety of green inthe fields, shot through with blazing patches of the yellow rape-seed. The current was swift, the water was shallow where we were tracking, andwe were constantly aground in the shingle; but we rounded the point, andWanhsien was before us. This is the half-way city between Ichang andChungking. My smart laoban dressed himself in his best to be ready to goashore with me; he was jubilant at his skill in bringing me so quickly. "Sampan number one! goddam!" he said; and, holding up two hands, heturned down seven fingers to show that we had come in seven days. Thenhe pointed to other boats that we were passing, and counted on hisfingers fifteen, whereby I knew he was demonstrating that, had I gone inany other boat but his, I should have been fifteen days on the wayinstead of seven. 

An immense number of junks of all kinds were moored to the bank, bow on. Many of them were large vessels, with hulls like that of an Aberdeenclipper. Many carry foreign flags, by which they are exempt from theChinese likin duties, so capricious in their imposition, and pay insteada general five per cent. _ad valorem_ duty on their cargoes, which islevied by the Imperial Maritime Customs, and collected either inChungking or Ichang. From one to the other, with boathooks and paddle, we crept past the outer wings of their balanced rudders till we reachedthe landing place. On the rocks at the landing a bevy of women werewashing, beating their hardy garments with wooden flappers against thestones; but they ceased their work as the foreign devil, in his uncouthgarb, stepped ashore in their midst. Wanhsien is not friendly toforeigners in foreign garb. I did not know this, and went ashore dressedas a European. Never have I received such a spontaneous welcome as I didin this city; never do I wish to receive such another. I landed at themouth of the small creek which separates the large walled city to theeast from the still larger city beyond the walls to the west. My laobanwas with me. We passed through the washerwomen. Boys and ragamuffinshanging about the shipping saw me, and ran towards me, yelling: "_Yangkweitze, Yang kweitze_" (foreign devil, foreign devil). 

Behind the booths a story-teller had gathered a crowd; in a moment hewas alone and the crowd were following me up the hill, yelling andhowling with a familiarity most offensive to a sensitive stranger. Mysturdy boy wished me to produce my passport which is the size of anadmiral's ensign, but I was not such a fool as to do so for it had toserve me for many months yet. With this taunting noisy crowd I had towalk on as if I enjoyed the demonstration. I stopped once and spoke tothe crowd, and, as I knew no Chinese, I told them in gentle English ofthe very low opinion their conduct led me to form of the moralrelations of their mothers, and the resignation with which it induced meto contemplate the hyperpyretic surroundings of their posthumousexistence; and, borrowing the Chinese imprecation, I ventured to expressthe hope that when their souls return again to earth they may dwell inthe bodies of hogs, since they appeared to me the only habitations meetfor them. 

But my words were useless. With a smiling face, but rage at my heart, Iled the procession up the creek to a stone bridge where large numbersleft me, only to have their places taken on the other bank by a stillmore enthusiastic gathering. I stopped here a moment in the jostlingcrowd to look up-stream at that singular natural bridge, which anenormous mass of stone has formed across the creek, and I could see thehigh arched bridge beyond it, which stretches from bank to bank in onenoble span, and is so high above the water that junks can pass under itin the summer time when the rains swell this little stream into a broadand navigable river. 

Then we climbed the steep bank into the city and entering by a dirtynarrow street we emerged into the main thoroughfare, the crowd stillfollowing and the shops emptying into the street to see me. We passedthe Mohammedan Mosque, the Roman Catholic Mission, the City Temple, to aChinese house where I was slipped into the court and the door shut, andthen into another to find that I was in the home of the China InlandMission, and that the pigtailed celestial receiving me at the steps wasMr. Hope Gill. It was my clothes I then learnt that had caused themanifestation in my honour. An hour later, when I came out again intothe street, the crowd was waiting still to see me, but it wasdisappointed to see me now dressed like one of themselves. In themeantime I had resumed my Chinese dress. "Look, " the people said, "atthe foreigner; he had on foreign dress, and now he is dressed in Chineseeven to his queue. Look at his queue, it is false. " I took off my hat toscratch my head. "Look, " they shouted again, "at his queue; it is stuckto the inside of his hat. " But they ceased to follow me. 

There are three Missionaries in Wanhsien of the China Inland Mission, one of whom is from Sydney. The mission has been opened six years, andhas been fairly successful, or completely unsuccessful, according to thepoint of view of the inquirer. 

Mr. Hope Gill, the senior member of the mission, is a most earnest goodman, who works on in his discouraging task with an enthusiasm anddevotion beyond all praise. A Premillennialist, he preaches withoutceasing throughout the city; and his preaching is earnest andindiscriminate. His method has been sarcastically likened by theChinese, in the words of one of their best-known aphorisms, to theunavailing efforts of a "blind fowl picking at random after worms. "Nearly all the Chinese in Wanhsien have heard the doctrine describedwith greater or less unintelligibility, and it is at their own risk ifthey still refuse to be saved. 

During the cholera epidemic this brave man never left his post; he neverrefused a call to attend the sick and dying, and, at the risk of hisown, saved many lives. And what is his reward? This work he did, theChinese say, not from a disinterested love of his fellows, which was hisundoubted motive, but to accumulate merit for himself in the invisibleworld beyond the grave. "Gratitude, " says this missionary, and it is theopinion of many, "is a condition of heart, or of mind, which seems to beincapable of existence in the body of a Chinaman. " Yet othermissionaries tell me that no man can possess a livelier sense ofgratitude than a Chinaman, or manifest it with more sincerity. "If ourwords are compared to the croaking of the frog, we heed it not, butfreely express the feelings of our heart, " are actual words addressed bya grateful Chinese patient to the first medical missionary in China. Andthe Chinaman himself will tell you, says Smith, "that it does not followthat, because he does not exhibit gratitude he does not feel it. Whenthe dumb man swallows a tooth he may not say much about it, but it isall inside. "

Since its foundation in 1887, the Inland Mission of Wanhsien has beenconducted with brave perseverance. There are, unfortunately, noconverts, but there are three hopeful "inquirers, " whose conversionwould be the more speedy the more likely they were to obtain employmentafterwards. They argue in this way; they say, to quote the words used bythe Rev. G. L. Mason at the Shanghai Missionary Conference of 1890, "ifthe foreign teacher will take care of our bodies, we will do him thefavour to seek the salvation of our souls. " This question of theemployment of converts is one of the chief difficulties of themissionary in China. "The idea (derived from Buddhism) is universallyprevalent in China, " says the Rev. C. W. Mateer, "that everyone whoenters any sect should live by it. . . . When a Chinaman becomes aChristian he expects to live by his Christianity. "

One of the three inquirers was shown me; he was described as the mostadvanced of the three in knowledge of the doctrine. Now I do not wish towrite unkindly, but I am compelled to say that this man was a poor, wretched, ragged coolie, who sells the commonest gritty cakes in arickety stall round the corner from the mission, who can neither readnor write, and belongs to a very humble order of blunted intelligence. The poor fellow is the father of a little girl of three, an only child, who is both deaf and dumb. And there is the fear that his fondness forthe little one tempts him to give hope to the missionaries that in himthey are to see the first fruit of their toil, the first in the districtto be saved by their teaching, while he nurses a vague hope that, whenthe foreign teachers regard him as adequately converted, they may bewilling to restore speech and hearing to his poor little offspring. Itis a scant harvest. 

After a Chinese dinner the missionary and I went for a walk into thecountry. In the main street we met a troop of beggars, each with a bowlof rice and garbage and a long stick, with a few tattered rags hanginground his loins--they were the poorest poor I had ever seen. They werethe beggars of the city, who had just received their midday meal at the"Wanhsien Ragged Homes. " There are three institutions of the kind in thecity for the relief of the destitute; they are entirely supported bycharity, and are said to have an average annual income of 40, 000 taels. Wanhsien is a very rich city, with wealthy merchants and great salthongs. The landed gentry and the great junk owners have their townhouses here. The money distributed by the townspeople in private charityis unusually great even for a Chinese city. Its most public-spiritedcitizen is Ch'en, one of the merchant princes of China whosetransactions are confined exclusively to the products of his owncountry. Starting life with an income of one hundred taels, bequeathedhim by his father, Ch'en has now agents all over the empire, andmercantile dealings which are believed to yield him a clear annualincome of a quarter of a million taels. His probity is a by-word; hisbenefactions have enriched the province. That cutting in the face of thecliff in the Feng-hsiang Gorge near Kweichou-fu, where a pathway fortrackers has been hewn out of the solid rock, was done at his expense, and is said to have cost one hundred thousand taels. Not only by hisbenefactions has Ch'en laid up for himself merit in heaven, but he hasalready had his reward in this world. His son presented himself for theM. A. Examination for the Hanlin degree, the highest academical degree inthe Empire. Everyone in China knows that success in this examination isdependent upon the favour of Wunchang-te-keun, the god of literature(Taoist) "who from generation to generation hath sent his miraculousinfluence down upon earth", and, as the god had seen with approbationthe good works done by the father, he gave success to the son. When theson returned home after his good fortune, he was met beyond the wallsand escorted into the city with royal honours; his success was a triumphfor the city which gave him birth. 

A short walk and we were out of the city, following a flagged path withflights of steps winding up the hill through levelled terraces rich withevery kind of cereal, and with abundance of poppy. Splendid views of oneof the richest agricultural regions in the world are here unfolded. Awaydown in the valley is the palatial family mansion of Pien, one of thewealthiest yeomen in the province. Beyond you see the commencement ofthe high road, a paved causeway eight feet wide, which extends forhundreds of miles to Chentu, the capital of the province, and takes rankas the finest work of its kind in the empire. On every hill-top is afort. That bolder than the rest commanding the city at a distance offive miles, is on the "Hill of Heavenly Birth. " It was built, saysHobson, during the Taiping Rebellion; it existed, says the missionary, before the present dynasty; discrepant statements characteristic of thiscountry of contradictions. But, whether thirty or two hundred and fiftyyears old, the fort is now one in name only, and is at present occupiedby a garrison of peaceful peasantry. 

Chinamen that we met asked us politely "if we had eaten our rice, " and"whither were we going. " We answered correctly. But when with equalpoliteness we asked the wayfarer where he was going, he jerked his chintowards the horizon and said, "a long way. "

We called at the residence of a rich young Chinese, who had latelyreceived it in his inheritance, together with 3000 acres of farmland, which, we were told, yield him an annual income of 70, 000 taels. In theabsence of the master, who was away in the country reading with histutor for the Hanlin degree, we were received by the caretakers, whoshowed us the handsome guest chambers, the splendid gilded tablet, thelarge courts, and garden rockeries. A handsome residence is this, solidly built of wood and masonry, and with the trellis work carved withmuch elaboration. 

It was late when we returned to the mission, and after dark when I wenton board my little wupan. My boys had not been idle. They had bought newprovisions of excellent quality, and had made the boat much morecomfortable. The three kind missionaries came down to wish me Godspeed. Brave men! they deserve a kinder fortune than has been their fatehitherto. We crossed the river and anchored above the city, readyagainst an early start in the morning. 

The day after leaving Wanhsien was the first time that we required anyassistance on our journey from another junk; it was cheerfully given. Our towrope had chafed through, and we were in a difficulty, attemptingto pass a bad rapid among the rocks, when a large junk was hauled bodilypast us, and, seeing our plight, hooked on to us and towed us with themout of danger. On this night we anchored under the Sentinel Rock(Shih-pao-chai), perhaps the most remarkable landmark on the river. Fromtwo hundred to three hundred feet high, and sixty feet wide at the base, it is a detached rock, cleft vertically from a former cliff. Anine-storied pagoda has been inset into the south-eastern face, andtemple buildings crown the summit. 

It was surprising how well my men lived on board the boat. They hadthree good meals a day, always with rice and abundance of vegetables, and frequently with a little pork. Cooking was done while we were underway; for the purpose we had two little earthenware stoves, two pans, anda kettle. All along the river cabbages and turnips are abundant andcheap. Bumboats, laden to the rail, waylay the boats _en route_, andoffer an armful of fresh vegetables for the equivalent in copper cash ofthree-eighths of a penny. Other boats peddle firewood, cut short andbound in little bundles, and sticks of charcoal. Coal is everywhereabundant, and there are excellent briquettes for sale, made of a mixtureof clay and coal-dust. 

All day long now for the rest of our voyage we sailed through abeautiful country. From the hill tops to the water's edge the hillsidesare levelled into a succession of terraces; there are cereals and theuniversal poppy, pretty hamlets, and thriving little villages; a riverhalf a mile wide thronged with every kind of river craft, and back inthe distance snow-clad mountains. There are bamboo sheds at every point, with coils of bamboo towrope, mats, and baskets, and huge Szechuen hatsas wide as an umbrella. 

On the morning of March 5th I was awakened by loud screaming and yellingahead of us. I squeezed out of my cabin, and saw a huge junk loomingdown upon us. In an awkward rapid its towline had parted, and the hugestructure tumbling uncontrolled in the water, was bearing down on us, broadside on. It seemed as if we should be crushed against the rocks, and we must have been, but for the marvellous skill with which thesailors on the junk, just at the critical time, swung their vessel outof danger. They were yelling with discord, but worked together as oneman. 

In the afternoon we were at Feng-tu-hsien, a flourishing river port, oneof the principal outlets of the opium traffic of the Upper Yangtse. Nextday we were at Fuchou, the other opium port, whose trade in opium isgreater still than that of Feng-tu-hsien. It is at the junction of alarge tributary--the Kung-t'-an-ho, which is navigable for large vesselsfor more than two hundred miles. Large numbers of the Fuchou junks weremoored here, which differ in construction from all other junks on theriver Yangtse in having their great sterns twisted or wrung a quarterround to starboard, and in being steered by an immense stern sweep, andnot by the balanced rudder of an ordinary junk. 

The following day, after a long day's work, we moored beyond the town ofChang-show-hsien. Here I paid the laoban 2000 cash, whereupon he paidhis men something on account, and then blandly suggested a game ofcards. He was fast winning back his money, when I intervened and badethem turn in, as I wished to make an early start in the morning. Theriver seemed to get broader, deeper, and more rapid as we ascended; thetrackers, on the contrary, became thinner, narrower, and more decrepit. 

On March 8th, our fourteenth day out, disaster nearly overtook us whenwithin a day's sail of our destination. Next day we reached Chungkingsafely, having done by some days the fastest journey on record up theYangtse rapids. My captain and his young crew had finished the journeywithin the time agreed upon. 

[Illustration: THE RIVER YANGTSE AT TUNG-LO-HSIA. ]

[Illustration: MEMORIAL ARCHWAY AT THE FORT OF FU-TO-KUAN. ]

CHAPTER IV. 

THE CITY OF CHUNGKING--THE CHINESE CUSTOMS--THE FAMOUS MONSIEUR HAAS, AND A FEW WORDS ON THE OPIUM FALLACY. 

After passing through the gorge known as Tung-lo-hsia ten miles fromChungking, the laoban tried to attract my attention, calling me from mycrib and pointing with his chin up the river repeating "Haikwan onepiecee, " which I interpreted to mean that there was an outpost of thecustoms here in charge of one white man; and this proved to be the case. The customs kuatze or houseboat was moored to the left bank; theImperial Customs flag floated gaily over an animated collection ofnative craft. We drew alongside the junk and an Englishman appeared atthe window. 

"Where from?" he asked, laconically. 

"Australia. "

"The devil, so am I. What part?"

"Victoria. "

"So am I. Town?"

"Last from Ballarat. "

"My native town, by Jove! Jump up. "

I gave him my card. He looked at it and said, "When I was last inVictoria I used to follow with much interest a curious walk acrossAustralia, from the Gulf of Carpentaria to Melbourne done by a namesake. Any relation? The same man! I'm delighted to see you. " Here then at themost inland of the customs stations in China, 1500 miles from the sea, I met my fellow countryman who was born near my home and whose fatherwas a well-known Mayor of Ballarat City. 

Like myself he had formerly been a student of Melbourne University, butI was many years his senior. What was his experience of the University Iforgot to inquire, but mine I remember vividly enough; for it was nothappy. In the examination for the Second-year Medicine, hoping the moreto impress the Professors, I entered my name for honours--and theyrejected me in the preliminary pass. It seems that in the examination inMateria Medica, I had among other trifling lapses prescribed a dose ofOleum Crotonis of "one half to two drachms _carefully increased_. " Iconfess that I had never heard of the wretched stuff; the question wastaken from far on in the text book and, unfortunately, my reading hadnot extended quite so far. When a deputation from my family waited uponthe examiner to ascertain the cause of my misadventure, the onlysatisfaction we got was the obliging assurance "that you might as welllet a mad dog loose in Collins Street" as allow me to become a doctor. And then the examiner produced my prescription. But I thought I saw afaint chance of escape. I pointed a nervous finger to the two words"carefully increased, " and pleaded that that indication of caution oughtto save me. "Save _you_ it might, " he shouted with unnecessaryvehemence; "but, God bless my soul, man, it would not save yourpatient. " The examiner was a man intemperate of speech; so I left theUniversity. It was a severe blow to the University, but the Universitysurvived it. 

My countryman had been five years in China in the customs service, thatmarvellous organisation which is more impartially open to all the worldthan any other service in the world. As an example, I note that amongthe Commissioners of Customs at the ports of the River Yangtse alone, atthe time of my voyage the Commissioner at Shanghai was an Austrian, atKiukiang a Frenchman, at Hankow an Englishman, at Ichang a Scandinavian, and at Chungking a German. 

The Australian had been ten months at Chungking. His up-river journeyoccupied thirty-eight days, and was attended with one moving incident. In the Hsintan rapid the towline parted, and his junk was smashed topieces by the rocks, and all that he possessed destroyed. It was in thisrapid that my boat narrowly escaped disaster, but there was thisdifference in our experiences, that at the time of his accident theriver was sixty feet higher than on the occasion of mine. 

Tang-chia-to, the customs out-station, is ten miles by river fromChungking, but not more than four miles by land. So I sent the boat on, and in the afternoon walked over to the city. A customs coolie came withme to show me the way. My friend accompanied me to the river crossing, walking with me through fields of poppy and sugarcane, and open beds oftobacco. At the river side he left me to return to his solitary home, while I crossed the river in a sampan, and then set out over the hillsto Chungking. It was more than ever noticeable, the poor hungrywretchedness of the river coolies. For three days past all the trackersI had seen were the most wretched in physique of any I had met in China. Phthisis and malaria prevail among them; their work is terribly arduous;they suffer greatly from exposure; they appear to be starving in themidst of abundance. My coolie showed well by contrast with the trackers;he was sleek and well fed. A "chop dollar, " as he would be termed downsouth, for his face was punched or chopped with the small-pox, he swungalong the paved pathway and up and down the endless stone steps in a waythat made me breathless to follow. We passed a few straggling houses andwayside shrines and tombstones. All the dogs in the district recognisedthat I was a stranger, and yelped consumedly, like the wolfish mongrelsthat they are. From a hill we obtained a misty view of the City ofChungking, surrounded on two sides by river and covering a broad expanseof hill and highland. I was taken to the customs pontoon on the southbank of the river, and then up the steep bank by many steps to thebasement of an old temple where the two customs officers have theirpleasant dwelling. I was kindly received, and stayed the night. We werean immense height above the water; the great city was across the broadexpanse of river, here more than seven hundred yards in width. Away downbelow us, moored close to the bank, and guarded by three Chinese armedjunks or gunboats, was the customs hulk, where the searching is done, and where the three officers of the outdoor staff have their offices. There is at present but little smuggling, because there are no Chineseofficials. Smuggling may be expected to begin in earnest as soon asChinese officials are introduced to prevent it. Chinese searchers dobest who use their eyes not to see--best for themselves, that is. Thegunboats guarding this Haikwan Station have a nominal complement ofeighty men, and an actual complement of twenty-four; to avoid, however, unnecessary explanation, pay is drawn by the commanding officer, not forthe actual twenty-four, but for the nominal eighty. 

[Illustration: THE CITY OF CHUNGKING, AS SEEN FROM THE OPPOSITE BANK OFTHE RIVER YANGTSE. ]

My two companions in the temple were tidewaiters in the Customs. Thereare many storied lives locked away among the tidewaiters in China. Downthe river there is a tidewaiter who was formerly professor of French inthe Imperial University of St. Petersburg; and here in Chungking, filling the same humble post, is the godson of a marquis and the nephewof an earl, a brave soldier whose father is a major-general and hismother an earl's daughter, and who is first cousin to that enlightenednobleman and legislator the Earl of C. Few men so young have had so manyand varied experiences as this sturdy Briton. He has humped his swag inAustralia, has earned fifteen shillings a day there as a blacklegprotected by police picquets on a New South Wales coal mine. He was atHarrow under Dr. Butler, and at Corpus Christi, Cambridge. He has beenin the Dublin Fusiliers, and a lieutenant in Weatherby's Horse, enlistedin the 5th Lancers, and rose from private to staff-sergeant, and tenmonths later would have had his commission. He served with distinctionin the Soudan and Zululand, and has three medals with four clasps. Hewas present at El Teb, and at the disaster at Tamai, when McNeill'szareeba was broken. He was at Tel-el-kebir; saw Burnaby go forth to meeta coveted death at Abu-klea, and was present at Abu-Kru when Sir HerbertStewart received his death-wound. He was at Rorke's Drift, and appearswith that heroic band in Miss Elizabeth Thompson's painting. Leaving thearmy, C. Held for a time a commission in the mounted constabulary ofMadras, and now he is a third class assistant tidewaiter in the ImperialMaritime Customs of China, with a salary as low as his spirits are high. 

Chungking is an open port, which is not an open port. By the treaty ofTientsin it is included in the clause which states that any foreignsteamer going to it, a closed port, shall be confiscated. Yet by theChefoo Convention, Chungking is to become an open port as soon as thefirst foreign steamer shall reach there. This reminds one of theconflicting instructions once issued by a certain government inreference to the building of a new gaol. The instructions wereexplicit:--

 Clause I. --The new gaol shall be constructed out of the materials of the old. 

 Clause II. --The prisoners shall remain in the old gaol till the new gaol is constructed. 

In Chungking the Commissioner of Customs is Dr. F. Hirth, whose Chinesehouse is on the highest part of Chungking in front of a temple, which, dimly seen through the mist, is the crowning feature of the city. Adistinguished sinologue is the doctor, one of the finest Chinesescholars in the Empire, author of "China and the Roman Orient, " "AncientPorcelain, " and an elaborate "Textbook of Documentary Chinese, " which isin the hands of most of the Customs staff in China, for whose assistanceit was specially written. Dr. Hirth is a German who has been many yearsin China. He holds the third button, the transparent blue button, thethird rank in the nine degrees by which Chinese Mandarins aredistinguished. 

The best site in Chungking has been fortunately secured by the MethodistEpiscopalian Mission of the United States. Their missionaries dwell withgreat comfort in the only foreign-built houses in the city in a largecompound with an ample garden. Their Mission hospital is a well-equippedAnglo-Chinese building attached to the city wall, and overlooking fromits lofty elevation the Little River, and the walled city beyond it. 

The wards of the hospital are comfortable and well lit; the floors arevarnished; the beds are provided with spring mattresses; indeed, in thecomfort of the hospital the Chinese find its chief discomfort. Aseparate compartment has been walled off for the treatment ofopium-smokers who desire by forced restraint to break off the habit. Three opium-smokers were in durance at the time of my visit; they werehappy and contented and well nourished, and none but the trained eye ofan expert, who saw what he wished to see, could have guessed that theywere addicted to the use of a drug which has been described inexaggerated terms as "more deadly to the Chinese than war, famine, andpestilence combined. " (Rev. A. H. Smith, "Chinese Characteristics, " p. 187. )

Not long ago three men were admitted into the hospital suffering, ontheir own confession, from the opium habit. They freely expressed thedesire of their hearts to be cured, and were received with welcome andplaced in confinement. Every effort was made to wean them from the habitwhich, they alleged, had "seized them in a death grip. " Attentive to theteacher and obedient to the doctor, they gave every hope of being earlyadmitted into Church fellowship. But one night the desire to return tothe drug became irresistible, and, strangely, the desire attacked allthree men at the same time on the same night; and they escaped together. Sadly enough there was in this case marked evidence of the demoralisinginfluence of opium, for when they escaped they took with them everythingportable that they could lay their hands on. It was a sad trial. 

Excellent medical work is done in the hospital. From the first annualreport just published by the surgeon in charge, an M. D. From the UnitedStates, I extract the two following pleasing items. 

_Medical Work. _--"Mr. Tsang Taotai, of Kuei-Iang-fu, was an eye witnessto several operations, as well as being operated upon for InternalPiles" (the last words in large capitals). 

_Evangelistic Work. _--"Mrs. Wei, in the hospital for suppurating glandsof the neck, became greatly interested in the truth while there, left abeliever, and attends Sunday service regular (_sic_), walking from adistant part of the city each Sunday. We regard her as very hopeful, andshe is reported by the Chinese as being very warm-hearted. She will beconverted when the first vacancy occurs in the nursing staff. "

During my stay in Chungking I frequently met the French Consul "_encommission_, " Monsieur Haas, who had lately arrived on a diplomaticmission, which was invested with much secrecy. It was believed to havefor its object the diversion of the trade of Szechuen from its naturalchannel, the Yangtse River, southward through Yunnan province toTonquin. Success need not be feared to attend his mission. "_Ilsperdront et leur temps et leur argent. _" Monsieur Haas has helped tomake history in his time. The most gentle-mannered of men, he writeswith strange rancour against the perfidious designs of Britain in theEast. In his diplomatic career Monsieur Haas suffered one greatdisappointment. He was formerly the French Chargé d'Affaires andPolitical Resident at the court of King Theebaw in Mandalay. And it washis "Secret Treaty" with the king which forced the hand of England andled to her hasty occupation of Upper Burma. The story is a very prettyone. By this treaty French influence was to become predominant in UpperBurma; the country was to become virtually a colony of France, with acommunity of interest with France, with France to support her in anydifficulty with British Burma. Such a position England could nottolerate for one moment. Fortunately for us French intrigue outwitteditself, and the Secret Treaty became known. It was in this way. Draftcopies of the agreement drawn up in French and Burmese were exchangedbetween Monsieur Haas and King Theebaw. But Monsieur Haas could not readBurmese, and he distrusted the King. A trusted interpreter wasnecessary, and there was only one man in Mandalay that seemed to himsufficiently trustworthy. To Signor A---- then, the Italian Chargéd'Affaires and Manager of the Irrawaddy Flotilla Company, Monsieur Haaswent and, pledging him to secrecy, sought his assistance as interpreter. 

As Monsieur Haas had done, so did his Majesty the King. Two great mindswere being guided by the same spirit. Theebaw could not read French, andhe distrusted Monsieur Haas. An interpreter was essential, and, castingabout for a trusted one, he decided that no one could serve him sofaithfully as Signor A----, and straightway sought his assistance, asMonsieur Haas had done. Their fates were in his hands; which mastershould the Italian serve, the French or the Burmese? He did nothesitate--he betrayed them both. Within an hour the Secret Treaty was inpossession of the British Resident. Action was taken with splendidpromptitude. "M. De Freycinet, when pressed on the subject, repudiatedany intention of acquiring for France a political predominance inBurma. " An immediate pretext was found to place Theebaw in a dilemma;eleven days later the British troops had crossed the frontier, and UpperBurma was another province of our Indian Empire. 

Monsieur Haas was recalled, and his abortive action repudiated. He hadacted, of course, without orders, he had erred from too much zeal. Signor A---- was also recalled, but did not go because the order was notaccompanied with the customary cheque to defray the cost of his passage. His services to England were rewarded, and he retained his engagement asManager of the Flotilla Company; but he lost his appointment as theRepresentative of Italy--an honourable post with a dignified salary paidby the Italian Government in I. O. U. 's. 

Chungking is an enormously rich city. It is built at the junction of theLittle River and the Yangtse, and is, from its position, the great riverport of the province of Szechuen. Water-ways stretch from here animmense distance inland. The Little River is little only in comparisonwith the Yangtse, and in any other country would be regarded as a mightyinland river. It is navigable for more than 2000 li (600 miles). TheYangtse drains a continent; the Little River drains a province largerthan a European kingdom. Chungking is built at a great height above thepresent river, now sixty feet below its summer level. Its walls areunscalable. Good influences are directed over the city from a loftypagoda on the topmost hill in the vicinity. Temples abound, and spaciousyamens and rich buildings, the crowning edifice of all being the Templeto the God of Literature. Distances are prodigious in Chungking, and thestreets so steep and hilly, with flights of stairs cut from the solidrock, that only a mountaineer can live here in comfort. All who canafford it go in chairs; stands of sedan chairs are at every importantstreet corner. 

[Illustration: A TEMPLE THEATRE IN CHUNGKING. ]

During the day the city vibrates with teeming traffic; at night thestreets are deserted and dead, the stillness only disturbed by adistant watchman springing his bamboo rattle to keep himself awake andwarn robbers of his approach. In no city in Europe is security to lifeand property better guarded than in this, or, indeed, in any otherimportant city in China. It is a truism to say that no people are morelaw-abiding than the Chinese; "they appear, " says Medhurst, "to maintainorder as if by common consent, independent of all surveillance. "

Our Consul in Chungking is Mr. E. H. Fraser, an accomplished Chinesescholar, who fills a difficult post with rare tact and complete success. Consul Fraser estimates the population of Chungking at 200, 000; theChinese, he says, have a record of 35, 000 families within the walls. Ofthis number from forty to fifty per cent. Of all men, and from four tofive per cent. Of all women, indulge in the opium pipe. The city aboundsin opium-shops--shops, that is, where the little opium-lamps and theopium-pipes are stacked in hundreds upon hundreds. Opium is one of thestaple products of this rich province, and one of the chief sources ofwealth of this flourishing city. 

During the nine months that I was in China I saw thousands ofopium-smokers, but I never saw one to whom could be applied thatdescription by Lay (of the British and Foreign Bible Society), so oftenquoted, of the typical opium-smoker in China "with his lank andshrivelled limbs, tottering gait, sallow visage, feeble voice, anddeath-boding glance of eye, proclaiming him the most forlorn creaturethat treads upon the ground. "

This fantastic description, paraded for years past for our sympathy, canbe only applied to an infinitesimal number of the millions in China whosmoke opium. It is a well-known fact that should a Chinese sufferingfrom the extreme emaciation of disease be also in the habit of usingthe opium-pipe, it is the pipe and not the disease that in ninety-ninecases out of a hundred will be wrongly blamed as the cause of theemaciation. 

During the year 1893 4275 tons of Indian opium were imported into China. The Chinese, we are told, plead to us with "outstretched necks" to ceasethe great wrong we are doing in forcing them to buy our opium. "Many atime, " says the Rev. Dr. Hudson Taylor, "have I seen the Chinaman pointwith his thumb to Heaven, and say, 'There is Heaven up there! There isHeaven up there!' What did he mean by that? You may bring this opium tous; you may force it upon us; we cannot resist you, but there is a Powerup there that will inflict vengeance. " (_National Righteousness_, Dec. 1892, p. 13. )

But, with all respect to Dr. Hudson Taylor and his ingeniousinterpretation of the Chinaman's gesture, it is extremely difficult forthe traveller in China to believe that the Chinese are sincere in theircondemnation of opium and the opium traffic. "In some countries, " saysWingrove Cooke, "words represent facts, but this is never the case inChina. " Li Hung Chang, the Viceroy of Chihli, in the well-known letterthat he addressed to the Rev. F. Storrs Turner, the Secretary of theSociety for the Suppression of the Opium Trade, on May 24th, 1881, aletter still widely circulated and perennially cited, says, "the poppyis certainly surreptitiously grown in some parts of China, notwithstanding the laws and frequent Imperial edicts prohibiting itscultivation. "

Surreptitiously grown in some parts of China! Why, from the time I leftHupeh till I reached the boundary of Burma, a distance of 1700 miles, Inever remember to have been out of sight of the poppy. Li Hung Changcontinues, "I earnestly hope that your Society, and all right-mindedmen of your country, will support the efforts China is now making toescape from the thraldom of opium. " And yet you are told in China thatthe largest growers of the poppy in China are the family of Li HungChang. 

The Society for the Suppression of Opium has circulated by tens ofthousands a petition which was forwarded to them from theChinese--spontaneously, per favour of the missionaries. "Some tens ofmillions, " this petition says, "some tens of millions of human beings indistress are looking on tiptoe with outstretched necks for salvation tocome from you, O just and benevolent men of England! If not for the goodor honour of your country, then for mercy's sake do this good deed nowto save a people, and the rescued millions shall themselves be yourgreat reward. " (_China's Millions_, iv. , 156. )

Assume, then, that the Chinese do not want our opium, and unavailinglybeseech us to stay this nefarious traffic, which is as if "the RiversPhlegethon and Lethe were united in it, carrying fire and destructionwherever it flows, and leaving a deadly forgetfulness wherever it haspassed. " (The Rev. Dr. Wells Williams. "The Middle Kingdom, " i. , 288. )

They do not want our opium, but they purchase from us 4275 tons perannum. 

Of the eighteen provinces of China four only, Kiangsu, Cheh-kiang, Fuhkien, and Kuangtung use Indian opium, the remaining fourteenprovinces use exclusively home-grown opium. Native-grown opium hasentirely driven the imported opium from the markets of the YangtseValley; no Indian opium, except an insignificant quantity, comes up theriver even as far as Hankow. The Chinese do not want our opium--itcompetes with their own. In the three adjoining provinces of Szechuen, Yunnan, and Kweichow they grow their own opium; but they grow more thanthey need, and have a large surplus to export to other parts of theEmpire. The amount of this surplus can be estimated, because allexported opium has to pay customs and likin dues to the value of twoshillings a pound, and the amount thus collected is known. Allowing nomargin for opium that has evaded customs dues, and there are no morescientific smugglers than the Chinese, we still find that during theyear 1893 2250 tons of opium were exported from the province ofSzechuen, 1350 tons from Yunnan, and 450 tons from Kweichow, a total of4050 tons exported by the rescued millions of three provinces only forthe benefit of their fellow-countrymen, who, with outstretched necks, plead to England to leave them alone in their monopoly. 

Edicts are still issued against the use of opium. They are drawn up byChinese philanthropists over a quiet pipe of opium, signed byopium-smoking officials, whose revenues are derived from the poppy, andposted near fields of poppy by the opium-smoking magistrates who ownthem. 

In the City Temple of Chungking there is a warning to opium-eaters. Oneof the fiercest devils in hell is there represented gloating over thecrushed body of an opium-smoker; his protruding tongue is smeared withopium put there by the victim of "_yin_" (the opium craving), who wishesto renounce the habit. The opium thus collected is the perquisite of theTemple priests, and at the gate of the Temple there is a stall for thesale of opium fittings. 

Morphia pills are sold in Chungking by the Chinese chemists to cure theopium habit. This profitable remedy was introduced by the foreignchemists of the coast ports and adopted by the Chinese. Its advantageis that it converts a desire for opium into a taste for morphia, a modeof treatment analogous to changing one's stimulant from colonial beer tomethylated spirit. In 1893, 15, 000 ounces of hydrochlorate of morphiawere admitted into Shanghai alone. 

The China Inland Mission have an important station at Chungking. It wasopened seventeen years ago, in 1877, and is assisted by a representativeof the Horsburgh Mission. The mission is managed by a charming Englishgentleman, who has exchanged all that could make life happy in Englandfor the wretched discomfort of this malarious city. Every assistance Ineeded was given me by this kindly fellow who, like nearly all the ChinaInland Mission men, deserves success if he cannot command it. A moreengaging personality I have rarely met, and it was sad to think that forthe past year, 1893, no new convert was made by his Mission among theChinese of Chungking. (_China's Millions_, January, 1894. ) The Missionhas been working short-handed, with only three missionaries instead ofsix, and progress has been much delayed in consequence. 

The London Missionary Society, who have been here since 1889, have twomissionaries at work, and have gathered nine communicants and sixadherents. Their work is largely aided by an admirable hospital underCecil Davenport, F. R. C. S. , a countryman of my own. "Broad Benevolence"are the Chinese characters displayed over the entrance to the hospital, and they truthfully describe the work done by the hospital. In thechapel adjoining, a red screen is drawn down the centre of the church, and separates the men from the women--one of the chief pretexts that anEnglishman has for going to church is thus denied the Chinaman, since hecannot cast an ogling eye through a curtain. 

CHAPTER V. 

THE JOURNEY FROM CHUNGKING TO SUIFU--CHINESE INNS. 

I left the boat at Chungking and started on my land journey, going west230 miles to Suifu. I had with me two coolies to carry my things, theone who received the higher pay having also to bring me my food, make mybed, and pay away my copper cash. They could not speak a single word ofEnglish. They were to be paid for the journey one _4s. 10d. _ and theother _5s. 7d. _ They were to be entitled to no perquisites, were to findthemselves on the way, and take their chance of employment on the returnjourney. They were to lead me into Suifu on the seventh day out fromChungking. All that they undertook to do they did to my completesatisfaction. 

On the morning of March 14th I set out from Chungking to cross 1600miles over Western China to Burma. Men did not speak hopefully of mychance of getting through. There were the rains of June and July to befeared apart from other obstacles. 

Père Lorain, the Procureur of the French Mission, who spoke from anexperience of twenty-five years of China, assured me that, speaking noChinese, unarmed, unaccompanied, except by two poor coolies of thehumblest class, and on foot, I would have _les plus grandesdifficultés_, and Monsieur Haas, the Consul _en commission_, was equallypessimistic. The evening before starting, the Consul and my friendCarruthers (one of the _Inverness Courier_ Carruthers) gave me a lessonin Chinese. "French before breakfast" was nothing to this kind ofcramming. I learnt a dozen useful words and phrases, and rehearsed themin the morning to a member of the Inland Mission, who cheered me bysaying that it would be a clever Chinaman indeed who could understandChinese like mine. 

I left on foot by the West Gate, being accompanied so far by A. J. Little, an experienced traveller and authority on China, manager inChungking of the Chungking Transport Company (which deals especiallywith the transport of cargo from Ichang up the rapids), whose book on"The Yangtse Gorges" is known to every reader of books on China. 

I was dressed as a Chinese teacher in thickly-wadded Chinese gown, withpants, stockings, and sandals, with Chinese hat and pigtail. In my dressI looked a person of weight. I must acknowledge that my outfit was verypoor; but this was not altogether a disadvantage, for my men would havethe less temptation to levy upon it. Still it would have been awkward ifmy men had taken it into their heads to walk off with my things, becauseI could not have explained my loss. My chief efforts, I knew, throughoutmy journey would be applied in the direction of inducing the Chinese totreat me with the respect that was undoubtedly due to one who, in theirown words, had done them the "exalted honour" of visiting "their meanand contemptible country. " For I could not afford a private sedan chair, though I knew that Baber had written that "no traveller in Western Chinawho possesses any sense of self-respect should journey without a sedanchair, not necessarily as a conveyance, but for the honour and glory ofthe thing. Unfurnished with this indispensable token of respectabilityhe is liable to be thrust aside on the highway, to be kept waiting atferries, to be relegated to the worst inn's worst room, and generally tobe treated with indignity, or, what is sometimes worse, withfamiliarity, as a peddling footpad who, unable to gain a living in hisown country, has come to subsist on China. " ("Travels and Researches inWestern China, " p. 1. )

Six li out (two miles), beyond the gravemounds there is a small villagewhere ponies are kept for hire. A kind friend came with me as far as thevillage to act as my interpreter, and here he engaged a pony for me. Itwas to carry me ten miles for fourpence. It was small, rat-like andwiry, and was steered by the "mafoo" using the tail like a tiller. Mounted then on this small beast, which carried me without wincing, Ijogged along over the stone-flagged pathway, down hill and along valley, scaling and descending the long flights of steps which lead over themountains. The bells of the pony jingled merrily; the day was fine andthe sun shone behind the clouds. My two coolies sublet their contracts, and had their loads borne for a fraction of a farthing per mile bycoolies returning empty-handed to Suifu. 

[Illustration: ON THE MAIN ROAD TO SUIFU. ]

Fu-to-kuan four miles from Chungking is a powerful hill-fort that guardsthe isthmus where the Yangtse and the Little River come nearly togetherbefore encircling Chungking. Set in the face of the cliff is a giganticimage of Buddha. Massive stone portals, elaborately carved, and hugecommemorative tablets cut from single blocks of stone and deeplyengraved, here adorn the highway. The archways have been erected bycommand of the Emperor, but at the expense of their relatives, to thememory of virtuous widows who have refused to remarry, or who havesacrificed their lives on the death of their husbands. Happy are thosewhose names are thus recorded, for not only do they obtain ten thousandmerits in heaven, as well as the Imperial recognition of the Son ofHeaven on earth; but as an additional reward their souls may, onentering the world a second time, enjoy the indescribable felicity ofinhabiting the bodies of men. 

Cases where the widow has thus brought honour to the family areconstantly recorded in the pages of the _Peking Gazette_. One of morethan usual merit is described in the _Peking Gazette_ of June 10th, 1892. The story runs:--

"The Governor of Shansi narrates the story of a virtuous wife whodestroyed herself after the death of her husband. The lady was a nativeof T'ienmen, in Hupeh, and both her father and grandfather wereofficials who attained the rank of Taotai. When she was little more thanten years old her mother fell ill. The child cut flesh from her body andmixed it with the medicines and thus cured her parent. The year beforelast she was married to an expectant magistrate. Last autumn, just afterhe had obtained an appointment, he was taken violently ill. She mixedher flesh with the medicine but it was in vain, and he died shortlyafterwards. Overcome with grief, and without parents or children todemand her care, she determined that she would not live. Only waitingtill she had completed the arrangements for her husband's interment, sheswallowed gold and powder of lead. She handed her trousseau to herrelatives to defray her funeral expenses, and made presents to theyounger members of the family and the servants, after which, draped inher state robes, she sat waiting her end. The poison began to work andsoon all was over. The memorialist thinks that the case is one whichshould be recorded in the erection of a memorial arch, and he asks theEmperor to grant that honour to the deceased lady. " ("_Granted. _")

Near the base of the rock upon which the hill-fort is built, and betweenit and the city, the Methodist Episcopalian Mission of the U. S. A. Commenced in 1886 to build what the Chinese, in their ignorance, fearedwas a foreign fort, but what was nothing more than a mission house in acompound surrounded by a powerful wall. The indiscreet mysteryassociated with its erection was the exciting cause of the anti-foreignriot of July, 1886. 

From the fort the pathway led us through a beautiful country. We metnumbers of sedan chairs, borne by two coolies, or three, according tothe importance of the traveller. There were Chinese gentlemen mounted onponies or mules; there were strings of coolies swinging along underprodigious loads of salt and coal, and huge bales of raw cotton. Buffaloes with slow and painful steps were ploughing the paddy fields, the water up to their middles--the primitive plough and share guided byhalf-naked Chinamen. Along the road there are inns and tea-houses everymile or two, for this is one of the most frequented roadways of China. At one good-sized village my cook signed to me to dismount; the mafooand pony were paid off, and I sat down in an inn, and was served with anexcellent dish of rice and minced beef. The inn was crowded and open tothe street. Despite my Chinese dress anyone could see that I was aforeigner, but I was not far enough away from Chungking to excite muchcuriosity. The other diners treated me with every courtesy; they offeredme of their dishes, and addressed me in Chinese--a compliment which Irepaid by thanking them blandly in English. 

Now I went on, on foot, though I had difficulty in keeping pace with mymen. Behind the village we climbed a very steep hill by interminablesteps, and passed under an archway at the summit. Descending the hill, my cook engaged in a controversy with a thin lad whom he had hired tocarry his load a stage. The dispute waxed warm, and, while they stoppedto argue it out at leisure, I went on. My cook, engaged through the kindoffices of the Inland Mission, was a man of strong convictions; and inthe last I saw of the dispute he was pulling the unfortunate cooliedownhill by the pigtail. When he overtook me he was alone and smilingcheerfully, well satisfied with himself for having settled _that_ littledispute. The road became more level, and we got over the ground quickly. 

Late in the evening I was led into a crowded inn in a large village, where we were to stay the night. We had come twenty-seven miles, and hadbegun well. I was shown into a room with three straw-covered woodenbedsteads, a rough table, lit by a lighted taper in a saucer of oil, arough seat, and the naked earth floor. Hot water was brought me to washwith and tea to drink, and my man prepared me an excellent supper. Mybaggage was in the corner; it consisted of two light bamboo boxes withChinese padlocks, a bamboo hamper, and a roll of bedding covered withoilcloth. An oilcloth is indispensable to the traveller in China, forplaced next the straw on a Chinese bed it is impassable to bugs. Andduring all my journey in China I was never disturbed in my sleep by thisunpleasant pest. Bugs in China are sufficiently numerous, but theirnumbers cannot be compared with the gregarious hosts that disturb thetraveller in Spain. 

My last night in Spain was spent in Cadiz, the most charming city inthe peninsula. I had lost the last boat off to the steamer, on which Iwas a passenger; it was late at night, and I knew of no inn near thelanding. At midnight, as I was walking in the Plaza, called after thatrevered monarch, Queen Isabel II. , I was spoken to at the door of afonda, and asked if I wanted a bedroom. It was the taberna "LaValenciana. " I was delighted; it was the very thing I was looking for, Isaid. The innkeeper had just one room unoccupied, and he showed meupstairs into a plain, homely apartment, which I was pleased to engagefor the night. "_Que usted descanse bien_" (may you sleep well), saidthe landlord, and left me. Keeping the candle burning I tumbled intobed, for I was very tired, but jumped out almost immediately, despite myfatigue. I turned down the clothes, and saw the bugs gathering in thecentre from all parts of the bed. I collected a dozen or two, and putthem in a basin of water, and, dressing myself, went out on the landingand called the landlord. 

He came up yawning. 

"Sir, " he said, "do you wish anything?"

"Nothing; but it is impossible, absolutely impossible, for me to sleepin that bed. "

"But why, señor?"

"Because it is full of bugs. "

"Oh no, sir, that cannot be, that cannot be; there is not a bug in thehouse. "

"But I have seen them. "

"You must be mistaken; it is impossible that there can be a bug in thehouse. "

"But I have caught some. "

"It makes twenty years that I live in this house, and never have I seensuch a thing. "

"Pardon me, but will you do me the favour to look at this basin?"

"Sir, you are right, you are completely right; it is the weather; _everybed in Cadiz is now full of them_. "

In the morning, and every morning, we were away at daylight, and walkedsome miles before breakfast. All the way to Suifu the road is a pavedcauseway, 3 feet 6 inches to 6 feet wide, laid down with dressed flagsof stone; and here, at least, it cannot be alleged, as the Chineseproverb would have it, that their roads are "good for ten years and badfor ten hundred. " There are, of course, no fences; the main road picksits way through the cultivated fields; no traveller ever thinks oftrespassing from the roadway, nor did I ever see any question oftrespass between neighbours. In this law-abiding country the peasantryconspicuously follow the Confucian maxim taught in China four hundredyears before Christ, "Do not unto others what you would not have othersdo unto you. " Every rood of ground is under tillage. 

Hills are everywhere terraced like the seats of an amphitheatre, eachterrace being irrigated from the one below it by a small stream ofwater, drawn up an inclined plain by a continuous chain bucket, workedwith a windlass by either hand or foot. The poppy is everywhere abundantand well tended; there are fields of winter wheat, and pink-floweredbeans, and beautiful patches of golden rape-seed. Dotted over thelandscape are pretty Szechuen farmhouses in groves of trees. Splendidbanyan trees give grateful shelter to the traveller. Of this country itcould be written as a Chinese traveller wrote of England, "their fertilehills, adorned with the richest luxuriance, resemble in the outline oftheir summits the arched eyebrows of a fair woman. "

The country is well populated, and a continuous stream of people ismoving along the road. Grand memorial arches span the roadway, many ofthem notable efforts of monumental skill, with columns and architravescarved with elephants and deer, and flowers and peacocks, and theImperial seven-tailed dragon of China. Chinese art is seen at its bestin this rich province. 

[Illustration: CULTIVATION IN TERRACES. In the foreground the poppy inbloom. ]

[Illustration: SCENE IN SZECHUEN. ]

I lived, of course, in the common Chinese inn, ate Chinese food, and waseverywhere treated with courtesy and good nature; but at first I foundit trying to be such an object of curiosity; to have to do all things inunsecluded publicity; to have to push my way through streets thronged bythe curious to see the foreigner. My meals I ate in the presence of thestreet before gaping crowds. When they came too close I told thempolitely in English to keep back a little, and they did so if Iillustrated my words by gesture. When I scratched my head and they sawthe spurious pigtail, they smiled; when I flicked the dust off the tablewith my pigtail, they laughed hilariously. 

The wayside inns are usually at the side of an arcade of grass andbamboo stretched above the main road. Two or three ponies are usuallywaiting here for hire, and expectant coolies are eager to offer theirservices. In engaging a pony you make an offer casually, as if you hadno desire in the world of its being accepted, and then walk on as if youhad no intention whatever of riding for the next month. The mafoodemands more, but will come down; you stick to your offer, thoughprepared to increase it; so demand and offer you exchange with the mafootill the width of the village is between you, and your voices are almostout of hearing, when you come to terms. 

Suppose I wanted a chair to give me a rest for a few miles--it wasusually slung under the rafters--Laokwang (my cook) unobserved by anyonebut me pointed to it with his thumb inquiringly. I nodded assent andapparently nothing more happened and the conversation, of which I wasquite ignorant, continued. We left together on foot, my man stillmaintaining a crescendo conversation with the inn people till well away. When almost out of hearing he called out something and an answer camefaintly back from the distance. It was his ultimatum as regards priceand its acceptance--they had been bargaining all the time. My manmotioned to me to wait, said the one word "_chiaodza_" (sedan chair) andin a few moments the chair of bamboo and wicker came rapidly down theroad carried by two bearers. They put down the chair before me and bowedto me; I took my seat and was borne easily and pleasantly along at fourmiles an hour at a charge of less than one penny a mile. 

My men received nearly 400 cash a day each; but from time to time theysweated their contract to unemployed coolies and had their loads carriedfor so little as sixty cash (one penny halfpenny), for two-thirds of aday's journey. 

At nightfall we always reached some large village or town where my cookselected the best inn for my resting place, the best inn in such casesbeing usually the one which promised him the largest squeeze. All thetowns through which the road passes swarm with inns, for there is animmense floating population to provide for. Competition is keen. Toutsstand at the doorway of every inn, who excitedly waylay the travellerand cry the merits of their houses. At the counter inside the entrance, piles of pukais (the warm Chinese bedding), are stacked for hire--few ofthe travellers carry their own bedding. The inns are sufficientlycomfortable. The bedrooms are in one or two stories and are arrangedround one or more, or a succession of courts. The cheapness is to becommended. For supper, bed, and light, tea during the night and teabefore starting in the morning, and various little comforts, such as hotwater for washing, the total charge for the six nights of my journeyfrom Chungking to Suifu was 840 cash (_1s. 9d. _). 

Rice was my staple article of diet; eggs, fowls, and vegetables werealso abundant and cheap; but I avoided pork which is the fleshuniversally eaten throughout China by all but the Mohammedans andvegetarians. In case of emergency I had a few tins of foreign storeswith me. I made it a point never to drink water--I drank tea. NoChinaman ever drinks anything cold. Every half hour or hour he can reachan inn or teahouse where tea can be infused for him in a few minutes. The price of a bowl of tea with a pinch of tea-leaves, filled andrefilled with hot water _ad lib_, is two cash--equal to the twentiethpart of one penny. Pork has its weight largely added to by beinginjected with water, the point of the syringe being passed into a largevein; this is usually described as the Chinese method of "wateringstock. "

On the third day we were at Yuenchuan, sixty-three miles from Chungking. On the 5th, we passed through Luchow, one of the richest and mostpopulous cities on the Upper Yangtse, and at noon next day we againreached the Yangtse at the Temple of the Goddess of Mercy, two milesdown the river from the large town of Lanchihsien. According to myinterpretation of the gesticulations of Laokwang, we were then fortymiles from Suifu, and a beautiful sunny afternoon before us, in which toeasily cover one half the distance. But I must reckon with my guide. Hewished to remain here; I wished to go on; but as I could not understandhis Chinese explanation, nor advance any protest except in English, ofwhich he was innocent, I could only look aggrieved and make a virtue ofa necessity. He did, however, convey to me his solemn assurance thatto-morrow (_ming tien_) he would conduct me into Suifu before sunset. Anelderly Chinaman, who had given us the advantage of his company atvarious inns during the last three days, here entered into theconversation, produced his watch, and, with his hand over his heart, which, in a Chinaman, is in the centre of the breast-bone, added hissacred asseveration to my guide's. So I stayed. We were quite a friendlyparty travelling together. 

In the middle of the night a light was flashed into our room and a voicepealed out an alarm that awoke even my two Chinese, who alwaysobligingly slept in the same room with me. I had protested against theirdoing so, but they mistook my expostulation for approbation. We rose atonce, and came down the steep bank to a boat that was lying stern toshore showing a light. I was charmed to get such an early start, andconstrued the indications into a ferry boat to take me across the river, whence we would go by a short route into Suifu. The boat was loaded withsugar and had a crew of two men and three boys. There was an awning overthe cargo, but most of the space under it was already occupied by twelveamiable Chinese, among whom were six promiscuous friends, who had keptwith us for several stages, and had, I imagine, derived some pecuniaryadvantages from my company. Yet this was not a ferry boat, but apassenger boat engaged especially for me to carry me to Suifu beforenightfall. The Chinese passengers had courteously projected theircompanionship upon the inarticulate stranger. An elderly gentleman, withhuge goggles and long nails, whose fingers were stained with opium, wasthe pacificator of the party, and calmed the frequent wranglings inwhich the other eighteen Chinese engaged with much earnestness. 

Well, this boat--a leaky, heavy, old tub that had to be tracked nearlyall the way--carried me the forty miles to Suifu within contract time. The boatmen on board worked sixteen hours without any rest except at twohasty meals; the frayed towrope never parted at any rapid, and only oncedid our boat get entangled with any other. Towards sundown we wereabreast of the fine pagoda of Suifu, and a little later were at thelanding. The city is on a high, level shelf of land with high hillsbehind it. It lies in the angle of bifurcation formed by the Yangtseriver (here known as the "River of Golden Sand"), going west, and theMin, or Chentu river, going north to Chentu, the capital city of theprovince. I landed below the southern wall, and said good-bye to mycompanions. Climbing up the bank into the city, I passed by a busythoroughfare to the pretty home of the Inland Mission, where I receiveda kind welcome from the gentleman and lady who conduct the mission, anda charming English girl, also in the mission, who lives with them. 

CHAPTER VI. 

THE CITY OF SUIFU--THE CHINA INLAND MISSION, WITH SOME GENERAL REMARKSABOUT MISSIONARIES IN CHINA. 

At Suifu I rested a day in order to engage new coolies to go with me toChaotong in Yunnan Province, distant 290 miles. Neither of my twoChungking men would re-engage to go further. Yet in Chungking Laokwangthe cook had declared that he was prepared to go with me all the way toTalifu. But now he feared the loneliness of the road to Chaotong. Theway, he said, was mountainous and little trodden, and robbers would seethe smallness of our party and "come down and stab us. " I was then gladthat I had not paid him the retaining fee he had asked in Chungking totake me to Tali. 

I called upon the famous Catholic missionaries, the Provicaire Moutotand Père Béraud, saw the more important sights and visited somenewly-arrived missionaries of the American Board of Missions. Four ofthe Americans were living together. I called with the Inland missionaryat a time when they were at dinner. We were shown into the drawing-room, where the most conspicuous ornament was a painted scroll with a wellexecuted drawing of the poppy in flower, a circumstance which wouldconfirm the belief of the Chinese who saw it, that the poppy is held inveneration by foreigners. While we waited we heard the noise of dinnergradually cease, and then the door opened and one of the single ladiesentered. She was fierce to look at, tall as a grenadier, with a stridelike a camel; she was picking her teeth with a hairpin. She courteouslyexpressed her regret that she could not invite us to dinner. "Waal now, "she said, looking at us from under her spectacles, "ahm real sorry Icaan't ask you to have somethin' to eat, but we've just finished, and Iguess there ain't nothin' left. "

Fourteen American missionaries were lately imported into Suifu in oneshipment. Most of them are from Chicago. One of their earliest effortswill be to translate into Chinese Mr. Stead's "If Christ came toChicago, " in order the better to demonstrate to the Chinese the loftystandard of morality, virtue, probity, and honour attained by theChristian community that sent them to China to enlighten the poorbenighted heathen in this land of darkness. 

Szechuen is a Catholic stronghold. There are nominally one hundredthousand Catholics in the province, representing the labours of manyFrench missionaries for a period of rather more than two hundred years. Actually, however, there are only sixty thousand Chinese in the provincewho could be called Catholics. To use the words of the Provicaire, theChinese are "_trôp matèrialistes_" to become Christian, and, as they areall "liars and robbers, " the faith is not easily propagated amongstthem. Rarely have I met two more charming men than these bravemissionaries. French, they told me, I speak with the "_vrai accentparisien_, " a compliment which I have no doubt is true, though itconflicts with my experience in Paris, where most of the true Parisiansto whom I spoke in their own language gave me the same look ofintelligence that I observe in the Chinaman when I address him inEnglish. Père Moutot has been twenty-three years in China--six years atthe sacred Mount Omi, and seventeen years in Suifu; Père Béraud has beentwenty-three years in Suifu. They both speak Chinese to perfection, andhave been co-workers with the bishop in the production of aMandarin-French dictionary just published at Sicawei; they dress asChinese, and live as Chinese in handsome mission premises built inChinese style. There is a pretty chapel in the compound with scrolls andmemorial tablets presented by Chinese Catholics, a school for boysattended by fifty ragamuffins, a nunnery and girls' school, and a fitresidence for the venerable bishop. When showing me the chapel, theProvicaire told me of the visit of one of Our Lord's Apostles to Suifu. He seemed to have no doubt himself of the truth of the story. Traditionsays that St. Thomas came to China, and, if further proof were wanting, there is the black image of Tamo worshipped to this day in many of thetemples of Szechuen. Scholars, however, identify this image and itsmarked Hindoo features with that of the Buddhist evangelist Tamo, who isknown to have visited China in the sixth century. 

In Suifu there is a branch of the China Inland Mission under anenthusiastic young missionary, who was formerly a French polisher inHereford. He is helped by an amiable wife and by a charming English girlscarcely out of her teens. The missionary's work has, he tells me, been"abundantly blessed, "--he has baptised six converts in the last threeyears. A fine type of man is this missionary, brave and self-reliant, sympathetic and self-denying, hopeful and self-satisfied. His views as amissionary are well-defined. I give them in his own words:--"ThoseChinese who have never heard the Gospel will be judged by the Almightyas He thinks fit"--a contention which does not admit of dispute--"butthose Chinese who have heard the Christian doctrine, and still steeltheir hearts against the Holy Ghost, will assuredly go to hell; there isno help for them, they can believe and they won't; had they believed, their reward would be eternal; they refuse to believe and theirpunishment will be eternal. " But the destruction that awaits the Chinesemust be pointed out to them with becoming gentleness, in accordance withthe teaching of the Rev. S. F. Woodin, of the American Baptist Mission, Foochow, who says:--"There are occasions when we must speak that awfulword 'hell, ' but this should always be done in a spirit of earnestlove. " (_Records_ of the Shanghai Missionary Conference, 1877, p. 91. )It was a curious study to observe the equanimity with which thisgood-natured man contemplates the work he has done in China, when toobtain six dubious conversions he has on his own confession sent somethousands of unoffending Chinese _en enfer bouillir éternellement_. 

But, if the teaching of this good missionary is unwelcome to theChinese, and there are hundreds in China who teach as he does, howinfinitely more distasteful must be the teaching of both the Founder andthe Secretary of the Mission which sent him to China. 

"They are God's lost ones who are in China, " says Mr. C. L. Morgan, editor of _The Christian_, "and God cares for them and yearns overthem. " (_China's Millions_, 1879, p. 94. ) "The millions of Chinese, "(who have never heard the Gospel, ) says Mr. B. Broomhall, secretary ofthe China Inland Mission, and editor of _China's Millions_, "where arethey going, what is to be their future? What is to be their conditionbeyond the grave? Oh, tremendous question! It is an awful thing tocontemplate--but they perish; that is what God says. " ("Evangelisationof the World, " p. 70. ) "The heathen are all guilty in God's eyes; asguilty they perish. " (_Id. _, 101. ) "Do we believe that these millionsare without hope in the next world? We turn the leaves of God's Word invain, for there we find no hope; not only that, but positive words tothe contrary. Yes! we believe it. " (_Id. _, p. 199. )

The Rev. Dr. Hudson Taylor, the distinguished Founder of the Mission, certainly believes it, and has frequently stated his belief in public. Ancestral worship is the keystone of the religion of the Chinese; "thekeystone also of China's social fabric. " And "the worship springs, " saysthe Rev. W. A. P. Martin, D. D. , LL. D. , of the Tung Wen College, Peking, "from some of the best principles of human nature. The first conceptionof a life beyond the grave was, it is thought, suggested by a desire tocommune with deceased parents. " ("The Worship of Ancestors--a plea fortoleration. ") But Dr. Hudson Taylor condemned bitterly this plea fortoleration. "Ancestral worship, " he said (it was at the ShanghaiMissionary Conference of May, 1890), "Ancestral worship is idolatry frombeginning to end, the whole of it, and everything connected with it. "China's religion is idolatry, the Chinese are universally idolatrous, and the fate that befalls idolaters is carefully pointed out by Dr. Taylor:--"Their part is in the lake of fire. "

"These millions of China, " I quote again from Dr. Taylor, "Thesemillions of China" (who have never heard the Gospel), "are unsaved. Oh!my dear friends, may I say one word about that condition? The Bible saysof the heathen, that they are without hope; will you say there is goodhope for them of whom the Word of God says, 'they are without hope, without God in the world'?" (Missionary Conference of 1888, _Records_, i. , 176. )

"There are those who know more about the state of the heathen than didthe Apostle Paul, who wrote under the inspiration of the Holy Ghost, 'They that sin without law, perish without law, ' nay, there are thosewho are not afraid to contradict the revelation of Jesus Christ, whichGod gave unto Him to shew unto His servants, in which He solemnlyaffirms that 'idolators and all liars, their part shall be in the lakethat burneth with fire and brimstone. ' Such being the state of theunsaved of China, do not their urgent needs claim from us that with_agonising eagerness_ we should hasten to proclaim everywhere themessage through which alone deliverance can be found?" (_Ut supra_, ii. , 31. )

Look then at the enormous difficulty which the six hundred and elevenmissionaries, of the China Inland Mission, raise up against themselves, the majority of whom are presumably in agreement with the teaching oftheir director, Dr. Hudson Taylor. They tell the Chinese inquirer thathis unconverted father, who never heard the Gospel, has, like Confucius, perished eternally. But the chief of all virtues in China is filialpiety; the strongest emotion that can move the heart of a Chinaman isthe supreme desire to follow in the footsteps of his father. Conversionwith him means not only eternal separation from the father who gave himlife, but the "immediate liberation of his ancestors to a life ofbeggary, to inflict sickness and all manner of evil on theneighbourhood. "

I believe that it is now universally recognised that the most difficultof all missionary fields--incomparably the most difficult--is China. Difficulties assail the missionary at every step; and every honest man, whether his views be broad or high or low, must sympathise with theearnest efforts the missionaries are making for the good and advancementof the Chinese. 

Look for example at the difficulty there is in telling a Chinese, whohas been taught to regard the love of his parents as his chief duty, ashis forefathers have been taught for hundreds of generations beforehim--the difficulty there is in explaining to him, in his own language, the words of Christ, "If any man come to Me and hate not his father, hecannot be My disciple. For I am come to set a man at variance againsthis father. "

In the patriarchal system of government which prevails in China, themost awful crime that a son can commit, is to kill his parent, eitherfather or mother. And this is said to be, though the description is nodoubt abundantly exaggerated, the punishment of his crime. He is put todeath by the "_Ling chi_, " or "degrading and slow process, " and hisyounger brothers are beheaded; his house is razed to the ground and theearth under it dug up several feet deep; his neighbours are severelypunished; his principal teacher is decapitated; the district magistrateis deprived of his office; and the higher officials of the provincedegraded three degrees in rank. 

Such is the enormity of the crime of parricide in China; yet it is tothe Chinese who approves of the severity of this punishment that themissionary has to preach, "And the children shall rise up against theirparents and cause them to be put to death. "

The China Inland Mission, as a body of courageous workers, bravetravellers, unselfish and kindly men endowed with every manly virtuethat can command our admiration, is worthy of all the praise that canbe bestowed on it. Most of its members are men who have been saved afterreaching maturity, and delicately-nurtured emotional girls withheightened religious feelings. 

Too often entirely ignorant of the history of China, a mighty nationwhich has "witnessed the rise to glory and the decay of Egypt, Assyria, Babylonia, Persia, Greece, and Rome, and still remains the only monumentof ages long bygone, " of its manners and polity, customs and religions, and of the extraordinary difficulties in the acquirement of itslanguage, too often forgetful that the Chinese are a people whose"prepossessions and prejudices and cherished judgments are the growth ofmillenniums, " they come to China hoping that miraculous assistance willaid them in their exposition of the Christian doctrine, in languagewhich is too often impenetrable darkness to its hearers. 

"They are God's lost ones who are in China, and God cares for them andyearns over them, " and men who were in England respectable artisans, with an imperfect hold of their own language, come to China, in responseto the "wail of the dying millions, " to stay this "awful ruin of souls, "who, at the rate of 33, 000 a day, are "perishing without hope, havingsinned without law. "

Six months after their arrival they write to _China's Millions_: "Nowfor the news! Glorious news this time! Our services crowded! Such brightintelligent faces! So eager to hear the good news! They seemed to drinkin every word, and to listen as if they were afraid that a word might belost. " Five years later they write: "The first convert in Siao Wong Miaowas a young man named Sengleping, a matseller. He was very earnest inhis efforts to spread the Gospel, but about the beginning of the yearhe became insane. The poor man lost his reason, but not his piety. "(_China's Millions_, iv. , 5, 95, and 143). 

A young English girl at this mission, who has been more than a year inChina, tells me that she has never felt the Lord so near her as she hassince she came to China, nor ever realised so entirely His abundantgoodness. Poor thing, it made me sad to talk to her. In England shelived in a bright and happy home with brothers and sisters, in acharming climate. She was always well and full of life and vigour, surrounded by all that can make life worth living. In China she is neverwell; she is almost forgetting what is the sensation of health; she isanæmic and apprehensive; she has nervous headaches and neuralgia; shecan have no pleasure, no amusement whatever; her only relaxation istaking her temperature; her only diversion a prayer meeting. She iscooped up in a Chinese house in the unchanging society of a marriedcouple--the only exercise she can permit herself is a prison-like walkalong the top of the city at the back of the mission. Her lover, arefined English gentleman who is also in the mission, lives a week'sjourney away, in Chungking, a depressing fever-stricken city where thesun is never seen from November to June, and blazes with unendurablefierceness from July to October. In England he was full of strength andvigour, fond of boating and a good lawn-tennis player. In China he isalways ill, anæmic, wasted, and dyspeptic, constantly subject to lowforms of fever, and destitute of appetite. But more agonising than hisbad health is the horrible reality of the unavailing sacrifice he ismaking--no converts but "outcasts subsidised to forsake their familyaltars;" no reward but the ultimate one which his noble self-devotionis laying up for himself in Heaven. No man with a healthy brain candiscern "Blessing" in the work of these two missionaries, nor be blindto the fact that it is the reverse of worshipful to return effusivethanks to the great Almighty, "who yearns over the Chinese, His lostones, " for "vouchsafing the abundant mercies" of a harvest of sixdoubtful converts as the work of three missionaries for three years. 

There are 180, 000 people in Suifu, and, as is the case with Chinesecities, a larger area than that under habitation is occupied by thepublic graveyard outside the city, which covers the hill slopes formiles and miles. The number of opium-smokers is so large that thequestion is not, who does smoke opium, but who doesn't. In the missionstreet alone, besides the Inland Mission, the Buddhist Temple, Mohammedan Mosque, and Roman Catholic Mission, there are eightopium-houses. Every bank, silk shop, and hong, of any pretensionwhatever, throughout the city, has its opium-room, with the lamp alwayslit ready for the guest. Opium-rooms are as common as smoking rooms arewith us. A whiff of opium rather than a nip of whisky is the preliminaryto business in Western China. 

[Illustration: OPIUM-SMOKING. ]

An immensely rich city is Suifu with every advantage of position, on agreat waterway in the heart of a district rich in coal and minerals andinexhaustible subterranean reservoirs of brine. Silks and furs andsilverwork, medicines, opium and whitewax, are the chief articles ofexport, and as, fortunately for us, Western China can grow but littlecotton, the most important imports are Manchester goods. 

Szechuen is by far the richest province of the eighteen that constitutethe Middle Kingdom. Its present Viceroy, Liu, is a native of Anhwei; heis, therefore, a countryman of Li Hung Chang to whom he is related bymarriage, his daughter having married Li Hung Chang's nephew. Itsprovincial Treasurer is believed to occupy the richest post held by anyofficial in the empire. It is worth noticing that the present provincialTreasurer, Kung Chao-yuan, has just been made (1894) MinisterPlenipotentiary to Great Britain, France, Italy, Belgium, Sweden andNorway, and one can well believe how intense was his chagrin when hereceived this appointment from the "Imperial Supreme" compelling him, asit did, to forsake the tombs of his ancestors--to leave China forEngland on a fixed salary, and vacate the most coveted post in theempire, a post where the opportunities of personal enrichment are simplyillimitable. 

In Suifu there are two magistrates, both with important yamens. The Fumagistrate is the "Father of the City, " the Hsien magistrate is the"Mother of the City;" and the "Mother of the City" largely favours theexport opium trade. When Protestant missionaries first came to the cityin 1888 and 1889 there was little friendliness shown to them. Folk wouldcry after the missionary, "There goes the foreigner that eats children, "and children would be hurriedly hidden, as if from fear. These tauntswere at first disregarded. But there came a time when living childrenwere brought to the mission for sale as food; whereupon the mission madeformal complaint in the yamen, and the Fu at once issued a proclamationchecking the absurd tales about the foreigners, and ordering thecitizens, under many pains and penalties, to treat the foreigners withrespect. There has been no trouble since, and, as we walked through thecrowded streets, I could see nothing but friendly indifference. Reference to this and other sorrows is made in the missionary's reportto _China's Millions_, November, 1893:--

"Soon after this trial had passed away (the rumours of baby eating), still more painful internal sorrow arose. One of the members, who hadbeen baptised three years before and had been useful as a preacher ofthe Gospel, fell into grievous sin, and had to be excluded from Churchfellowship. Then a little later a very promising inquirer, who had beencured of opium-smoking and appeared to be growing in grace, fell againunder its power. While still under a cloud he was suddenly removedduring the cholera visitation. "

The China Inland Mission has pleasant quarters close under the citywall. Their pretty chapel opens into the street, and displaysprominently the proclamation of the Emperor concerning the treaty rightsof foreign missionaries. Seven children, all of whom are girls, areboarded on the premises, and are being brought up as Christians. Theyare pretty, bright children, the eldest, a girl of fourteen, particularly so. All are large-footed, and they are to be married toChristian converts. When this fact becomes known it is hoped that moreyoung Chinamen than at present may be emulous to be converted. All sevenare foundlings from Chungking where, wrapped in brown paper, they wereat different times dropped over the wall into the Mission compound. Theyhave been carefully reared by the Mission. 

At the boys' school fifty smart boys, all heathens, were at theirlessons. They were learning different subjects, and were teaching theirears the "tones" by reading at the top of their voices. The noise wasawful. None but a Chinese boy could study in such a din. In China, whenthe lesson is finished, the class is silent; noise, therefore, is theindication of work in a Chinese school--not silence. 

The schoolmaster was a ragged-looking loafer, dressed in grey. He wasin mourning, and had been unshaven for forty-two days in consequence ofthe death of his father. This was an important day of mourning, becauseon this day, the forty-second after his death, his dead father became, for the first time, aware of his own decease. A week later, on theforty-ninth day, the funeral rites would cease. 

CHAPTER VII. 

SUIFU TO CHAOTONG, WITH SOME REMARKS ON THE PROVINCE OF YUNNAN--CHINESEPORTERS, POSTAL ARRANGEMENTS, AND BANKS. 

I engaged three new men in Suifu, who undertook to take me to Chaotong, 290 miles, in thirteen days, special inducement being held out to themin the shape of a reward of one shilling each to do the journey ineleven days. Their pay was to be seven shillings and threepence each, apart from the bonus, and of course they had to find themselves. Theybrought me from the coolie-hong, where they were engaged, an agreementsigned by the hong-master, which was to be returned to them in Chaotong, and remitted to their master as a receipt for my safe delivery. 

Every condition detailed in the agreement they faithfully carried out, and they took me to Chaotong in ten days and a half, though the ordinarytime is fourteen days. 

One of the three was a convert, one of the six surviving converts madeby the aggregate Inland Mission of Suifu in six years. He was anexcellent good fellow, rather dull of wits, but a credit to the Mission. To him was intrusted the paying away of my money--he carried no load. When he wanted money he was to show me his empty hands, and say "_Mutatsien! muta tsien!_" (I have no money! I have no money!). 

I knew that perfect confidence could be placed in the convert, apartfrom the reason of his conversion, because he had a father living inSuifu. Were he to rob me or do me a wrong and run away, we could arresthis father and have him detained in the yamen prison till his sonreturned. Nothing in China gives one greater protection against fraudand injury than the law which holds a father responsible for thewrongdoing of his son, or, where there is no father, an elder sonculpable for the misdeed of the younger. 

On the morning of March 22nd we started for Chaotong in Yunnan province. The Inland Missionary and a Brother from the American Baptist Missionkindly came with me for the first thirteen miles. My route lay west onthe north bank of the Yangtse, but later, after crossing the Yangtse, would be nearly south to Chaotong. 

Shortly before leaving, the _chairen_ or yamen-runner--the policeman, that is to say--sent by the Magistrate to shadow me to Tak-wan-hsien, called at the Mission to request that the interpreter would kindlyremind the traveller, who did not speak Chinese, that it was customaryto give wine-money to the chairen at the end of the journey. The requestwas reasonable. All the way from Chungking I had been accompanied byyamen-runners without knowing it. The chairen is sent partly for theprotection of the traveller, but mainly for the protection of theMagistrate; for, should a traveller provided with a passport receive anyinjury, the Magistrate of the district would be liable to degradation. It was arranged, therefore, with the convert that, on our arrival inTak-wan-hsien, I was to give the chairen, if satisfied with hisservices, 200 cash (five pence); but, if he said "_gowshun! gowshun!_"(a little more! a little more!) with sufficient persistence, I was toincrease the reward gradually to sevenpence halfpenny. This was to bethe limit; and the chairen, I was assured, would consider this agenerous return for accompanying me 227 miles over one of the mostmountainous roads in China. 

It was a pleasant walk along the river-bank in the fertile alluvial, where the poppy in white flower and tobacco were growing, and wherefields of yellow rape-seed alternated with beds of rushes--the rape-seedyielding the oil, and the rushes the rushlights of Chinese lamps. Flocksof wild geese were within easy shot on the sandbanks--the "peacefulgeese, " whose virtues are extolled by every Chinaman. They live inpairs, and, if one dies, its mate will be for ever faithful to itsmemory. Such virtue is worthy of being recorded on the arch which herespans the roadway, whose Chinese characters, _Shen_ (holy), _Chi_(will), show that it was erected by the holy decree of the Emperor toperpetuate the memory of some widow who never remarried. 

As we walked along the missionary gave instructions to my men. "In mygrace I had given them very light loads; hurry and they would be richlyrewarded"--one shilling extra for doing fourteen stages in eleven days. 

At an inn, under the branches of a banyan tree, we sat down and had acup of tea. While we waited, a hawker came and sat near us. He waspeddling live cats. In one of his two baskets was a cat that bore acurious resemblance to a tortoise-shell tabby, that till a week ago hadbeen a pet in the Inland Mission. It had disappeared mysteriously; ithad died, the Chinese servant said; and here it was reincarnated. 

At the market town the missionaries left me to go on alone with my threemen. I had seventeen miles still to go before night. 

It was midday, and the sun was hot, so a chair was arranged for to takeme the seventeen miles to Anpien. It was to cost 320 cash (eightpence), but, just before leaving, the grasping coolies refused to carry me forless than 340 cash. "Walk on, " said the missionary, "and teach them aChristian lesson, " so I walked seventeen miles in the sun to rebuke themfor their avarice and save one halfpenny. In the evening I am afraidthat I was hardly in the frame of mind requisite for conducting anevangelical meeting. 

Anpien is a considerable town. It is on the Yangtse River just belowwhere it bifurcates into two rivers, one of which goes north-west, theother south-west. Streets of temporary houses are built down by theriver; they form the winter suburb, and disappear in the summer when theriver rises in consequence of the melting of the snows in its mountainsources. At an excellent inn, with a noisy restaurant on the firstfloor, good accommodation was given me. No sooner was I seated than achairen came from the yamen to ask for my Chinese visiting card; but hedid not ask for my passport, though I had brought with me twenty-fivecopies besides the original. 

At daybreak a chair was ready, and I was carried to the River, where aferry boat was in waiting to take us across below the junction. Then westarted on our journey towards the south, along the right bank of theLaowatan branch of the Yangtse. The road was a tracking path cut intothe face of the cliff; it was narrow, steep, winding, and slippery. There was only just room for the chair to pass, and at the sudden turnsit had often to be canted to one side to permit of its passage. We werehigh above the river in the mountain gorges. The comfort of thetraveller in a chair along this road depends entirely upon the surenessof foot of his two bearers--a false step, and chair and traveller wouldtumble down the cliff into the foaming river below. Deep and narrow wasthe mountain river, and it roared like a cataract, yet down the passagea long narrow junk, swarming with passengers, was racing, its oars andbow-sweep worked by a score of sailors singing in chorus. The boatappeared, passed down the reach, and was out of sight in a moment; asingle error, the slightest confusion, and it would have been smashed infragments on the rocks and the river strewn with corpses. 

We did a good stage before breakfast. Every few li where the steepnessof the valley side permits it, there are straw-thatched, bamboo andplaster inns. Here rice is kept in wooden bins all ready steaming hotfor the use of travellers; good tea is brewed in a few minutes; thetables and chopsticks are sufficiently clean. 

Leaving the river, we crossed over the mountains by a short cut to theriver again, and at a wayside inn, much frequented by Chinese, the chairstage finished. I wished to do some writing, and sat down at one of thetables. A crowd gathered round me, and were much interested. One elderlyChinese with huge glasses, a wag in his own way, seeing that I did notspeak Chinese, thought to make me understand and divert the crowd by theloudness of his speech, and, insisting that I was deaf, yelled into myears in tones that shook the tympanum. I told the foolish fellow, inEnglish, that the less he talked the better I could understand him; buthe persisted, and poked his face almost into mine, but withdrew it andhobbled off in umbrage when I drew the attention of the bystanders tothe absurd capacity of his mouth, which was larger than any mule's. 

I must admit that my knowledge of Chinese was very scanty, so scantyindeed as to be almost non-existent. What few words I knew were rarelyintelligible; but, as Mrs. General Baynes, when staying at Boulogne, found Hindostanee to be of great help in speaking French, so did Idiscover that English was of great assistance to me in conversing inChinese. Remonstrance was thus made much more effective. Whenever I wasin a difficulty, or the crowd too obtrusive, I had only to say a fewgrave sentences in English, and I was master of the situation. Thismethod of speaking often reminded me of that employed by a Cornish ladyof high family whose husband was a colleague of mine in Spain. She hadbeen many years in Andalusia, but had never succeeded in masteringSpanish. At a dinner party given by this lady, at which I was present, she thus addressed her Spanish servant, who did not "possess" a singleword of English: "Bring me, " she said in an angry aside, "bring me the_cuchillo_ with the black-handled heft, " adding, as she turned to us andthumped her fist on the table, while the servant stood still mystified, "D---- the language! I wish I had never learnt it. "

The inn, where the sedan left me, was built over the pathway, which washere a narrow track, two feet six inches wide. Mountain coolies on theroad were passing in single file through the inn, their backs bendingunder their huge burdens. Pigs and fowls and dogs, and a stray cat, wereforaging for crumbs under the table. Through the open doorways you sawthe paddy-fields under water and the terraced hills, with every arableyard under cultivation. The air was hot and enervating. "The country ofthe clouds, " as the Chinese term the province of Szechuen, does notbelie its name. An elderly woman was in charge of the oven, and toddledabout on her deformed feet as if she were walking on her heels. Herhusband, the innkeeper, brought us hot water every few minutes to keepour tea basins full. "_Na kaishui lai_" (bring hot water), you heard onall sides. A heap of bedding was in one corner of the room, in anotherwere a number of rolls of straw mattresses; a hollow joint of bamboo wasfilled with chopsticks for the common use, into another bamboo theinnkeeper slipped his takings of copper cash. Hanging from the rafterswere strings of straw sandals for the poor, and hemp sandals for moneyedwayfarers like the writer. The people who stood round, and those seatedat the tables, were friendly and respectful, and plied my men withquestions concerning their master. And I did hope that the convert wasnot tempted to backslide and swerve from the truth in his answers. 

My men were now anxious to push on. Over a mountainous country ofsurpassing beauty, I continued my journey on foot to Fan-yien-tsen, andrested there for the night, having done two days' journey in one. 

On March 24th we were all day toiling over the mountains, climbing anddescending wooded steeps, through groves of pine, with an ever-changinglandscape before us, beautiful with running water, with cascades andwaterfalls tumbling down into the river, with magnificent glens andgorges, and picturesque temples on the mountain tops. At night we wereat the village of Tanto, on the river, having crossed, a few li before, over the boundary which separates the province of Szechuen from theprovince of Yunnan. 

From Tanto the path up the gorges leads across a rocky mountain creekin a defile of the mountains. In England this creek would be spanned bya bridge; but the poor heathen, in China, how do they find their wayacross the stream? By a bridge also. They have spanned the torrent witha powerful iron suspension bridge, 100 feet long by ten feet broad, swung between two massive buttresses and approached under handsometemple-archways. 

Mists clothe the mountains--the air is confined between these walls ofrock and stone. Population is scanty, but there is cultivation whereverpossible. Villages sparsely distributed along the mountain path havewater trained to them in bamboo conduits from tarns on the hillside. Each house has its own supply, and there is no attempt to provide forthe common good. Besides other reasons, it would interfere with thetrade of the water-carriers, who all day long are toiling up from theriver. 

The mountain slope does not permit a greater width of building spacethan on each side of the one main street. And on market days this streetis almost impassable, being thronged with traffickers, and blocked withstalls and wares. Coal is for sale, both pure and mixed with clay inbriquettes, and salt in blocks almost as black as coal, and three timesas heavy, and piles of drugs--a medley of bones, horns, roots, leaves, and minerals--and raw cotton and cotton yarn from Wuchang and Bombay, and finished goods from Manchester. At one of the villages there was achair for hire, and, knowing how difficult was the country, I waswilling to pay the amount asked--namely, _7d. _ for nearly seven miles;but my friend the convert, who arranged these things, considered thatbetween the _5d. _ he offered and the _7d. _ they asked the discrepancywas too great, and after some acrimonious bargaining it was decidedthat I should continue on foot, my man indicating to me by gestures, ina most sarcastic way, that the "_chiaodza_" men had failed to overreachhim. 

[Illustration: A TEMPLE IN SZECHUEN. ]

[Illustration: LAOWATAN. ]

At Sengki-ping it rained all through the night, and I had to sleep undermy umbrella because of a solution in the continuity of the roofimmediately above my pillow. And it rained all the day following; but mymen, eager to earn their reward of one shilling, pushed on through theslush. It was hard work following the slippery path above the river. Fewrivers in the world flow between more majestic banks than these, towering as they do a thousand feet above the water. Clad with thickmountain scrub, that has firm foothold, the mountains offer but a poorharvest to the peasant; yet even here high up on the precipitous sidesof the cliffs, ledges that seem inaccessible are sown with wheat orpeas, and, if the soil be deep enough, with the baneful poppy. As weplodded on through the mud and rain, we overtook a poor lad painfullylimping along with the help of a stick. He was a bright lad, who unboundhis leg and showed me a large swelling above the knee. He spoke to me, though I did not understand him, but with sturdy independence did notask for alms, and when I had seen his leg he bound it up again andlimped on. Meeting him a little later at an inn, where he was sitting ata table with nothing before him to eat, I gave him a handful of cashwhich I had put in my pocket for him. He thanked me by raising hisclasped hands, and said something, I knew not what, as I hurried on. Alittle while afterwards I stopped to have my breakfast, when the boypassed. As soon as he saw me he fell down upon his knees and "kotow'd"to me, with every mark of the liveliest gratitude. I felt touched by thepoor fellow's gratitude--he could not have been more than fifteen--andmean, to think that the benefaction, which in his eyes appeared sogenerous, was little more than one penny. There can be no doubt that Igained merit by this action, for this very afternoon as I was on thetrack a large stone the size of a shell from a 50-ton gun fell from thecrag above me, struck the rock within two paces of me, and shot pastinto the river. A few feet nearer and it would have blotted out the lifeof one whom the profession could ill spare. We camped at Laowatan. 

A chair with three bearers was waiting for me in the morning, so that Ileft the town of Laowatan in a manner befitting my rank. The town hadrisen to see me leave, and I went down the street amid serried ranks ofspectators. We crossed the river by a wonderful suspension bridge, 250feet long and 12 feet broad, formed of linked bars of wrought iron. Itshows stability, strength, and delicacy of design, and is a remarkablework to have been done by the untutored barbarians of this land ofnight. We ascended the steep incline opposite, and passed the likinbarrier, but at a turn in the road, higher still in the mountain, awoman emerged from her cottage and blocked our path. Nor could the chairpass till my foremost bearer had reluctantly given her a string of cash. "With money you can move the gods, " say the Chinese; "without it youcan't move a man. "

For miles we mounted upwards. We were now in Yunnan, "south of theclouds"--in Szechuen we were always under the clouds--the sun was warm, the air dry and crisp. Ponies passed us in long droves; often there wereeighty ponies in a single drove. All were heavily laden with copper andlead, were nozzled to keep them off the grass, and picked their way downthe rocky path of steps with the agility and sureness of foot ofmountain goats. Time was beaten for them on musical gongs, and theechoes rang among the mountains. Many were decorated with red flags andtufts, and with plumes of the Amherst pheasant. These were official packanimals, which were franked through the likin barriers withoutexamination. 

The path, rising to the height of the watershed, where at a greatelevation we gain a distant view of water, descends by the counterslopeonce more to the river Laowatan. A wonderful ravine, a mountain rivenperpendicularly in twain, here gives passage to the river, and in fullview of this we rested at the little town of Taoshakwan, with the roarof the river hundreds of feet below us. Midway up the face of theprecipice opposite there is a sight worth seeing; a mass of coffinboards, caught in a fault in the precipice, have been lying there foruntold generations, having been originally carried there by the "ancientflying-men who are now extinct. "

A poor little town is Taoshakwan, with a poor little yamen withpretentious tigers painted on its outflanking wall, with a poor littletemple, and gods in sad disrepair; but with an admirable inn, with acharming verandah facing a scene of alpine magnificence. 

We were entering a district of great poverty. At Tchih-li-pu, where wearrived at midday the next day, the houses are poor, the peoplepoverty-stricken and ill-clad, the hotel dirty, and my room the worst Ihad yet slept in. The road is a well-worn path flagged in places, uneven, and irregular, following at varying heights the upward course ofthe tortuous river. The country is bald; it is grand but lonely;vegetation is scanty and houses are few; we have left the prosperity ofSzechuen, and are in the midst of the poverty of Yunnan. Farmhousesthere are at rare intervals, amid occasional patches of cultivation;there are square white-washed watch towers in groves of sacred trees;there are a few tombstones, and an occasional rudely carved god to guardthe way. There are poor mud and bamboo inns with grass roofs, and dirtytables set out with half a dozen bowls of tea, and with ovens for theuse of travellers. Food we had now to bring with us, and only at thelarger towns where the stages terminate could we expect to find food forsale. The tea is inferior, and we had to be content with maize meal, bean curds, rice roasted in sugar, and sweet gelatinous cakes made fromthe waste of maize meal. Rice can only be bought in the large towns. Itis not kept in roadside inns ready steaming hot for use, as it is inSzechuen. Rarely there are sweet potatoes; there are eggs, however, inabundance, one hundred for a shilling (500 cash), but the coolies cannoteat them because of their dearness. A large bowl of rice costs fourcash, an egg five cash, and the Chinaman strikes a balance in his mindand sees more nourishment in one bowl of rice than in three eggs. Ofmeat there is pork--pork in plenty, and pork only. Pigs and dogs are thescavengers of China. None of the carnivora are more omnivorous than theChinese. "A Chinaman has the most unscrupulous stomach in the world, "says Meadows; "he will eat anything from the root to the leaf, and fromthe hide to the entrails. " He will not even despise the flesh of dogthat has died a natural death. During the awful famine in Shansi of1876-1879 starving men fought to the death for the bodies of dogs thathad fattened on the corpses of their dead countrymen. Mutton issometimes for sale in Mohammedan shops, and beef also, but it must notbe imagined that either sheep or ox is killed for its flesh, unless onthe point of death from starvation or disease. And the beef is not fromthe ox but from the water buffalo. Sugar can be bought only in thelarger towns; salt can be purchased everywhere. 

Beggars there are in numbers, skulking about almost naked, with unkempthair and no queue, with a small basket for gathering garbage and a staffto keep away dogs. Only beggars carry sticks in China, and it is onlythe beggars that need beware of dogs. To carry a stick in China forprotection against dogs is like carrying a red flag to scare away bulls. Dogs in China are lowly organised; they are not discriminating animals;and, despite the luxurious splendour of my Chinese dress--it cost morethan seven shillings--dogs frequently mistook my calling. In Szechuen, as we passed through the towns, there was competition among the inns toobtain our custom. Hotel runners were there to shout to all the worldthe superior merits of their establishments. But here in Yunnan it isdifferent. There is barely inn accommodation for the road traffic, andthe innkeepers are either too apathetic or too shamefaced to call theattention of the traveller to their poor, dirty accommodation houses. 

In Szechuen, one of the most flourishing of trades is that of themonumental mason and carver in stone. Huge monoliths are there cut fromthe boulders which have been dislodged from the mountains, dressed andfinished _in situ_, and then removed to the spot where they are to beerected. The Chinese thus pursue a practice different from that of theWesterns, who bring the undressed stone from the quarry and carve it inthe studio. With the Chinese the difficulty is one of transport--thefinished work is obviously lighter than the unhewn block. In Yunnan, upto the present, I had seen no mason at work, for no masonry was needed. Houses built of stone were falling into ruin, and only thatched, mud-plastered, bamboo and wood houses were being built in their places. 

At Laowatan I told my Christian to hire me a chair for thirty or fortyli, and he did so, but the chair, instead of carrying me the shorterdistance, carried me the whole day. The following day the chair keptcompany with me, and as I had not ordered it, I naturally walked; butthe third day also the chair haunted me, and then I discovered that myadmirable guide had engaged the chair not for thirty or forty li, as Ihad instructed him in my best Chinese, but for three hundred and sixtyli, for four days' stages of ninety li each. He had made the agreement"out of consideration for me, " and his own pocket; he had made anagreement which gave him wider scope for a little private arrangement ofhis own with the chair-coolies. For two days I was paying fifteen cash ali for a chair and walking alongside of it charmed by the good humour ofthe coolies, and unaware that they were laughing in their sleeves at myfolly. Trifling mistakes like this are inevitable to one who travels inChina without an interpreter. 

My two coolies were capital fellows, full of good humour, cheerful, anduntiring. The elder was disposed to be argumentative with hiscountrymen, but he could not quarrel. Nature had given him anuncontrollable stutter, and, if he tried to speak quickly, spasm seizedhis tongue, and he had to break into a laugh. Few men in China, I think, could be more curiously constructed than this coolie. He was all neck;his chin was simply an upward prolongation of his neck like a second"Adam's apple. " Both were very pleasant companions. They were naturallyin good humour, for they were well paid, and their loads, as loads arein China, were almost insignificant; I had only asked them to carrysixty-seven pounds each. 

We, who live amid the advantages of Western civilisation, can hardlyrealise how enormous are the weights borne by those human beasts ofburthen, our brothers in China. The common fast-travelling coolie ofSzechuen contracts to carry eighty catties (107lbs. ), forty miles a dayover difficult country. But the weight-carrying coolie, travellingshorter distances, carries far heavier loads than that. There areporters, says Du Halde, who will carry 160 of our pounds, ten leagues aday. The coolies, engaged in carrying the compressed cakes of Szechuentea into Thibet, travel over mountain passes 7000 feet above theirstarting place; yet there are those among them, says Von Richthofen, whocarry 324 catties (432lbs. ). A package of tea is called a "_pao_" andvaries in weight from eleven to eighteen catties, yet Baber has oftenseen coolies carrying eighteen of the eighteen-catty _pao_ (the "_Yachoupao_") and on one occasion twenty-two, in other words Baber has oftenseen coolies with more than 400lbs. On their backs. Under these enormousloads they travel from six to seven miles a day. The average load of theThibetan tea-carrier is, says Gill, from 240lbs. To 264lbs. Gillconstantly saw "little boys carrying 120lbs. " Bundles of calico weighfifty-five catties each (73-1/3lbs. ), and three bundles are the averageload. Salt is solid, hard, metallic, and of high specific gravity, yet Ihave seen men ambling along the road, under loads that a strongEnglishman could with difficulty raise from the ground. The average loadof salt, coal, copper, zinc, and tin is 200lbs. Gill met cooliescarrying logs, 200lbs. In weight, ten miles a day; and 200lbs. , theConsul in Chungking told me, is the average weight carried by thecloth-porters between Wanhsien and Chentu, the capital. 

Mountain coolies, such as the tea-carriers, bear the weight of theirburden on their shoulders, carrying it as we do a knapsack, not in theordinary Chinese way, with a pliant carrying pole. They are all providedwith a short staff, which has a transverse handle curved like aboomerang, and with this they ease the weight off the back, whilestanding at rest. 

We were still ascending the valley, which became more difficult ofpassage every day. Hamlets are built where there is scarce foothold inthe detritus, below perpendicular escarpments of rock, cut clean likethe façades of a Gothic temple. A tributary of the river is crossed byan admirable stone bridge of two arches, with a central pier andcut-water of magnificent boldness and strength, and with two images oflions guarding its abutment. Just below the branch the main stream canbe crossed by a traveller, if he be brave enough to venture, in a bambooloop-cradle, and be drawn across the stream on a powerful bamboo cableslung from bank to bank. 

We rested by the bridge and refreshed ourselves, for above us was anascent whose steepness my stuttering coolie indicated to me by fixing mywalking stick in the ground, almost perpendicularly, and running hisfinger up the side. He did not exaggerate. A zigzag path set with stonesteps has been cut in the vertical ascent, and up this we toiled forhours. At the base of the escalade my men sublet their loads to sparecoolies who were waiting there in numbers for the purpose, and climbedup with me empty-handed. At every few turns there were rest-houses whereone could get tea and shelter from the hot sun. The village ofTak-wan-leo is at the summit; it is a village of some little importanceand commands a noble view of mountain, valley, and river. Its largesthong is the coffin-maker's, which is always filled with shells of thethickest timber that money can buy. 

Stress is laid in China upon the necessity of a secure resting-placeafter death. The filial affection of a son can do no more thoughtful actthan present a coffin to his father, to prove to him how composedly hewill lie after he is dead. And nothing will a father in China show thestranger with more pride than the coffin-boards presented to him by hisdutiful son. 

Tak-wan-leo is the highest point on the road between Suifu and Chaotong. For centuries it has been known to the Chinese as the highest point;how, then, with their defective appliances did they arrive at soaccurate a determination? Twenty li beyond the village the stage ends atthe town of Tawantzu, where I had good quarters in the pavilion of anold temple. The shrine was thick with the dust of years; the three godswere dishevelled and mutilated; no sheaves of joss sticks weresmouldering on the altar. The steps led down into manure heaps and apiggery, into a garden rank and waste, which yet commands an outlookover mountain and river worthy of the greatest of temples. 

[Illustration: THE OPIUM-SMOKER OF ROMANCE. ]

On March 30th I reached Tak-wan-hsien, the day's stage having beenseventy li (twenty-three and one-third miles). I was carried all the wayby three chair-coolies in a heavy chair in steady rain that made theunpaved track as slippery as ice--and this over the dizzy heights of amountain pathway of extraordinary irregularity. Never slipping, nevermaking a mistake, the three coolies bore the chair with my thirteenstone, easily and without straining. From time to time they rested aminute or two to take a whiff of tobacco; they were always in goodhumour, and finished the day as strong and fresh as when they began it. Within an hour of their arrival all these three men were lying on theirsides in the room opposite to mine, with their opium-pipes and littlewooden vials of opium before them, all three engaged in rolling andheating in their opium-lamps treacly pellets of opium. Then they hadtheir daily smoke of opium. "They were ruining themselves body andsoul. " Two of the men were past middle age; the third was a strappingyoung fellow of twenty-five. They may have only recently acquired thehabit, I had no means of asking them; but those who know Western Chinawill tell you that it is almost certain that the two elder men had usedthe opium-pipe as a stimulant since they were as young as theircompanion. All three men were physically well-developed, with largeframes, showing unusual muscular strength and endurance, and differed, indeed, from those resurrected corpses whose fleshless figures, drawn byimaginative Chinese artists, we have known for years to be typical ofour poor lost brothers--the opium-smoking millions of China. For theirwork to-day, work that few men out of China would be capable ofattempting, the three coolies were paid sevenpence each, out of whichthey found themselves, and had to pay as well one penny each for thehire of the chair. 

On arriving at the inn in Tak-wan-hsien my estimable comrade, one of thesix surviving converts of Suifu, indicated to me that his cash belt wasempty--up the road he could not produce a single cash for me to give abeggar--and pointing in turn to the bag where I kept my silver, to theceiling and to his heart, he conveyed to me the pious assurance that ifI would give him some silver from the bag he would bring me back thetrue change, on his honour, so witness Heaven! I gave him two lumps ofsilver which I made him understand were worth 3420 cash; he went away, and after a suspicious absence returned quite gleefully with 3050 cash, the bank, no doubt, having detained the remainder pending thedeclaration of a bogus dividend. But he also brought back with him whatwas better than cash, some nutritious maize-meal cakes, which proved awelcome change from the everlasting rice. They were as large as anEnglish scone, and cost two cash apiece, that is to say, for oneshilling I could buy twenty dozen. 

Money in Western China consists of solid ingots of silver, and coppercash. The silver is in lumps of one tael or more each, the tael being aChinese ounce and equivalent roughly to between 1400 and 1500 cash. Speaking generally a tael was worth, during my journey, three shillings, that is to say, forty cash were equivalent to one penny. There arebankers in every town, and the Chinese methods of banking, it is wellknown, are but little inferior to our own. From Hankow to Chungking mymoney was remitted by draft through a Chinese bank. West from Chungkingthe money may be sent by draft, by telegraph, or in bullion, as youchoose. I carried some silver with me; the rest I put up in a packageand handed to a native post in Chungking, which undertook to deliver itintact to me at Yunnan city, 700 miles away, within a specified time. Bymy declaring its contents and paying the registration fee, a meretrifle, the post guaranteed its safe delivery, and engaged to make goodany loss. Money is thus remitted in Western China with completeconfidence and security. My money arrived, I may add, in Yunnan at thetime agreed upon, but after I had left for Talifu. As there is atelegraph line between Yunnan and Tali, the money was forwarded bytelegraph and awaited my arrival in Tali. 

There are no less than four native post-offices between Chungking andSuifu. All the post-offices transmit parcels, as well as letters andbullion, at very moderate charges. The distance is 230 miles, and thecharges are fifty cash (_1-1/4d. _) the catty (1-1/3lb. ), or any partthereof; thus a single letter pays fifty cash, a catty's weight ofletters paying no more than a single letter. 

From Chungking to Yunnan city, a distance of 630 miles, letters pay twohundred cash (fivepence) each; packages of one catty, or under, paythree hundred and fifty cash; while for silver bullion there is aspecial fee of three hundred and fifty cash for every ten taels, equivalent to ninepence for thirty shillings, or two-and-a-half percent. , which includes postage registration, guarantee, and insurance. 

Tak-wan-hsien is a town of some importance, and was formerly the seat ofthe French missionary bishop. It is a walled town, ranking as a Hsiencity, with a Hsien magistrate as its chief ruler. There are 10, 000people (more or less), within the walls, but the city is poor, and itspoverty is but a reflex of the district. Its mud wall is crumbling; itshouses of mud and wood are falling; the streets are ill-paved and thepeople ill-clad. 

CHAPTER VIII. 

THE CITY OF CHAOTONG, WITH SOME REMARKS ON ITS POVERTY, INFANTICIDE, SELLING FEMALE CHILDREN INTO SLAVERY, TORTURES, AND THE CHINESEINSENSIBILITY TO PAIN. 

By the following day we had crossed the mountains, and were walkingalong the level upland that leads to the plain of Chaotong. And onSunday, April 1st, we reached the city. Cedars, held sacred, withshrines in the shelter of their branches, dot the plain; peach-trees andpear-trees were now in full bloom; the harvest was ripening in thefields. There were black-faced sheep in abundance, red cattle with shorthorns, and the ubiquitous water-buffalo. Over the level roads primitivecarts, drawn by red oxen, were rumbling in the dust. There were mudvillages, poor and falling into ruins; there were everywhere signs ofpoverty and famine. Children ran about naked, or in rags. We passed thelikin-barrier, known by its white flag, and I was not even asked for myvisiting card, nor were my boxes looked into--they were as beggarly asthe district--but poor carriers were detained, and a few cash unjustlywrung from them. At a crowded teahouse, a few miles from the city, wewaited for the stragglers, while many wayfarers gathered in to see me. Prices were ranging higher. Tea here was 4 cash, and not 2 cash ashitherto. But even this charge was not excessive. In Canton one day, after a weary journey on foot through the crowded streets, I was takento a five-storied pagoda overlooking the city. At the topmost story teawas brought me, and I drank a dozen cups, and was asked threepence inpayment. I thought that the cheapest refreshment I ever had. Yet here Iwas served as abundantly with better tea at a charge compared with whichthe Canton charge was twenty-five times greater. Previously in thisprovince the price I had paid for tea in comparison with the price atCanton was as one to fifty. 

Early in the afternoon we passed through the south gate into Chaotong, and, picking our way through the streets, were led to the comfortablehome of the Bible Christian Mission, where I was kindly received by theRev. Frank Dymond, and welcomed as a brother missionary of whose arrivalhe had been advised. Services were ended, but the neighbours dropped into see the stranger, and ask my exalted age, my honourable name, and mydignified business; they hoped to be able to congratulate me upon beinga man of virtue, the father of many sons; asked how many thousands ofpieces of silver I had (daughters), and how long I proposed to permit mydignified presence to remain in their mean and contemptible city. 

Mr. Dymond is a Devonshire man, and that evening he gave me for teaDevonshire cream and blackberry jam made in Chaotong, and native oatmealcakes, than which I never tasted any better in Scotland. 

Chaotong is a walled Fu city with 40, 000 inhabitants. Roman Catholicshave been established here for many years, and the Bible ChristianMission, which is affiliated to the China Inland Mission, has beenworking here since 1887. 

There were formerly five missionaries; there are now only two, and oneof these was absent. The missionary in charge, Mr. Frank Dymond, is oneof the most agreeable men I met in China, broad-minded, sympathetic andearnest--universally honoured and respected by all the district. Sincethe mission was opened three converts have been baptised, one of whom isin Szechuen, another is in Tongchuan, and the third has been gathered tohis fathers. The harvest has not been abundant, but there are now sixpromising inquirers, and the missionary is not discouraged. The missionpremises are built on land which cost two hundred and ninety taels, andare well situated not far from the south gate, the chief yamens, thetemples, and the French Mission. People are friendly, but manifestdangerously little interest in their salvation. 

At Chaotong I had entered upon a district that had been devastated byrecurring seasons of plague and famine. Last year more than 5000 peopleare believed to have died from starvation in the town and its immediateneighbourhood. The numbers are appalling, but doubt must always bethrown upon statistics derived from Chinese sources. The Chinese andJapanese disregard of accuracy is characteristic of all Orientals. Beggars were so numerous, and became such a menace to the community, that their suppression was called for; they were driven from thestreets, and confined within the walls of the temple and grounds beyondthe south gate, and fed by common charity. Huddled together in rags andmisery, they took famine fever and perished by hundreds. Seventy deadwere carried from the temple in one day. Of 5000 poor wretches whocrossed the temple threshold, the Chinese say that 2000 never came outalive. For four years past the harvests had been very bad, but there wasnow hope of a better time coming. Opportune rains had fallen, and theopium crop was good. More than anything else the district depends forits prosperity upon the opium crop--if the crop is good, money isplentiful. Maize-cobs last harvest were four times the size of those ofthe previous harvest, when they were no larger than one's finger. Wheatand beans were forward; the coming rice crop gave every hope of being agood one. Food was still dear, and all prices were high, because ricewas scarce and dear, and it is the price of rice which regulates themarket. In a good year one sheng of rice (6-2/3lbs. ) costs thirty-fivecash (less than one penny), it now costs 110 cash. The normal price ofmaize is sixteen cash the sheng, it now cost sixty-five cash the sheng. To make things worse, the weight of the sheng had been reduced with thetimes from twelve catties to five catties, and at the same time therelation of cash to silver had fallen from 1640 to 1250 cash the tael. 

The selling of its female children into slavery is the chief sorrow ofthis famine-stricken district. During last year it is estimated, orrather, it is stated by the Chinese, that no less than three thousandchildren from this neighbourhood, chiefly female children and a fewboys, were sold to dealers and carried like poultry in baskets to thecapital. At ordinary times the price for girls is one tael (threeshillings) for every year of their age, thus a girl of five costsfifteen shillings, of ten, thirty shillings, but in time of faminechildren, to speak brutally, become a drug in the market. Femalechildren were now offering at from three shillings and fourpence to sixshillings each. You could buy as many as you cared to, you might evenobtain them for nothing if you would enter into an agreement with thefather, which he had no means of enforcing, to take care of his child, and clothe and feed her, and rear her kindly. Starving mothers wouldcome to the mission beseeching the foreign teachers to take their babiesand save them from the fate that was otherwise inevitable. 

Girls are bought in Chaotong up to the age of twenty, and there isalways a ready market for those above the age of puberty; prices thenvary according to the measure of the girl's beauty, an important featurebeing the smallness of her feet. They are sold in the capital for wivesand _yatows_; they are rarely sold into prostitution. Two importantfactors in the demand for them are the large preponderance in the numberof males at the capital, and the prevalence there of goitre or thickneck, a deformity which is absent from the district of Chaotong. Infanticide in a starving city like this is dreadfully common. "For theparents, seeing their children must be doomed to poverty, think itbetter at once to let the soul escape in search of a more happy asylumthan to linger in one condemned to want and wretchedness. " Theinfanticide is, however, exclusively confined to the destruction offemale children, the sons being permitted to live in order to continuethe ancestral sacrifices. 

One mother I met, who was employed by the mission, told the missionaryin ordinary conversation that she had suffocated in turn three of herfemale children within a few days of birth; and, when a fourth was born, so enraged was her husband to discover that it was also a girl that heseized it by the legs and struck it against the wall and killed it. 

Dead children, and often living infants, are thrown out on the commonamong the gravemounds, and may be seen there any morning being gnawed bydogs. Mr. Tremberth of the Bible Christian Mission, leaving by the southgate early one morning, disturbed a dog eating a still living childthat had been thrown over the wall during the night. Its little arm wascrunched and stript of flesh, and it was whining inarticulately--it diedalmost immediately. A man came to see me, who for a long time used toheap up merit for himself in heaven by acting as a city scavenger. Earlyevery morning he went round the city picking up dead dogs and dead catsin order to bury them decently--who could tell, perhaps the soul of hisgrandfather had found habitation in that cat? While he was doing thispious work, never a morning passed that he did not find a dead child, and usually three or four. The dead of the poor people are roughlyburied near the surface and eaten by dogs. 

An instance of the undoubted truth of the doctrine of transmigrationoccurred recently in Chaotong and is worth recording. A cow was killednear the south gate on whose intestine--and this fact can be attested byall who saw it--was written plainly and unmistakably the character"_Wong_, " which proved, they told me, that the soul of one whose namewas Wong had returned to earth in the body of that cow. 

I stayed two days in Chaotong, and strolled in pleasant company throughthe city. Close to the Mission is the yamen of the Chentai orBrigadier-General, the Military Governor of this portion of theprovince, and a little further is the more crowded yamen of the FuMagistrate. Here, as in all yamens, the detached wall or fixed screen ofstone facing the entrance is painted with the gigantic representation ofa mythical monster in red trying to swallow the sun--the Chineseillustration of the French saying "_prendre la lune avec les dents_. " Itis the warning against covetousness, the exhortation against squeezing, and is as little likely to be attended to by the magistrate here as itwould be by his brother in Chicago. We visited the Confucian Templeamong the trees and the examination hall close by, and another yamen, and the Temple of the God of Riches. In the yamen, at the time of ourvisit, a young official, seated in his four-bearer chair, was waiting inthe outer court; he had sent in his visiting card, and attended thepleasure of his superior officer. China may be uncivilised and may yearnfor the missionaries, but there was refined etiquette in China, and aninterchange of many of the pleasantest courtesies of moderncivilisation, when we noble Britons were grubbing in the forest, paintedsavages with a clout. 

As we went out of the west gate, I was shown the spot where a few daysbefore a young woman, taken in adultery, was done to death in a cageamid a crowd of spectators, who witnessed her agony for three days. Shehad to stand on tiptoe in the cage, her head projecting through a holein the roof, and here she had to remain until death by exhaustion orstrangulation ensued, or till some kind friend, seeking to accumulatemerit in heaven, passed into her mouth sufficient opium to poison her, and so end her struggles. 

On the gate itself a man not so long ago was nailed with red-hot nailshammered through his wrists above the hands. In this way he was exposedin turn at each of the four gates of the city, so that every man, woman, and child could see his torture. He survived four days, havingunsuccessfully attempted to shorten his pain by beating his head againstthe woodwork, an attempt which was frustrated by padding the woodwork. This man had murdered and robbed two travellers on the high road, and, as things are in China, his punishment was not too severe. 

No people are more cruel in their punishments than the Chinese, andobviously the reason is that the sensory nervous system of a Chinaman iseither blunted or of arrested development. Can anyone doubt this whowitnesses the stoicism with which a Chinaman can endure physical painwhen sustaining surgical operation without chloroform, the comfort withwhich he can thrive amid foul and penetrating smells, the calmness withwhich he can sleep amid the noise of gunfire and crackers, drums andtomtoms, and the indifference with which he contemplates the sufferingsof lower animals, and the infliction of tortures on higher?

Every text-book on China devotes a special chapter to the subject ofpunishment. Mutilation is extremely common. Often I met men who had beendeprived of their ears--they had lost them, they explained, in battlefacing the enemy! It is a common punishment to sever the hamstrings orto break the ankle-bones, especially in the case of prisoners who haveattempted to escape. And I remember that when I was in Shanghai, Mr. Tsai, the Mixed Court Magistrate, was reproved by the papers because hehad from the bench expressed his regret that the foreign law of Shanghaidid not permit him to punish in this way a prisoner who had twicesucceeded in breaking from gaol. The hand is cut off for theft, as itwas in England not so many years ago. I have seen men with the tendon ofAchilles cut out, and it is worth noting that the Chinese say that this"acquired deformity" can be cured by the transplantation in the seat ofinjury of the tendon of a sheep. One embellishment of the Chinesepunishment of flogging might with good effect be introduced intoEngland. After a Chinese flagellation, the culprit is compelled to godown on his knees and humbly thank the magistrate for the trouble he hasbeen put to to correct his morals. 

There is a branch of the _Missions Étrangères de Paris_ in Chaotong. Icalled at the mission and saw their school of fifteen children, andtheir tiny little church. One priest lives here solitary and alone; hewas reading, when I entered, the famous Chinese story, "The ThreeKingdoms. " He gave me a kindly welcome, and was pleased to talk in hisown tongue. An excellent bottle of rich wine was produced, and over theglass the Father painted with voluble energy the evil qualities of thepeople whom he has left his beautiful home in the Midi of France to leadto Rome. "No Chinaman can resist temptation; all are thieves. Justicedepends on the richness of the accused. Victory in a court of justice isto the richer. Talk to the Chinese of Religion, of a God, of Heaven orHell, and they yawn; speak to them of business and they are allattention. If you ever hear of a Chinaman who is not a thief and a liar, do not believe it, Monsieur Morrison, do not believe it, they arethieves and liars every one. "

For eight years the priest had been in China devoting his best energiesto the propagation of his religion. And sorry had been his recompense. The best Christian in the mission had lately broken into the missionhouse and stolen everything valuable he could lay his impious hands on. Remembrance of this infamy rankled in his bosom and impelled him to thisexpansive panegyric on Chinese virtue. 

Some four months ago the good father was away on a holiday, visiting amissionary brother in an adjoining town. In his absence the mission wasentered through a rift made in the wall, and three hundred taels ofsilver, all the money to the last sou that he possessed, were stolen. Suspicion fell upon a Christian, who was not only an active Catholichimself, but whose fathers before him had been Catholics forgenerations. It was learned that his wife had some of the money, andthat the thief was on his way to Suifu with the remainder. There wasgreat difficulty in inducing the yamen to take action, but at last thewife was arrested. She protested that she knew nothing; but, having beentriced up by the wrists joined behind her back, she soon came to reason, and cried out that, if the magistrate would release her hands, she wouldconfess all. Two hundred taels were seized in her house and restored tothe priest, and the culprit, her husband, followed to Tak-wan-hsien bythe satellites of the yamen, was there arrested, and was now in prisonawaiting punishment. The goods he purchased were likewise seized andwere now with the poor father. 

CHAPTER IX. 

MAINLY ABOUT CHINESE DOCTORS. 

Chaotong is an important centre for the distribution of medicines toSzechuen and other parts of the empire. An extraordinary variety ofdrugs and medicaments is collected in the city. No pharmacopoeia is morecomprehensive than the Chinese. No English physician can surpass theChinese in the easy confidence with which he will diagnose symptoms thathe does not understand. The Chinese physician who witnesses theunfortunate effect of placing a drug of which he knows nothing into abody of which he knows less, is no more disconcerted than is his Westernbrother under similar circumstances; he retires, sententiously observing"there is medicine for sickness but none for fate. " "Medicine, " says theChinese proverb, "cures the man who is fated not to die. " "When Yenwang(the King of Hell) has decreed a man to die at the third watch, no powerwill detain him till the fifth. "

The professional knowledge of a Chinese doctor largely consists inability to feel the pulse, or rather the innumerable pulses of hisChinese patient. This is the real criterion of his skill. The pulses ofa Chinaman vary in a manner that no English doctor can conceive of. Forinstance, among the seven kinds of pulse which presage approachingdeath, occur the five following:--

"1. When the pulse is perceived under the fingers to bubble irregularlylike water over a great fire, if it be in the morning, the patient willdie in the evening. 

"2. Death is no farther off if the pulse seems like a fish whose head isstopped in such a manner that he cannot move, but has a frisking tailwithout any regularity; the cause of this distemper lies in the kidneys. 

"3. If the pulse seems like drops of water that fall into a room throughsome crack, and when in its return it is scattered and disordered muchlike the twine of a cord which is unravelled, the bones are dried upeven to the very marrow. 

"4. Likewise if the motion of the pulse resembles the pace of a frogwhen he is embarrassed in the weeds, death is certain. 

"5. If the motion of the pulse resembles the hasty pecking of the beakof a bird, there is a defect of spirits in the stomach. "

Heredity is the most important factor in the evolution of a doctor inChina, success in his career as an "hereditary physician" beingspecially assured to him who has the good fortune to make his firstappearance in the world feet foremost. Doctors dispense their ownmedicines. In their shops you see an amazing variety of drugs; you willoccasionally also see tethered a live stag, which on a certain day, tobe decided by the priests, will be pounded whole in a pestle and mortar. "Pills manufactured out of a whole stag slaughtered with purity ofpurpose on a propitious day, " is a common announcement in dispensariesin China. The wall of a doctor's shop is usually stuck all over withdisused plasters returned by grateful patients with complimentarytestimonies to their efficiency; they have done what England is allegedto expect of all her sons--their duty. 

Medicines, it is known to all Chinamen, operate variously according totheir taste, thus:--"All sour medicines are capable of impeding andretaining; bitter medicines of causing looseness and warmth as well ashardening; sweet possess the qualities of strengthening, of harmonising, and of warming; acids disperse, prove emollient, and go in an athwartdirection; salt medicines possess the properties of descending; thosesubstances that are hard and tasteless open the orifices of the body andpromote a discharge. This explains the use of the five tastes. "

Coming from Szechuen, we frequently met porters carrying baskets ofarmadillos, leopard skins, leopard and tiger bones. The skins were forwear, but the armadillos and bones were being taken to Suifu to beconverted into medicine. From the bones of leopards an admirable tonicmay be distilled; while it is well known that the infusion prepared fromtiger bones is the greatest of the tonics, conferring something of thecourage, agility, and strength of the tiger upon its partaker. 

Another excellent specific for courage is a preparation made from thegall bladder of a robber famous for his bravery, who has died at thehands of the executioner. The sale of such a gall bladder is one of theperquisites of a Chinese executioner. 

Ague at certain seasons is one of the most common ailments of thedistrict of Chaotong, yet there is an admirable prophylactic at handagainst it: write the names of the eight demons of ague on paper, andthen eat the paper with a cake; or take out the eyes of the paperdoor-god (there are door-gods on all your neighbours' doors), and devourthem--this remedy never fails. 

Unlike the Spaniard, the Chinese disapproves of blood-letting in fevers, "for a fever is like a pot boiling; it is requisite to reduce the fireand not diminish the liquid in the vessel, if we wish to cure thepatient. "

Unlike the Spaniard, too, the Chinese doctors would not venture toassert, as the medical faculty of Madrid in the middle of last centuryassured the inhabitants, that "if human excrement was no longer to besuffered to accumulate as usual in the streets, where it might attractthe putrescent particles floating in the air, these noxious vapourswould find their way into the human body and a pestilential sicknesswould be the inevitable consequence. "

For boils there is a certain cure:--There is a God of Boils. If you havea boil you will plaster the offending excrescence without avail, if thatbe _all_ you plaster; to get relief you must at the same time plasterthe corresponding area on the image of the God. Go into his temple inWestern China, and you will find this deity dripping with plasters, withscarcely an undesecrated space on his superficies. 

At the yamen of the Brigadier-General in Chaotong, the entrance isguarded by the customary stone images of mythical shape and grotesquefeatures. They are believed to represent lions, but their faces are notleonine--they are a reproduction, exaggerated, of the characteristicfeatures of the bulldog of Western China. The images are of undoubtedvalue to the city. One is male and the other female. On the sixteenthday of the first month they are visited by the townspeople, who rub themenergetically with their hands, all over from end to end. Every spot sotouched confers immunity from pain upon the corresponding region oftheir own bodies for the ensuing year. And so from year to year theseimages are visited. Pain accordingly is almost absent from the city, and only that man suffers pain who has the temerity to neglect theopportunity of insuring himself against it. 

I was called to a case of opium-poisoning in Chaotong. A son came incasually to seek our aid in saving his father, who had attempted suicidewith a large over-dose of opium. He had taken it at ten in the morningand it was now two. We were led to the house and found it a single smallunlit room up a narrow alley. In the room two men were unconcernedlyeating their rice, and in the darkness they seemed to be the onlyoccupants; but, lying down behind them on a narrow bed, was the dimfigure of the dying man, who was breathing stertorously. A crowd quicklygathered round the door and pent up the alley-way. Rousing the man, Icaused him to swallow some pints of warm water, and then I gave him ahypodermic injection of apomorphia. The effect was admirable, andpleased the spectators even more than the patient. 

Opium is almost exclusively the drug used by suicides. No Chinaman wouldkill himself by the mutilation of the razor or pistol-shot because awfulis the future punishment of him who would so dare to disturb theintegrity of the body bequeathed to him by his fathers. 

China is the land of suicides. I suppose more people die from suicide inChina in proportion to the population than in any other country. Wherethe struggle for existence is so keen, it is hardly to be wondered atthat men are so willing to abandon the struggle. But poverty and miseryare not the only causes. For the most trivial reason the Chinaman willtake his own life. Suicide with a Chinaman is an act that is recorded inhis honour rather than to his opprobrium. 

Thus a widow, as we have seen, may obtain much merit by sacrificingherself on the death of her husband. But in a large proportion of casesthe motive is revenge, for the spirit of the dead is believed to "hauntand injure the living person who has been the cause of the suicide. " InChina to ruin your adversary you injure or kill yourself. To vow tocommit suicide is the most awful threat with which you can drive terrorinto the heart of your adversary. If your enemy do you wrong, there isno way in which you can cause him more bitterly to repent his misdeedthan by slaying yourself at his doorstep. He will be charged with yourmurder, and may be executed for the crime; he will be utterly ruined inestablishing, if he can establish, his innocence; and he will be hauntedever after by your avenging spirit. 

Occasionally two men who have quarrelled will take poison together, andtheir spirits will fight it out in heaven. Opium is very cheap inChaotong, costing only fivepence an ounce for the crude article. You seeit exposed for sale everywhere, like thick treacle in dirty besmearedjars. It is largely adulterated with ground pigskin, the adulterationbeing detected by the craving being unsatisfied. Mohammedans have a holyloathing of the pig, and look with contempt on their countrymen whosechief meat-food is pork. But each one in his turn. It is, on the otherhand, a source of infinite amusement to the Chinese to see hisMohammedan brother unwittingly smoking the unclean beast in hisopium-pipe. 

On our way to the opium case we passed a doorway from which pitifulscreams were issuing. It was a mother thrashing her little boy with aheavy stick--she had tethered him by the leg and was using the stickwith both hands. A Chinese proverb as old as the hills tells you, "ifyou love your son, give him plenty of the cudgel; if you hate him, cramhim with delicacies. " He was a young wretch, she said, and she could donothing with him; and she raised her baton again to strike, but themissionary interposed, whereupon she consented to stay her wrath and didso--till we were round the corner. 

"Extreme lenity alternating with rude passion in the treatment ofchildren is the characteristic, " says Meadows, "of the lower stages ofcivilisation. " I mention this incident only because of its rarity. In noother country in the world, civilised or "heathen, " are childrengenerally treated with more kindness and affection than they are inChina. "Children, even amongst seemingly stolid Chinese, have thefaculty of calling forth the better feelings so often found latent. Their prattle delights the fond father, whose pride beams through everyline of his countenance, and their quaint and winning ways and touchesof nature are visible even under the disadvantages of almond eyes andshaven crowns" (Dyer Ball). 

A mother in China is given, both by law and custom, extreme power overher sons whatever their age or rank. The Sacred Edict says, "Parents arelike heaven. Heaven produces a blade of grass. Spring causes it togerminate. Autumn kills it with frost. Both are by the will of heaven. In like manner the power of life and death over the body which they havebegotten is with the parents. "

And it is this law giving such power to a mother in China which tends, it is believed, to nullify that other law whereby a husband in China isgiven extreme power over his wife, even to the power in some cases oflife and death. 

The Mohammedans are still numerous in Chaotong, and there are some 3000families--the figures are Chinese--in the city and district. Theirnumbers were much reduced during the suppression of the rebellion of1857-1873, when they suffered the most awful cruelties. Again, thirteenyears ago, there was an uprising which was suppressed by the Governmentwith merciless severity. One street is exclusively occupied by Moslems, who have in their hands the skin trade of the city. Their houses areknown by a conspicuous absence from door and window of the colouredpaper door-gods that are seen grotesquely glaring from the doors of theunbelievers. Their mosque is well cared for and unusually clean. In thecentre, within the main doorway, as in every mosque in the empire, is agilt tablet of loyalty to the living Emperor. "May the Emperor reign tenthousand years!" it says, a token of subjection which the mosques ofYunnan have especially been compelled to display since the insurrection. At the time of my visit an aged mollah was teaching Arabic and the Koranto a ragged handful of boys. He spoke to me through an interpreter, andgave me the impression of having some little knowledge of things outsidethe four seas that surround China. I told him that I had lived under theshelter of two of the greatest mosques, but he seemed to question mycontention that the mosque in Cordova and the Karouin mosque in Fez areeven more noble in their proportions than his mosque in Chaotong. Insome of the skin-hongs that I entered, the walls were ornamented withcoloured plans of Mecca and Medinah, bought in Chentu, the capital cityof the province of Szechuen. 

CHAPTER X. 

THE JOURNEY FROM CHAOTONG TO TONGCHUAN. 

In Chaotong I engaged three new men to go with me to Tongchuan, adistance of 110 miles, and I rewarded liberally the three excellentfellows who had accompanied me from Suifu. My new men were all activeChinamen. The headman Laohwan was most anxious to come with me. Recognising that he possessed characteristics which his posterity wouldrejoice to have transmitted to them, he had lately taken to himself awife and now, a fortnight later, he sought rest. He would come with meto Burma, the further away the better; he wished to prove the truth ofthe adage about distance and enchantment. The two coolies who were tocarry the loads were country lads from the district. My men were toreceive _4s. 6d. _ each for the 110 miles, an excessive wage, but allfood was unusually dear, and people were eating maize instead of rice;they were to find themselves on the way, in other words, they were "toeat their own rice, " and, in return for a small reward, they were toendeavour to do the five days' stages in three days. I bought a fewstores, including some excellent oatmeal and an annular cake of thatcompressed tea, the "Puerh-cha, " which is grown in the Shan States andis distributed as a luxury all over China. It is in favour in the palaceof the Emperor in Peking itself; it is one of the finest teas in China, yet, to show how jealous the rivalry now is between China tea andIndian, when I submitted the remainder of this very cake to a well-knowntea-taster in Mangoe Lane, Calcutta, and asked his expert opinion, hereported that the sample was "of undoubted value and of great interest, as showing what _muck can be called tea_. "

We left on the 3rd, and passed by the main-street through the crowdedcity, past the rich wholesale warehouses, and out by the west gate tothe plain of Chaotong. The country spread before us was smiling andrich, with many farmsteads, and orchards of pears and peaches--a prettysight, for the trees were now in full blossom. Many carts were lumberingalong the road on their uneven wheels. Just beyond the city there was anoisy altercation in the road for the possession apparently of a bluntadze. Carts stopped to see the row, and all the bystanders joined inwith their voices, with much earnestness. It is rare for the disputantsto be injured in these questions. Their language on these occasions is, I am told, extremely rich in allusions. It would often make a _gendarme_blush. Their oaths are more ornate than the Italians'; the art ofvituperation is far advanced in China. A strong wind was blowing in ourfaces. We rested at some mud hovels where poverty was stalking aboutwith a stick in rags and nakedness. Full dress of many of these beggarswould disgrace a Polynesian. Even the better dressed were hung withgarments in rags, tattered, and dirty as a Paisley ragpicker's. Thechildren were mostly stark-naked. In the middle of the day we reached aMohammedan village named Taouen, twenty miles from Chaotong, and my manprepared me an _al fresco_ lunch. The entire village gathered into thesquare to see me eat; they struggled for the orange peel I threw underthe table. 

From here the road rises quickly to the village of Tashuitsing (7380feet above sea level), where my men wished to remain, and apparentlycame to an understanding with the innkeeper; but I would not understandand went on alone, and they perforce had to follow me. There are onlyhalf-a-dozen rude inns in the village, all Mohammedan; but just outsidethe village the road passes under a magnificent triple archway in fourtiers made of beautifully cut stone, embossed with flowers and images, and richly gilt--a striking monument in so forlorn a situation. It wasbuilt two years ago, in obedience to the will of the Emperor, by therichest merchant of Chaotong, and is dedicated to the memory of hisvirtuous mother, who died at the age of eighty, having thus experiencedthe joy of old age, which in China is the foremost of the five measuresof felicity. It was erected and carved on the spot by masons fromChungking. Long after dark we reached an outlying inn of the village ofKiangti, a thatched mud barn, with a sleeping room surrounded on threesides by a raised ledge of mud bricks upon which were stretched themattresses. The room was dimly lit by an oil-lamp; the floor was earth;the grating under the rafters was stored with maize-cobs. Outside thedoor cooking was done in the usual square earthen stove, in which aresunk two iron basins, one for rice, the other for hot water; maizestalks were being burnt in the flues. The room, when we entered, wasoccupied by a dozen Chinese, with their loads and the packsaddles of acaravan of mules; yet what did the good-natured fellows do? They mustall have been more tired than I; but, without complaining, they all gotup when they saw me, and packed their things and went out of the room, one after the other, to make way for myself and my companions. And, while we were comfortable, they crowded into another room that wasalready crowded. 

Next day a tremendously steep descent took us down to Kiangti, amountain village on the right bank of a swift stream, here spanned inits rocky pass by a beautiful suspension bridge, which swings gracefullyhigh above the torrent. The bridge is 150 feet long by 12 feet broad, and there is no engineer in England who might not be proud to have beenits builder. At its far end the parapets are guarded by two sculpturedmonkeys, hewn with rough tools out of granite, and the more remarkablefor their fidelity of form, seeing that the artist must have carved themfrom memory. The inevitable likin-barrier is at the bridge to squeeze afew more cash out of the poor carriers. That the Inland Customs dues ofChina are vexatious there can be no doubt; yet it is open to question ifthe combined duties of all the likin-barriers on any one main roadextending from frontier to frontier of any single province in China aregreater than the _ad valorem_ duties imposed by our colony of Victoriaupon the protected goods crossing her border from an adjoining colony. 

[Illustration: PAGODA BY THE WAYSIDE, WESTERN CHINA. ]

Leaving the bridge, the road leads again up the hills. Poppy was now infull flower, and everywhere in the fields women were collecting opium. They were scoring the poppy capsules with vertical scratches andscraping off the exuded juice which had bled from the incisions theymade yesterday. Hundreds of pack horses carrying Puerh tea met us on theroad; while all day long we were passing files of coolies toilingpatiently along under heavy loads of crockery. They were going in thesame direction as ourselves to the confines of the empire, distributingthose teacups, saucers, and cuplids, china spoons, and rice-bowls thatone sees in every inn in China. Most of the crockery is brought acrossChina from the province of Kiangsi, whose natural resources seems togive it almost the monopoly of this industry. The trade is an immenseone. In the neighbourhood of King-teh-chin, in Kiangsi, at the outbreakof the Taiping rebellion, more than one million workmen were employed inthe porcelain manufactories. Cups and saucers by the time they reach sofar distant a part of China as this, carried as they are so manyhundreds of miles on the backs of coolies, are sold for three or fourtimes their original cost. Great care is taken of them, and no piece canbe so badly broken as not to be mended. Crockery-repairing is arecognised trade, and the workmen are unusually skilful even forChinese. They rivet the pieces together with minute copper clamps. Tohave a specimen of their handiwork I purposely in Yunnan broke a cup andsaucer into fragments, only to find when I had done so that there wasnot a mender in the district. Rice bowls and teacups are neatly made, tough, and well finished; even the humblest are not inelegantlycoloured, while the high-class china, especially where the imperialyellow is used, often shows the richest beauty of ornamentation. 

Inns on this road were few and at wide distances; they were scarcelysufficient for the numbers who used them. The country was red sandstone, open, and devoid of all timber, till, descending again into a valley, the path crossed an obstructing ridge, and led us with pleasant surpriseinto a beautiful park. It was all green and refreshing. A pretty streamwas humming past the willows, its banks covered with the poppy in fullflower, a blaze of colour, magenta, white, scarlet, pink and blue pickedout with hedges of roses. The birds were as tame as in the Garden ofEden; magpies came almost to our feet; the sparrows took no notice ofus; the falcons knew we would not molest them; the pigeons seemed tothink we could not. All was peaceful, and the peasants who sat with usunder the cedars on the borders of the park were friendly andunobtrusive. Long after sundown we reached, far from the regular stage, a lonely pair of houses, at one of which we found uncomfortableaccommodation. Fire had to be kindled in the room in a hollow in theground; there was no ventilation, the wood was green, the smoke almostsuffocating. My men talked on far into the night until I lost patienceand yelled at them in English. They thought that I was swearing, anddesisted for fear that I should injure their ancestors. There was ashrine in this room for private devotions, the corresponding spot in theadjoining room being a rough opium-couch already occupied by two lustythickset "slaves to this thrice-accursed drug. " My men ate the mostfrugal of suppers. Food was so much in advance of its ordinary pricethat my men, in common with thousands of other coolies, were doing theirhard work on starvation rations. 

On the 5th we did a long day's stage and spent the night at a bleakhamlet 8500 feet above sea level, in a position so exposed that theroofs of the houses were weighted with stones to prevent their beingcarried away by the wind. This was the "Temple of the Dragon King, " andit was only twenty li from Tongchuan. 

Next day we were astir early and soon after daylight we came suddenly tothe brow of the tableland overlooking the valley of Tongchuan. Thecompact little walled city, with its whitewashed buildings glistening inthe morning sun, lay beyond the gleaming plats of the irrigated plain, snugly ensconced under rolling masses of hills, which rose at the farend of the valley to lofty mountains covered with snow. All the plain iswatered with springs; large patches of it are under water all the yearround, and, rendered thus useless for cultivation, are employed by theChinese for the artificial rearing of fish and as breeding grounds forthe wild duck and the "faithful bird, " the wild goose. A narrow dykeserpentining across the plain leads into the pretty city, where, at thenorth-east angle of the wall, I was charmed to find the cheerful home ofthe Bible Christian Mission, consisting of Mr. And Mrs. Sam Pollard andtwo lady assistants, one of whom is a countrywoman of my own. This is, Ibelieve, the most charming spot for a mission station in all China. Mr. Pollard is quite a young man, full of enthusiasm, modest, and clever. Everywhere he is received kindly; he is on friendly terms with theofficials, and there is not a Chinese home within ten miles of the citywhere he and his pretty wife are not gladly welcomed. His knowledge ofChinese is exceptional; he is the best Chinese scholar in Western China, and is examiner in Chinese for the distant branches of the InlandMission. 

The mission in Tongchuan was opened in 1891, and the results are notdiscouraging, seeing that the Chinaman is as difficult to lead into thetrue path as any Jew. No native has been baptized up to date. Theconvert employed by the mission as a native helper is one of the threeconverts of Chaotong. He is a bright-faced lad of seventeen, as ardentan evangelist as heart of missionary could desire, but a native preachercan never be so successful as the foreign missionary. The Chinese listento him with complacency, "You eat Jesus's rice and of course you speakhis words, " they say. The attitude of the Chinese in Tongchuan towardsthe Christian missionary is one of perfect friendliness towards themissionary, combined with perfect apathy towards his religion. Like anyother trader, the missionary has a perfect right to offer his goods, but he must not be surprised, the Chinese thinks, if he finds difficultyin securing a purchaser for wares as much inferior to the homeproduction as is the foreign barbarian to the subject of the Son ofHeaven. 

There is a Catholic Mission in Tongchuan, but the priest does notassociate with the Protestant. How indeed can the two associate whenthey worship different Gods!

The difficulty is one which cannot be easily overcome while there existsin China that bone of contention among missionaries which is known asthe "Term Question. "

The Chinese recognise a supreme God, or are believed by some torecognise a supreme God--"High Heaven's ruler" (_Shangtien hou_), who is"probably intended, " says Williams, "for the true God. " The Mohammedans, when they entered China, could not recognise this god as identical withthe only one God, to whom they accordingly gave the Chinese name of"true Lord" (_Chên Chu_). The Jesuits, when they entered China, couldnot recognise either of these gods as identical with the God of theHebrews, whom they accordingly represented in Chinese first by thecharacters for "Supreme Ruler" (_Shang ti_), and subsequently by thecharacters for "Lord of Heaven" (_Tien Chu_). The Protestants naturallycould not be identified with the Catholics, and invented another Chinesename, or other Chinese names, for the true God; while the Americans, superior to all other considerations, discovered a different name stillfor the true God to whom they assigned the Chinese characters for "thetrue Spirit" (_Chên Shên_), thereby suggesting by implication, as Littleobserves, that the other spirits were false. But, as if such divergentterms were not sufficiently confusing for the Chinese, the Protestantsthemselves have still more varied the Chinese characters for God. Thus, in the first translation of the Bible, the term for God used is theChinese character for "Spirit" (_Shên_); in the second translation thisterm is rejected and "Supreme Ruler" (_Shang ti_), substituted; thethird translation reverts to the "Spirit"; the fourth returns to the"Supreme Ruler"; and the fifth, by Bishop Burdon of Hong Kong, and Dr. Blodget of Peking, in 1884, rejects the title that was first accepted bythe Jesuits, and accepts the title "Lord of Heaven" (_Tien Chu_), thatwas first rejected by the Jesuits. 

"Many editions, " says the Rev. J. Wherry, of Peking, "with other termshave since been published. " "Bible work in particular, " says the Rev. Mr. Muirhead, of Shanghai, "is carried on under no small disadvantage inview of this state of things. " "It is true, however, " adds Mr. Muirhead, "that God has blest all terms in spite of our incongruity. " Butobviously the Chinese are a little puzzled to know which of thecontending gods is most worthy of their allegiance. 

But apart from the "Term Question" there must be irreconcilableantagonism between the two great missionary churches in China, for itcannot be forgotten that "in the development of the missionary ideathree great tasks await the (Protestant) Church. . . . The second task is_to check the schemes of the Jesuit_. In the great work of the world'sevangelisation the Church has no foe at all comparable with theJesuit. . . . Swayed ever by the vicious maxim that the end justifies themeans, he would fain put back the shadow of the dial of human progressby half a dozen centuries. Other forms of superstition and error aredangerous, but Jesuitism overtops them all, and stands forth anorganised conspiracy against the liberties of mankind. This foe is notlikely to be overcome by a divided Protestantism. If we would conquer inthis war we must move together, and in our movements must manifest apatience, a heroism, a devotion equal to anything the Jesuit can claim. "(The Rev. A. Sutherland, D. D. , Delegate from Canada to the MissionaryConference, 1888, _Records_, i. , 145. )

And, on the other hand, the distracted Chinese readsthat:--"Protestantism is not only a veritable Babel, but a horribletheory, and an immoral practice which blasphemes God, degrades man, andendangers society. " (Cardinal Cuesta's Catechism cited in "China andChristianity, " by Michie, p. 8. )

CHAPTER XI. 

THE CITY OF TONGCHUAN, WITH SOME REMARKS UPON INFANTICIDE. 

When I entered Tongchuan the town was in commotion; kettledrums andtomtoms were beating, and crackers and guns firing; the din and clatterwas continuous and deafening. An eclipse of the sun was commencing--itwas the 6th of April--"the sun was being swallowed by the Dog ofHeaven, " and the noise was to compel the monster to disgorge its prey. Five months ago the Prefect of the city had been advised of theimpending disaster, and it was known that at a certain hour he wouldpublicly intervene with Heaven to avert from the city the calamity ofdarkness. I myself saw with my own eyes the wonderful power of this man. The sun was darkened when I went to the Prefect's yamen. A crowd wasalready gathered in the court. At the foot of the steps in the open air, a loosely built framework of wood ten feet high was standing, displayingon its vertex a yellow disc of paper inscribed with the characters for"voracity. "

As we waited the sun became gradually clearer, when, just as the moonwas disappearing across its edge, the Prefect in full dress, steppedfrom his yamen into the court, accompanied by the city magistrate and adozen city fathers. Every instrument of discord was still clanging overthe city. Then all these men of weight walked solemnly three timesround the scaffold, and halted three times, while the Prefect went downon his knees, and did obeisance with nine kotows to the rickety frameand its disc of yellow paper. There was almost immediate answer to hisprayer. With a sigh of relief we saw the lingering remnant of darknessdisappear, and the midday sun shone full and bright. Then the Prefectretired, his suite dividing to let him pass, and we all went homeblessing the good man whose intercession had saved the town fromdarkness. For there can be little doubt, I hope, that it is due to theaction of this Prefect that the sun is shining to-day in Tongchuan. TheChinese might well ask if any barbarian missionary could do as he did. 

Eclipses in China are foretold by the Government almanac publishedannually in Peking by a bureau of astrology attached to the Board ofRites. The almanac is a Government monopoly, and any infraction of itscopyright is a penal offence. "It monopolises the management of thesuperstitions of the people, in regard to the fortunate or unluckyconjunctions of each day and hour. No one ventures to be without it, lest he be liable to the greatest misfortunes and run the imminenthazard of undertaking important events on blackballed days. "

The Chinese almanac is much more comprehensive than ours, for eveneclipses are foretold that never happen. Should an error take place intheir almanac, and an expected eclipse not occur, the royal astronomersare not disconcerted--far from it; they discover in their error reasonfor rejoicing; they then congratulate the Emperor that "the heavens havedispensed with this omen of ill-luck in his favour. " For eclipsesforebode disaster, and every thoughtful Chinaman who has heard of thepresent rebellion of the Japanese must attribute the reverses caused bythe revolt to the eclipse of April 6th, occurring immediately before theinsurrection. 

Tongchuan is one of the most charming towns I have ever visited; it isprobably the cleanest city in China, and the best governed. Its prefectis a man of singular enlightenment, who rules with a justice that israrely known in China. His people regard him as something more thanmortal. Like Confucius "his ear is an obedient organ for the receptionof truth. " Like the Confucian Superior Man "his dignity separates himfrom the crowd; being reverent he is beloved; being loyal he issubmitted to; and being faithful he is trusted. By his word he directsmen, and by his conduct he warns them. "

For several years he was attached to the Embassy in Japan, and he boaststhat he has made Tongchuan as clean a city as any to be found in theempire of the Mikado. The yamen is a model of neatness. Painted on theoutflanking wall there is the usual huge representation of the fabulousmonster attempting to swallow the sun--the admonition againstextortion--and probably the only magistrate in China who does not standin need of the warning is the Prefect of Tongchuan. 

Prices in Tongchuan at the time of my visit were high and food wasscarce. It was difficult to realise that men at that moment were dyingof starvation in the pretty town. Rice cost 400 cash for the samequantity that in a good season can be bought for 60 cash; maize was 300cash the sheng, whereas the normal price is only 40 cash. Sugar was 15cash the cake instead of 6 cash the cake, and so on in all things. Poppyis not grown in the valley to the same extent as hitherto, becausepoppy displaces wheat and beans, and the people have need of all theland they can spare to grow breadstuffs. In the other half of the year, rice, maize, and tobacco are grown together on the plain, and at thesame season potatoes, oats, and buckwheat are grown in the hills. 

Part of the plain is permanently under water, but it was the drought inthe winter and the rains in the summer of successive years that causedthe famine. There are no Mohammedans in the town--there have been nonesince the rebellion--but there are many small Mohammedan villages acrossthe hills. No district in China is now more peaceful than the Valley ofTongchuan. The Yangtse River--"The River of Golden Sand"--is only twodays distant, but it is not navigable even by Chinese boatmen. Sugarcanegrows in the Yangtse Valley in little pockets, and it is from there thatthe compressed cakes of brown sugar seen in all the markets of WesternYunnan are brought. Coal comes from a mine two or three days inland;white-wax trees provide an important industry; the hills to the westcontain the most celebrated copper mines in the empire. 

The cash of Tongchuan are very small and inferior, 2000 being equivalentto one tael, whereas in Chaotong, 110 miles away, the cash vary from1260 to 1640 the tael. Before the present Prefect took office the cashwere more debased still, no less than 4000 being then counted as onetael, but the Prefect caused all these cash to be withdrawn fromcirculation. 

Unlike Chaotong, no children are permitted to be sold in the city, butduring last year no less than 3000 children (the figures are againChinese) were carried through the town on their way from Chaotong to thecapital. The edict of the Prefect which forbids the selling of childrenincreases the cases of infanticide, and in time of famine there are fewmothers among the starving poor who can truthfully assert that they havenever abandoned any of their offspring. 

The subject of infanticide in China has been discussed by a legion ofwriters and observers; and the opinion they come to seems to begenerally that the prevalence of the crime, except in seasons of famine, has been enormously overstated. The prevalent idea with us Westernsappears to be, that the murder of their children, especially of theirfemale children, is a kind of national pastime with the Chinese, or, atthe best, a national peculiarity. Yet it is open to question whether thecrime, excepting in seasons of famine, is, in proportion to thepopulation, more common in China than it is in England. H. A. Giles ofH. B. M. Chinese Consular Service, one of the greatest living authoritieson China, says "I am unable to believe that infanticide prevails to anygreat extent in China. . . . In times of famine or rebellion, under stressof exceptional circumstances, infanticide may possibly cast its shadowover the empire, but as a general rule I believe it to be no morepractised in China than in England, France, the United States andelsewhere. " (_Journal, China Branch R. A. S. _, 1885, p. 28. )

G. Eugène Simon, formerly French Consul in China, declares that"infanticide is a good deal less frequent in China than in Europegenerally, and particularly in France. " A statement that inferentiallyreceives the support of Dr. E. J. Eitel. (_China Review_, xvi. , 189. )

The prevailing impression as to the frequency of infanticide in China isderived from the statements of missionaries, who, no doubtunintentionally, exaggerate the prevalence of the crime in order tobring home to us Westerns the deplorable condition of the heathen amongwhom they are labouring. But, even among the missionaries, thestatements are as divergent as they are on almost every other subjectrelating to China. Thus the Rev. Griffith John argues "from his ownexperience that infanticide is common all over the Empire, " the Rev. Dr. Edkins on the other hand says that "infanticide is a thing almostunknown in Peking. " And the well known medical missionary, Dr. Dudgeonof Peking (who has left the London Mission), agrees with another medicalmissionary, Dr. Lockhart, "that infanticide is almost as rare in Chinaas in England. "

The Rev. A. H. Smith ("Chinese Characteristics, " p. 207) speaks "of theenormous infanticide which is known to exist in China. " The Rev. JustusDoolittle ("Social Life of the Chinese, " ii. P. 203) asserts that "thereare most indubitable reasons for believing that infanticide is toleratedby the Government, and that the subject is treated with indifference andwith shocking levity by the mass. " . . . But Bishop Moule "has good reasonto conclude that the prevalence of the crime has been largelyexaggerated. " (_Journal, China Branch R. A. S. _, _ut supra_. )

One of the best known Consuls in China, who lately retired from theService, told the writer that in all his thirty years' experience ofChina he had only had personal knowledge of one authentic case ofinfanticide. 

"Exaggerated estimates respecting the frequency of infanticide, " saysthe Rev. Dr. D. J. MacGowan, "are formed owing to the withholdinginterment from children who die in infancy. " And he adds that "opinionsof careful observers will be found to vary with fields of observation. "(_China Review_, xiv. , 206. )

Whatever the relative frequency of infanticide in China and Europe maybe, it cannot, I think, admit of question that the crime of infanticideis less common among the barbarian Chinese than is the crime offoeticide among the highly civilised races of Europe and America. 

There are several temples in Tongchuan, and two beyond the walls whichare of more than ordinary interest. There is a Temple to the Goddess ofMercy, where deep reverence is shown to the images of the Trinity ofSisters. They are seated close into the wall, the nimbus of glory whichplays round their impassive features being represented by a goldenaureola painted on the wall. The Goddess of Mercy is called by theChinese "_Sheng-mu_, " or Holy Mother, and it is this name which has beenadopted by the Roman Catholic Church as the Chinese name of the VirginMary. 

There is a fine City Temple which controls the spirits of the dead ofthe city as the yamens of the magistrates control the living of thecity. The Prefect and the City Magistrate are here shown in theircelestial abodes administering justice--or its Chinese equivalent--tothe spirits who, when living, were under their jurisdiction on earth. They hold the same position in Heaven and have the same authority asthey had on earth; and may, as spirits, be bribed to deal gently withthe spirits of departed friends just as, when living, they were open tooffers to deal leniently with any living prisoner in whose welfare thefriends were prepared to express practical sympathy. 

In the Buddhist Temple are to be seen, in the long side pavilions, thechambers of horrors with their realistic representations of the tormentsof a soul in its passage through the eight Buddhist hells. I looked onthese scenes with the calmness of an unbeliever; not so a poor woman towhom the horrors were very vivid truths. She was on her knees beforethe grating, sobbing piteously at a ghastly scene where a man, whilestill alive, was being cast by monsters from a hill-top on to red-hotspikes, there to be torn in pieces by serpents. This was the torture herdead husband was now enduring; it was this stage he had reached in hisonward passage through hell--the priest had told her so, and only moneypaid to the priests could lighten his torment. 

Beyond the south gate, amid groves of lofty pine trees, are the templeand grounds, the pond and senior wrangler bridge, of the ConfucianTemple--the most beautifully-finished temple I have seen in China. Wehave accustomed ourselves to speak in ecstacies of the wood-carving inthe temples of Japan, but not even in the Sh[=o]gun chapels of the Shibatemples in Tokyo have I seen wood-carving superior to the exquisitedelicacy of workmanship displayed in the carving of the Imperial dragonsthat frame with their fantastic coils the large Confucian tablet of thistemple. Money has been lavished on this building. The inclined marbleslabs that divide the terrace steps are covered with fanciful tracery;the parapets of the bridge are chiselled in marble; sculptured images ofelephants with howdahs crown the pillars of the marble balustrades; thelattice work under the wide eaves is everywhere beautifully carved. Lofty pillars of wood support the temple roofs. They are preserved by acoating of hemp and protected against fire by an outer coating ofplaster stained the colour of the original wood. Gilding is used asfreely in the decoration of the grand altar and tablets of this temple, as it is in a temple in Burma. 

On a hill overlooking the city and valley is the Temple to the God ofLiterature. The missionary and I climbed to the temple and saw itspretty court, its ancient bronze censer, and its many beautiful flowers, and then sat on the terrace in the sun and watched the picturesquevalley spread out before us. 

As we descended the hill again, a lad, who had attached himself to us, offered to show us the two common pits in which are cast the dead bodiesof paupers and criminals. The pits are at the foot of the hill, open-mouthed in the uncut grass. With famine in the city, with peopledying at that very hour of starvation, there was no lack of dead, andboth pits were filled to within a few feet of the surface. Bodies arethrown in here without any covering, and hawks and crows strip them oftheir flesh, a mode of treating the dead grateful to the Parsee, butinexpressibly hateful to the Chinese, whose poverty must be overwhelmingwhen he can be found to permit it. Pigtails were lying carelessly aboutand skulls separated from the trunk. Human bones gnawed by dogs were tobe picked up in numbers in the long grass all round the hill; they werethe bones of the dead who had been loosely buried close to the surface, through which dogs--the domestic dogs one met afterwards in thestreet--had scraped their way. Many, too, were the bones of deadchildren; for poor children are not buried, but are thrown outside thewall, sometimes before they are dead, to be eaten perhaps by the verydog that was their playmate since birth. 

I called upon the French priest, Père Maire, and he came with muchcordiality to the door of the mission to receive me. His is a prettymission, built in the Chinese style, with a modest little church and anice garden and summer-house. The father has been four years inTongchuan and ten in China. Like most of the French priests in China hehas succeeded in growing a prodigious beard whose imposing length addsto his influence among the Chinese, who are apt to estimate age by thelength of the beard. Only three weeks ago he returned from the capital. Signs of famine were everywhere apparent. The weather was very cold, andthe road in many places deeply covered with snow. Riding on his mule hepassed at different places on the wayside eight bodies, all recentlydead from hunger and cold. No school is attached to the mission, butthere is an _orphèlinat_ of little girls, _ramassées dans les rues_, whohad been cast away by their parents; they are in charge of ChineseCatholic nuns, and will be reared as nuns. As we sat in the pavilion inthe garden and drank wine sent to him by his brother in Bordeaux--trueFrench wine--the priest had many things to tell me of interest, of thenative rebellion on the frontier of Tonquin, of the mission of MonsieurHaas to Chungking, and the Thibetan trade in tea. "The Chinese? ah! yes. He loves the Chinese because he loves all God's creatures, but they areliars and thieves. Many families are converted, but even the Christiansare never Christian till the third generation. " These were his words. 

CHAPTER XII. 

TONGCHUAN TO YUNNAN CITY. 

From Tongchuan to Yunnan city, the provincial seat of Government andofficial residence of the Viceroy, whither I was now bound, is adistance of two hundred miles. My two carriers from Chaotong had beenengaged to go with me only as far as Tongchuan, but they now re-engagedto go with Laohwan, my third man, as far as the capital. The conditionswere that they were to receive _6s. 9d. _ each (2. 25 taels), one tael(_3s. _) to be paid in advance and the balance on arrival, and they wereto do the distance in seven days. The two taels they asked themissionary to remit to their parents in Chaotong, and he promised toreceive the money from me and do so. There was no written agreement ofany kind--none of the three men could read; they did not even see themoney that the missionary was to get for them; but they had absoluteconfidence in our good faith. 

I had a mule with me from Tongchuan to Yunnan, which saved me many milesof walking, and increased my importance in the eyes of the heathen. Iwas taking it to the capital for sale. It was a big-boned rough-hewnanimal, of superior intelligence, and I was authorised to sell it, together with its saddle and bridle, for four pounds. Like most Chinesemules it had two corns on the forelegs, and thus could see at night. Every Chinaman knows that the corns are adventitious eyes which give themule this remarkable power. 

We were on our way early in the afternoon of the 7th, going up thevalley. Below the curiously draped pagoda which commands Tongchuan wemet two pairs of prisoners, who were being led into the city underescort. They were coupled by the neck; they were suffering cruelly, fortheir wrists were so tightly manacled that their hands werestrangulated, a mode of torture to which, it will be remembered, theChinese Government in 1860 subjected Bowlby, the _Times_ correspondent, and the other prisoners seized with him "in treacherous violation of aflag of truce, " till death ended their sufferings. These men wereroadside robbers caught red-handed. Their punishment would be swift andcertain. Found guilty on their own confession, either tenderedvoluntarily to escape torture, or under the compulsion of torture, "self-accusation wrested from their agony, " they would be sentenced todeath, carried in baskets without delay--if they had not previously"died in prison"--died, that is, from the torture having been pushed toofar--to the execution ground, and there beheaded. 

We stopped at an inn that was not the ordinary stage, where inconsequence we had few comforts. In the morning my men lay in bed tilllate, and when I called them they opened the door and pointed to theroad, clearly indicating that rain had fallen, and that the roads weretoo slippery for traffic. But what was my surprise on looking myself tofind the whole country deeply under snow, and that it was still snowing. All day, indeed, it snowed. The track was very slippery, but my mule, though obstinate, was sure-footed, and we kept going. We passed a hugecoffin--borne by a dozen men with every gentleness, not to disturb thedead one's rest--preceded, not followed, by mourners, two of whom werecarrying a paper sedan chair, which would be burnt, and so, renderedinvisible, would be sent to the invisible world to bear the dead man'sspirit with becoming dignity. All day we were in the mountainstravelling up the bed of a creek with mountains on both sides of us. Wepassed Chehki, ninety li from Tongchuan, and thirty li further were gladto escape from the cold and snow to the shelter of a poor thatched mudinn, where we rested for the night. 

A hump-back was in charge. The only bedroom was half open to the sky, but the main room was still whole, though it had seen better days. Therewas a shrine in this room with ancestral tablets, and a sheet ofmany-featured gods, conspicuous amongst them being the God of Riches, who had been little attentive to the prayers offered him in this poorhamlet. In a stall adjoining our bedroom the mule was housed, andjingled his bell discontentedly all through the night. A poor man, nearly blind with acute inflammation of the eyes, was shivering over thescanty embers of an open fire which was burning in a square hole scoopedin the earthern floor near the doorway. He ate the humblest dishful ofmaize husks and meal strainings. That night I wondered did he sleep outin the open under a hedge, or did the inn people give him shelter withmy mule in the next room. My men and I had to sleep in the same room. They were still on short rations. They ate only twice a day, and thensparingly, of maize and vegetables; they took but little rice, and notea, and only a very small allowance of pork once in two days. Food wasvery dear, and, though they were receiving nearly double wages to carryhalf-loads, they must needs be careful. What admirable fellows theywere! In all my wanderings I have never travelled with more good-naturedcompanions. The attendant Laohwan was a powerful Chinese, solid anddetermined, but courteous in manner, voluble of speech, but with anamusing stammer; he had a wide experience of travel in Western China. Heseemed to enjoy his journey--he never appeared lovesick; but, of course, I had no means of asking if he felt keenly the long separation from hisbride. 

At the inn there was no bedding for my men; they had to coverthemselves, as best they could, with some pieces of felt brought them bythe hunchback, and sleep all huddled together from the cold. They had afew hardships to put up with, but their lot was a thousand times betterthan that of hundreds of their countrymen who were dying from hunger aswell as from cold. 

On the 9th, as I was riding on my mule up the mountain road, with thebleak, bare mountain tops on every side, I was watching an eaglecircling overhead, when my men called out to me excitedly and pointed toa large wolf that leisurely crossed the path in front of us and slunkover the brow. It had in its mouth a haunch of flesh torn from some poorwretch who had perished during the night. This was the only wolf I sawon my journey, though they are numerous in the province. Last year, nottwenty li from Chaotong, a little girl of four, the only child of themission cook, was killed by a wolf in broad daylight before its mother'seyes, while playing at the cabin door. 

Again, to-day, I passed a humpbacked dwarf on the hills, making hissolitary way towards Tongchuan, and I afterwards saw others, anindication of the prosperity that had left the district, for in time offamine no child who was badly deformed at birth would be suffered tolive. 

We stopped the night at Leitoupo, and next day from the bleak tablelandhigh among the mountains, where the wind whistled in our faces, wegradually descended into a country of trees and cultivation andfertility. We left the bare red hills behind us, and came down into abeautiful glade, with pretty streams running in pebbly beds pastterraced banks. At a village among the trees, where the houses made somepretension to comfort, and where poppies with brilliantly colouredflowers, encroached upon the street itself, we rested under a sunshadein front of a teahouse. A pretty rill of mountain water ran at our feet. Good tea was brought us in new clean cups, and a sweetmeat of peanuts, set in sugar-like almond toffee. The teahouse was filled. In the midstof the tea drinkers a man was lying curled on a mat, a bent elbow hispillow, and fast asleep, with the opium pipe still beside him, and thelamp still lit. A pretty little girl from the adjoining cottage cameshyly out to see me. I called her to me and gave her some sweetmeat. Iwished to put it in her mouth but she would not let me, and ran offindoors. I looked into the room after her and saw her father take thelolly from her and give it to her fat little baby brother, who seemedthe best fed urchin in the town. But I stood by and saw justice done, and saw the little maid of four enjoy the first luxury of her life-time. Girls in China early learn that they are, at best, only necessary evils, to be endured, as tradition says Confucius taught, only as the possiblemothers of men. Yet the condition of women in China is far superior tothat in any other heathen country. Monogamy is the rule in China, polygamy is the exception, being confined to the three classes, therich, the officials, and those who can by effort afford to take asecondary wife, their first wife having failed to give birth to a son. 

It is impossible to read the combined experiences of many missionariesand travellers in China without forming the opinion that the conditionof women in China is as nearly satisfactory as could be hoped for, in akingdom of "civilised and organised heathenism, " as the Rev. C. W. Mateer terms it. The lot of the average Chinese woman is certainly notone that a Western woman need envy. She cannot enjoy the happiness whicha Western woman does, but she is happy in her own way nevertheless. "Happiness does not always consist in absolute enjoyment--but in theidea which we have formed of it. "

There was no impertinent curiosity to see the stranger. The people inYunnan seem cowed and crushed. That arrogance which characterises theChinese elsewhere is entirely wanting here. They have seen the horrorsof rebellion and civil war, of battle, murder and sudden death, ofdevastation by the sword, famine, ruin, and misery. They are resignedand spiritless. But their friendliness is charming; their courtesy andkindliness is a constant delight to the traveller. At meal time you arealways pressed to join the table in the same manner, and with theidentical phrases still used by the Spaniards, but the request is one ofpoliteness only, and like the "_quiere Vd. Gustar?_" is not meant to beaccepted. 

We continued on our way. Comparatively few coolies now met us, and themajority of those who did were travelling empty-handed; but there weremany ponies and mules coming from the capital, laden with tea and withblocks of white salt like marble. Every here and there a rude shelterwas erected by the wayside, where a dish of cabbage and herbs could beobtained, which you ate out of cracked dishes at an improvised benchmade from a coffin board resting on two stones. Towards sundown weentered the village of Kong-shan, a pretty place on the hill slope, withviews across a fertile hollow that was pleasant to see. Here we found anexcellent inn with good quarters. Our day's journey was thirty-sevenmiles, of which I walked fifteen miles and rode twenty-two miles. Wewere travelling quickly. Distances in China are, at first, veryconfusing. They differ from ours in a very important particular: theyare not fixed quantities; they vary in length according to the nature ofthe ground passed over. Inequalities increase the distance; thus it byno means follows that the distance from A to B is equal to the distancefrom B to A--it may be fifty per cent. Or one hundred per cent. Longer. The explanation is simple. Distance is estimated by time, and, speakingroughly, ten li (3-1/3 miles) is the unit of distance equivalent to anhour's journey. "Sixty li still to go" means six hours' journey beforeyou; it may be uphill all the way. If you are returning downhill youneed not be surprised to learn that the distance by the same road isonly thirty li. 

To-night before turning in I looked in to see how my mule was faring. Hewas standing in a crib at the foot of some underground stairs, with ahuge horse trough before him, the size and shape of a Chinese coffin. Hewas peaceful and meditative. When he saw me he looked reproachfully atthe cut straw heaped untidily in the trough, and then at me, and askedas clearly as he could if that was a reasonable ration for ahigh-spirited mule, who had carried my honourable person up hill anddown dale over steep rocks and by tortuous paths, a long spring day ina warm sun. Alas, I had nothing else to offer him, unless I gave him theuncut straw that was stitched into our paillasses. What straw was beforehim was Chinese chaff, cut into three-inch lengths, by a long knifeworked on a pivot and board, like the tobacco knife of civilisation. Andhe had to be content with that or nothing. 

Next day we had an early start soon after sunrise. It was a lovely daywith a gentle breeze blowing and a cloudless sky. The village ofKong-shan was a very pretty place. It was built chiefly on two sides ofa main road which was as rugged as the dry bed of a mountain creek. Thehouses were better and the inns were again provided with heaps ofbedding at the doorways. Advertisement bills in blue and red weredisplayed on the lintels and doorposts, while fierce door-gods guardedagainst the admission of evil spirits. Brave indeed must be the spiritswho venture within reach of such fierce bearded monsters, armed withsuch desperate weapons, as were here represented. I stood on the edge ofthe town overlooking the valley while my mule was being saddled. Patchesof wheat and beans were scattered among fields of white-flowered poppy. Coolies carrying double buckets of water were winding up the sinuouspath from the border of the garden where "a pebbled brook laughs uponits way. " Boys were shouting to frighten away the sparrows from thenewly-sown rice beds; while women were moving on their little feet amongthe poppies, scoring anew the capsules and gathering the juice that hadexuded since yesterday. Down the road coolies were filing laden withtheir heavy burdens--a long day's toil before them; rude carts werelumbering past me drawn by oxen and jolting on wheels that were solidbut not circular. Then the mule was brought to me, and we went onthrough an avenue of trees that were half hidden in showers of whiteroses, by hedges of roses in full bloom and wayside flowers, daisies andviolets, dandelions and forget-me-nots, a pretty sight all fresh andsparkling in the morning sun. 

We went on in single file, my two coolies first with their light loadsthat swung easily from their shoulders, then myself on the mule, andlast my stalwart attendant Laohwan with his superior dress, his huge sunhat, his long pipe, and umbrella. A man of unusual endurance wasLaohwan. The day's journey done--he always arrived the freshest of theparty--he had to get ready my supper, make my bed, and look after mymule. He was always the last to bed and the first to rise. Long beforedaybreak he was about again, attending to the mule and preparing myporridge and eggs for breakfast. He thought I liked my eggs hard, andeach morning construed my look of remonstrance into one of approbation. It is very true of the Chinaman that precedent determines his action. The first morning Laohwan boiled the eggs hard and I could not reprovehim. Afterwards of course he made a point of serving me the eggs everymorning in the same way. I could say in Chinese "I don't like them, " butthe morning I said so Laohwan applied my dislike to the eggs not totheir condition of cooking, and saying in Chinese "good, good, " heobligingly ate them for me. 

Leaving the valley we ascended the red incline to an open tableland, where the soil is arid, and yields but a reluctant and scanty harvest. Nothing obstructs the view, and you can see long distances over thedowns, which are bereft of all timber except an occasional clump ofpines that the axe has spared because of the beneficial influence thegeomancers declare they exercise over the neighbourhood. The roadway inplaces is cut deeply into the ground; for the path worn by theattrition of countless feet soon becomes a waterchannel, and the roadwayin the rains is often the bed of a rapid stream. At short intervals arevast numbers of grave mounds with tablets and arched gables of welldressed stone. No habitations of the living are within miles of them, aforcible illustration of the devastation that has ravaged the district. This was still the famine district. In the open uncultivated fieldswomen were searching for weeds and herbs to save them from starvationtill the ingathering of the winter harvest. Their children it waspitiful to see. It is rare for Australians to see children dying ofhunger. These poor creatures, with their pinched faces and fleshlessbones, were like the patient with typhoid fever who has long beenhovering between life and death. There were no beggars. All the beggarswere dead long ago. All through the famine district we were not oncesolicited for either food or money, but those who were still living werecrying for alms with silent voices a hundred times more appealing. Whenwe rested to have tea the poor children gathered round to see us, skeletons dressed in skins and rags, yet meekly independent andfriendly. Their parents were covered with ragged garments that hardlyheld together. Many wore over their shoulders rude grass cloths madefrom pine fibre that appear to be identical with the native petticoatsworn by the women of New Guinea. 

Leaving the poor upland behind us, we descended to a broad and fertileplain where the travelling was easy, and passed the night in a largeMoslem inn in the town of Iangkai. 

All next day we pursued our way through fertile fields flanked by prettyhills, which it was hard to realise were the peaks of mountains 10, 000to 11, 000 feet above sea-level. Before sundown we reached the prosperousmarket town of Yanglin, where I had a clean upstairs room in anexcellent inn. The wall of my bedroom was scrawled over in Chinesecharacters with what I was told were facetious remarks by Chinesetourists on the quality of the fare. 

In the evening my mule was sick, Laohwan said, and a veterinary surgeonhad to be sent for. He came with unbecoming expedition. Then in the sameway that I have seen the Chinese doctors in Australia diagnose theailments of their human patients of the same great family, he examinedthe poor mule with the inscrutable air of one to whom are unveiled themysteries of futurity, and he retired with his fee. The medicine camelater in a large basket, and consisted of an assortment of herbs sovaried that one at least might be expected to hit the mark. My Laohwanpaid the mule doctor, so he said, for advice and medicine 360 cash(ninepence), an exorbitant charge as prices are in China. 

On Friday, April 13th, we had another pleasant day in open country, leading to the low rim of hills that border the plain and lake of Yunnancity. Ruins everywhere testify to the march of the rebellion of thirtyyears ago--triumphal arches in fragments, broken temples, battered idolsdestroyed by Mohammedan iconoclasts. Districts destitute of habitations, where a thriving population once lived, attest that suppression of arebellion in China spells extermination to the rebels. 

On the road I met a case of goitre, and by-and-by others, till I countedtwenty or more, and then remembered that I was now entering on adistrict of Asia extending over Western Yunnan into Thibet, Burma, theShan States, and Siam, the prevailing deformity of whose people isgoitre. 

[Illustration: THE BIG EAST GATE OF YUNNAN CITY. ]

Ten miles before Yunnan my men led me off the road to a fine buildingamong the poplars, which a large monogram on the gateway told me was theCatholic College of the _Missions Étrangères de Paris_, known throughoutthe Province as Jinmaasuh. Situated on rising ground, the plain ofYunnan widening before it, the College commands a distant view of thewalls and turretted gateways, the pagodas and lofty temples of thefamous city. Chinese students are trained here for the priesthood. Atthe time of my visit there were thirty students in residence, who, aftertheir ordination, will be scattered as evangelists throughout theProvince. Père Excoffier was at home, and received me withcharacteristic courtesy. His news was many weeks later than mine. M. Gladstone had retired from the Premiership, and M. Rosebery was hissuccessor. England had determined to renew the payment of the tributewhich China formerly exacted by right of suzerainty from Burma. TheChinese were daily expecting the arrival of two white elephants fromBurma, which were coming in charge of the British Resident in Singai(Bhamo), M. Warry, as a present to the Emperor, and were the officialrecognition by England that Burma is still a tributary of the MiddleKingdom. I may here say that I often heard of this tribute in WesternChina. The Chinese had been long waiting for the arrival of theelephants, with their yellow flags floating from the howdahs, announcing, as did the flags of Lord Macartney's Mission to Peking, "Tribute from the English to the Emperor of China, " and I suppose thatthere are governments idiotic enough to thus pander to Chinesearrogance. No doubt what has given rise to the report is the knowledgethat the Government of India is bound, under the Convention of 1886, tosend, every ten years, a complimentary mission from the ChiefCommissioner of Burma to the Viceroy of Yunnan. 

It was late when I left Jinmaasuh, and long after sundown before Ireached the city. The flagged causeway across the plain was slippery towalk on, and my mule would not agree with me that there was any need tohurry. He knew the Chinese character better than I did. Gunfire, thesignal for the closing of the gates, had sounded when we were two milesfrom the wall; but sentries are negligent in China and the gates werestill open. Had we been earlier we should have entered by the southgate, which is always the most important of the gates of a Chinese city, and the one through which all officials make their official entry; but, unable to do this, we entered by the big east gate. Turning sharply tothe right along the city wall we were conducted in a few minutes to theTelegraph Offices, where I received a cordial welcome from Mr. ChristianJensen, the superintendent of telegraphs in the two great provinces ofYunnan and Kweichow. These are his headquarters, and here I was to resta delightful week. It was a pleasant change from silence to speech, fromChinese discomfort to European civilisation. Chinese fare one evening, pork, rice, tea, and beans; and the next, chicken and the famed Shuenweiham, mutton and green peas and red currant jelly, pancakes andaboriginal Yunnan cheese, claret, champagne, port, and cordial Medoc. 

CHAPTER XIII. 

AT YUNNAN CITY. 

Yunnan City is one of the great cities of China, not so much in size asin importance. It is within easy access at all seasons of the year ofthe French colony of Tonquin, whereas the trade route from here toBritish Burma is long, arduous, and mountainous, and in its Westernportions is closed to traffic during the rains. From Yunnan City toMungtze on the borders of Tonquin, where there is a branch of theImperial Maritime Customs of China, is a journey of eight days over aneasy road. Four days from Mungtze is Laokai on the Red River, a riverwhich is navigable by boat or steamer to Hanoi, the chief river port ofTonquin. In the middle of 1889 the French river steamer, _Le Laokai_, made the voyage from Hanoi to Laokai in sixty hours. 

From Yunnan City to Bhamo on the Irrawaddy, in British Burma, is adifficult journey of thirty-three stages over a mountainous road whichcan never by any human possibility be made available for other trafficthan caravans of horses or coolies on foot. The natural highway ofCentral and Southern Yunnan is by Tonquin, and no artificial means canever alter it. At present Eastern Yunnan sends her trade through theprovinces of Kweichow and Hunan to the Yangtse above Hankow, or viâ thetwo Kuangs to Canton. Shortness of distance, combined with facility oftransport, must soon tap this trade or divert it into the highways ofTonquin. Northern Yunnan must send her produce and receive her imports, viâ Szechuen and the Yangtse. As for the trade of Szechuen, the richestof the provinces of China, no man can venture to assert that any othertrade route exists, or can ever be made to exist, than the RiverYangtse; and all the French Commissioners in the world can no more alterthe natural course of this trade than they can change the channel of theYangtse itself. 

I am not, of course, the first distinguished visitor who has been inYunnan City. Marco Polo was here in 1283, and has left on record adescription of the city, which, in his time, was known by the name ofYachi. Jesuit missionaries have been propagating the faith in theprovince since the seventeenth century. But the distinction of being thefirst European traveller, not a missionary priest, to visit the citysince the time of Marco Polo rests with Captain Doudart de la Grée ofthe French Navy, who was here in 1867. 

Margary, the British Consul, who met a cruel death at Manwyne, passedthrough Yunnan in 1875 on his famous journey from Hankow; and two yearslater the tardy mission under Grosvenor, with the brilliant Baber asinterpreter, and Li Han Chang, the brother of Li Hung Chang, as delegatefor the Chinese, arrived here in the barren hope of bringing hismurderers to justice. 

Hosie, formerly H. B. M. Consul in Chungking, and well known as atraveller in Western China, was in Yunnan City in 1882. 

In September, 1890, Bonvalot and Prince Henri d'Orleans stopped here atthe French Mission on their way to Mungtze in Tonquin. It was on thecompletion of their journey along the eastern edge of _TibetInconnu_--"Unknown Thibet!" as they term it, although the whole routehad been traversed time and again by missionary priests, a journey whosesuccess was due--though few have ever heard his name--to its trueleader, interpreter, and guide, the brave Dutch priest from Kuldja, PèreDedeken. 

Another famous missionary traveller, Père Vial, who led Colquhoun out ofhis difficulty in that journey "Across Chryse, " which Colquhoundescribes as a "Journey of Exploration" (though it was through a countrythat had been explored and accurately mapped a century and a half beforeby Jesuit missionaries), and conducted him in safety to Bhamo in Burma, has often been in Yunnan City, and is a possible successor to theBishopric. 

M. Boell, who left the Secretaryship of the French Legation in Peking tobecome the special correspondent of _Le Temps_, was here in 1892 on hisway from Kweiyang, in Kweichow, to Tonquin, and a few months laterCaptain d'Amade, the Military Secretary of the French Legation, completed a similar journey from Chungking. In May, 1892, theCommissioner from the French Government opium farm in Hanoi, M. Tommé, arrived in Yunnan City from Mungtze, sent by his Government in search ofimproved methods of poppy cultivation--the Yunnan opium, with theexception of the Shansi opium, being probably the finest in China. Finally, in May, 1893, Lenz, the American bicyclist, to the profoundamazement of the populace, rode on his "living wheel" to the_Yesu-tang_. This was the most remarkable journey of all. Lenzpractically walked across China, surmounting hardships and dangers thatfew men would venture to face. I often heard of him. He stayed at themission stations. All the missionaries praise his courage and endurance, and the admirable good humour with which he endured every discomfort. But one missionary lamented to me that Lenz did not possess that closeacquaintance with the Bible which was to be expected of a man of hishardihood. It seems that at family prayers at this good missionary's, the chapter for reading was given out when poor Lenz was discoveredfeverishly seeking the Epistle to the Galatians in the Old Testament. When his mistake was gently pointed out to him he was not discouraged, far from it; it was the missionary who was dismayed to hear that in theUnited States this particular Epistle is always reckoned a part of thePentateuch. 

I paid an early visit of courtesy to my nominal host, Li Pi Chang, theChinese manager of the Telegraphs. He received me in his private office, gave me the best seat on the left, and handed me tea with his own fathands. A mandarin whose rank is above that of an expectant Taotai, Li isto be the next Taotai of Mungtze, where, from an official salary of 400taels per annum, he hopes to save from 10, 000 to 20, 000 taels per annum. 

"Squeezing, " as this method of enrichment is termed, is, you see, notconfined to America. Few arts, indeed, seem to be more widelydistributed than the art of squeezing. "Dives, the tax-dodger, " is ascommon in China as he is in the United States. Compare, however, anycity in China, in the midst of the most ancient civilisation in theworld, with a city like Chicago, which claims to have reached thehighest development of modern civilisation, and it would be difficult toassert that the condition of public morals in the heathen city was evencomparable with the corruption and sin of the American city, a city"nominally Christian, which is studded with churches and littered withBibles, " but still a city "where perjury is a protected industry. " Nocommunity is more ardent in its evangelisation of the "perishingChinese" than Chicago, but where in all China is there "such a supremeembodiment of fraud, falsehood, and injustice, " as prevails in Chicago?An alderman in Chicago, Mr. Stead tells us (p. 172 _et seq. _) receivesonly 156 dollars a year salary; but, in addition to his salary, heenjoys "practically unrestricted liberty to fill his pockets bybartering away the property of the city. " "It is expected of thealderman, as a fundamental principle, that he will steal, " and, in afruitful year, says the _Record_, the average crooked alderman makes15, 000 to 20, 000 dollars. An assessorship in Chicago is worth nominally1500 dollars per annum, but "everyone knows that in Chicago anassessorship is the shortest cut to fortune. "

Squeezing in China may be common, but it is a humble industry comparedwith the monumental swindling which Mr. Stead describes as existing inChicago. 

Besides being manager in Yunnan City, Li is the chief telegraph directorof the two provinces of Yunnan and Kweichow. That he is entirelyinnocent of all knowledge of telegraphy, or of the management oftelegraphs, is no bar to such an appointment. He is a mandarin, and is, therefore, presumably fitted to take any position whatever, whether itbe that of Magistrate or Admiral of the Fleet, Collector of Customs, orGeneral commanding in the field. Of the mandarin in China it is trulysaid that "there is nothing he isn't. "

Li is also Chief Secretary of the _Shan-hao-Tsung-Kuh_, "The SupremeBoard of Reorganisation" of the province, the members of which are thefour highest provincial officials next below the Governor(_Futai_)--viz. , the Treasurer (_Fantai_), Provincial Judge (_Niehtai_), the Salt Comptroller, and the Grain Intendant. 

Li, it may be said at once, is a man of no common virtue. He is thefather of seven sons and four daughters; he can die in peace; in hisfamily there is no fear of the early extinction of male descendants, forthe succession is as well provided against as it is in the most fertileRoyal family in Europe. His family is far spreading, and it is worthnoting as an instance of the patriarchal nature of the family in China, that Li is regarded as the father of a family, whose members dependentupon him for entire or partial support number eighty persons. He has hadthree wives. His number one wife still lives at the family seat inChangsha; another secondary wife is dead; his present number two wifelives with him in Yunnan. This is his favourite wife, and her story isworth a passing note. She was not a "funded houri, " but a poor _yatow_, a "forked head" or slave girl, whom he purchased on a lucky day, and, smitten with her charms, made her his wife. It was a case of love atfirst sight. Her conduct since marriage has more than justified thechoice of her master. Still a young woman, she has already presented herlord with nine children, on the last occasion surpassing herself bygiving birth to twins. She has a most pleasant face, and really charmingchildren; but the chief attraction of a Chinese lady is absent in hercase. Her feet are of natural size, and not even in the exaggeratedmurmurings of love could her husband describe them as "three-inch goldlilies. "

That this was a marriage of inclination there can be no doubt whatever. It is idle to argue that the Chinese are an unemotional people, incapable of feeling the same passions that move us. We ridicule theimage of a Chinaman languishing in love, just as the Chinaman deridesthe possibility of experiencing the feelings of love for the averageforeign woman he has seen in China. Their poetry abounds in loveepisodes. Students of Chinese civilisation seem to agree that a _mariagede convenance_ in China is more likely even than on the Continent tobecome instantly a marriage of affection. The pleasures of femalesociety are almost denied the Chinaman; he cannot fall in love beforemarriage because of the absence of an object for his love. "The facultyof love produces a subjective ideal; and craves for a correspondingobjective reality. And the longer the absence of the objective reality, the higher the ideal becomes; as in the mind of the hungry man idealfoods get more and more exquisite. "

In Meadows' "Essay on Civilisation in China, " there is a charming story, translated from the Chinese, of love at first sight, given inillustration of the author's contention that "it is the men to whomwomen's society is almost unknown that are most apt to fall violently inlove at first sight. Violent love at first sight is a generalcharacteristic of nations where the sexes have no intercourse beforemarriage. . . . The starved cravings of love devour the first object":--

"A Chinese who had suffered bitter disenchantments in marriage retiredwith his infant son to the solitude of a mountain inaccessible forlittle-footed Chinese women. He trained up the youth to worship the godsand stand in awe and abhorrence of devils, but he never mentioned eventhe name of woman to him. He always descended to market alone, but whenhe grew old and feeble he was at length compelled to take the young manwith him to carry the heavy bag of rice. He very reasonably argued, 'Ishall always accompany my son, and take care that if he does see awoman by chance, he shall never speak to one; he is very obedient; hehas never heard of woman; he does not know what they are; and as he haslived in that way for twenty years already, he is, of course, now prettysafe. '

"As they were on the first occasion leaving the market town together, the son suddenly stopped short, and, pointing to three approachingobjects, inquired: 'Father, what are these things? Look! look! what arethey?' The father hastily answered: 'Turn away your head. They aredevils. ' The son, in some alarm, instantly turned away from things sobad, and which were gazing at his motions with surprise from under theirfans. He walked to the mountain top in silence, ate no supper, and fromthat day lost his appetite and was afflicted with melancholy. For sometime his anxious and puzzled parent could get no satisfactory answer tohis inquiries; but at length the poor young man burst out, almost cryingfrom an inexplicable pain: 'Oh, father, that tallest devil! that tallestdevil, father!'"

Girls for Yunnan City are bought at two chief centres--at Chaotong, aswe have seen, and at Bichih. They are carried to the city in baskets. They are rarely sold into prostitution, but are bought as slave girlsfor domestic service, as concubines, and occasionally as wives. Theirgreat merit is the absence of the "thickneck, " goitre. 

The morning after my visit, Li sent me his card, together with a leg ofmutton and a pile of sweet cakes. I returned my card, and gave thebearer 200 cash (fivepence), not as a return gift to the mandarin, butas a private act of generosity to his servant--all this being inaccordance with Chinese etiquette. 

My host in Yunnan, and the actual manager and superintendent of thetelegraphs of the two provinces, is a clever Danish gentleman, Mr. Christian Jensen, an accomplished linguist, to whom every Europeanresident and traveller in the province is indebted for a thousand actsof kindness and attention. He has a rare knowledge of travel in China. Mr. Jensen arrived in China in 1880 in the service of the Great NorthernTelegraph Company--a Danish company. From December, 1881, when the firstChinese telegraph line was opened (that from Shanghai to Tientsin), tillthe spring of 1883, he was one of eight operatives and engineers lent bythe Company to the Chinese Government. In December 1883, having returnedin the meantime to the Great Northern he accepted an engagement underthe Imperial Government and he has been in their employ ever since. During this time he has superintended the construction of 7000 li (2350miles) of telegraph lines, and it was he who, on the 20th May, 1890, effected the junction of the Chinese system with the French lines atLaokai. Among the more important lines constructed by him are thosejoining the two capital cities of the provinces of Yunnan and Kweichow;that from Yunnan City to Mungtze, on the frontier of Tonquin; that fromCanton to the boundary of Fuhkien province; and that from Yunnan Citythrough Tali to Tengyueh (Momien), this last line being the one whichwill eventually unite with the marvellous Indian telegraph system at theBurmese frontier. In the course of his many journeys through China, Mr. Jensen has been invariably well treated by the Chinese, and it ispleasant to hear one who has seen so much of the inner life of thecountry speak as he does of the universal courtesy and hospitality, attention, and kindness that has been shown him by all classes ofChinese from the highest officials to the humblest coolies. 

[Illustration: VIEW IN YUNNAN CITY. ]

Many interesting episodes have marked his stay in China. Once, whenrepairing the line from Pase, in Kwangsi, to Mungtze, during the rainyseason of 1889, fifty-six out of sixty men employed by him died of whatthere can be little doubt was the same plague that has lately devastatedHong Kong. On this occasion, of twelve men who at different times wereemployed as his chair-bearers, all died. 

In October, 1886, he came to Yunnan City, and made this hisheadquarters. He has always enjoyed good health. 

One of the chief difficulties that formerly impeded the extension of thetelegraph in China was the belief that the telegraph poles spoil the"_fungshui_"--in other words, that they divert good luck from thedistricts they pass through. This objection has been everywhereovercome. It last revealed itself in the extreme west of the line fromYunnan. Villagers who saw in the telegraph a menace to the good fortuneof their district would cut down the poles--and sell the wire incompensation for their trouble. The annoyance had to be put a stop to. An energetic magistrate took the matter in hand. He issued a warning tothe villagers, but his warning was unheeded. Then he took more vigorousmeasures. The very next case that occurred he had two men arrested, andcharged with the offence. They were probably innocent, but under thepersuasion of the bamboo they were induced to acquiesce in themagistrate's opinion as to their guilt. They were sentenced to bedeprived of their ears, and then they were sent on foot, that all mightsee them, under escort along the line from Yunnan City to Tengyueh andback again. No poles have been cut down since. 

CHAPTER XIV. 

GOLD, BANKS, AND TELEGRAPHS IN YUNNAN. 

Yunnan City is the great gold emporium of China, for most of the goldfound in China comes from the province of which it is the capital. Whena rich Chinaman returns from Yunnan to another province, or is summonedon a visit to the Emperor at Peking, he carries his money in gold notsilver. Gold leaf sent from Yunnan gilds the gods of Thibet and thetemples and pagodas of Indo-China. No caravan returns to Burma fromWestern China whose spare silver has not been changed into gold leaf. Inthe Arracan Temple in Mandalay, as in the Shway-dagon Pagoda in Rangoon, you see the gold leaf that Yunnan produces, and in the future willproduce in infinitely greater quantities. 

Gold comes chiefly from the mines of Talang, eighteen days journey byland S. W. From Yunnan City, on the confines of the district whichproduces the famous Puerh tea. The yield must be a rich one despite theineffective appliances that are employed in its extraction. Gold hasalways been abundant in this province; at the time of Marco Polo's visitit was so abundant that its value in relation to silver was only as oneto six. 

When gold is worth in Shanghai 35 times its weight in silver, it may bebought in Yunnan City or Talifu for from 25 to 27. 5 times its weight insilver, and in quantities up to hundreds of ounces. To remit silver bytelegraphic transfer from Shanghai or Hong Kong to Yunnan city costs sixper cent. , and either of the two leading banks in the city willnegotiate the transfer from their agents at the seaports of any amountup to 10, 000 ounces of silver in a single transaction. The gold canalways be readily sold in Shanghai or Hong Kong, and the only risk is inthe carriage of the gold from the inland city to the seaport. So far asI could learn, no gold thus sent has gone astray. It is carried overlandby the fastest trade route--that through Mungtze to Laokai--and thenceby a boat down stream to Hanoi in Tonquin, from which port it is sent byregistered post to Saigon and Hong Kong. Here then is a venture open toall, with excitement sufficient for the most _blasé_ speculator. Ampleprofits are made by the dealer. For instance, a large quantity of goldwas purchased in Yunnan city on the 21st January, 1894, at 23. 2, itsvalue in Shanghai on the same date being 30. 9; but on the date that thegold arrived in Shanghai its value had risen to 35, at which price itwas sold. At the time of my visit gold was 25. 5 to 27 in Yunnan, and 35in Shanghai, and I have since learnt that, while gold has become cheaperin the province, it has become dearer at the seaport. 

The gold is brought to the buyer in the form of jewellery of reallyexquisite workmanship, of rings and bracelets, earrings and headornaments, of those tiny images worn by rich children in a half circletover the forehead, and bridal charms that would make covetous the heartof a nun. Ornaments of gold such as these are 98 per cent. Fine and aresold, weighed on the same scales, for so many times their weight insilver. They are sold not because of the poverty of their owners, butbecause their owners make a very large profit on their original cost byso disposing of them. If, however, the purchaser prefer it, gold will bebrought him in the leaf 99 per cent. Fine, and this is undoubtedly thebest form into which to convert your silver. The gold beaters of Yunnanare a recognised class, and are so numerous that they have a powerfulguild or trade's union of their own. 

Gold-testing is also a recognised profession, but the methods areprimitive and require the skill of an expert, consisting, as they do, ofa comparison of the rubbing on a stone of the unknown gold, with asimilar rubbing of gold whose standard has been accurately determined. One of the best gold-testers in the city has been taught electricgilding by Mr. Jensen and does some skilful work. 

The principle of self-protection restrains the Chinaman from theostentatious exhibition of his wealth--he fears being squeezed by theofficials who are apt to regard wealth as an aggravation of crime, to bethe more severely punished the better able is the accused to purchaseexemption from punishment. I have seen a stranger come into the roomwhere Mr. Jensen and I were sitting, who from his appearance seemed tobe worth perhaps a five-dollar bill, and after a preliminary interchangeof compliments, I have seen his hand disappear up his long sleeve andproduce a package of gold leaf worth perhaps 2000 taels of silver. Thishe would offer for sale; there was some quiet bargaining; when, shouldthey agree, the gold was weighed, the purchaser handed a cheque on hisChinese banker for the amount in silver, and the transaction wasfinished as quickly and neatly as if it had taken place in Bond Street, and not in the most inland capital of an "uncivilised country"; whosecivilisation has nevertheless kept it intact and mighty since the dawnof history, and whose banking methods are the same now as they were inthe days of Solomon. 

The silver of Yunnan is of the same standard as the silver of Shanghai, namely 98 per cent. Pure, and differs to the eye from the absolutelyunalloyed silver of Szechuen. 

The cash of Yunnan vary in a way that is more than usually bewildering. Let me explain, in a few sentences, the "cash" currency of the MiddleKingdom. The current coin of China as everyone knows is the brass cash, which is perforated so that it may be carried on a string. Now, theoretically, a "string of cash" contains 100 coins, and in the Easternprovinces ten strings are the theoretical equivalent of one Mexicandollar. But there are eighteen provinces in China, and the number ofbrass cash passing for a string varies in each province from the full100, which I have never seen, to 83 in Taiyuen, and down to 33 in theEastern part of the province of Chihli. In Peking I found the systemcharmingly simple. One thousand cash are there represented by 100 coins, whereas 1000 "old cash" consist of 1000 coins, though 1000 "capitalcash" are only 500 coins. The big cash are marked as 10 capital cash, but count the same as 5 old cash. Nowhere does a Chinaman mean 1000 cashwhen he speaks of 1000 cash. In Tientsin 1000 cash means 500 cash--thatis to say 5 times 100 cash, the 100 there being any number you can passexcept 100, though by agreement the 100 is usually estimated at 98. InNanking I found a different system to prevail. There cash are 1075 the1000, but of the 10 strings of 100 cash, 7 contain only 98 cash each, and 3 only 95, yet the surplus 75 cash--that is to say the number whichfor the time being is the Nanking equivalent of 75--are added all thesame. At Lanchow in Chihli on the Imperial Chinese Railway nearShanhai-kwan, 16 old cash count as 100 cash, yet 33 are required to makeup 200; in Tientsin from which point the railway starts, 1000 cash arereally 500 cash and 98 count there as 100. Now 2000 Chihli cash arerepresented by 325 coins, and 1000 by 162 coins, and 6000 by 975 coins, which again count as 1000 large cash and equal on an average one Mexicandollar. Therefore to convert Lanchow cash into Tientsin cash you mustdivide the Lanchow cash by 3, count 975 as 1000, and consider this equalto a certain percentage of a theoretical amount of silver known as atael, which is always varying of itself as well as by the fluctuationsin the market value of silver, and which is not alike in any two places, and may widely vary in different portions of the same place. 

Could anything be simpler? And yet there are those who say that thesystem of money exchange in China is both cumbrous and exasperating. Take as a further instance the cash in Yunnan. Everyone knows thattheoretically there are 2000 cash in the tael, each tael containing 20"strings, " and each "string" 100 cash, but in Yunnan 2000 cash are not2000 cash--they are only 1880 cash. This does not mean that 1880 cashare represented by 1880 coins, not at all; because 62 cash in Yunnan arecounted as 100. Eighteen hundred and eighty cash are thereforerepresented by only 1240 cash coins and all prices must be paid in thisproportion. Immediately outside the city, however, a string of cash is a"full string" and contains 100 cash or rather it contains as few cash aspossibly can be passed for 100, a fair average number being 98. 

Silver is weighed in the City banks and at the wholesale houses on the"capital scale, " but in the retail stores on scales that are heavier by14 per cent. (one mace and 4 candareens in the tael). Outside the cityon the road to Tali there is a loss on exchange varying according toyour astuteness from 3 to 6 per cent. On the capital scale. 

There are two chief banks in Yunnan city. Wong's whose bank, thesignboard tells us, is "Beneficent, Rich, United, " and Mong's "Bank ofthe Hundred Streams, " which is said to be still richer. 

With Mr. Jensen I called one evening upon Wong, and found him with hissons and chief dependents at the evening meal. All rose as we enteredand pressed us to take a seat with them, and when we would not, thefather and grown-up son showed us into the guest-room and seated us onthe opium-dais under the canopy. The opium-lamps were already lit; on abeautiful tray inlaid with mother-of-pearl there were pipes forvisitors, and phials of prepared opium. Here we insisted on theirleaving us and returning to their supper; they finished speedily andreturned to their visitors. We were given good tea and afterwards asingle cigar was handed to each of us. In offering you a cigar it is notthe Chinese custom to offer you your choice from the cigar box; thecourtesy is too costly, for there are few Chinamen in thesecircumstances who could refrain from helping themselves to a handful. "When one is eating one's own" says the Chinese proverb, "one does noteat to repletion; when one is eating another's, one eats till the tearsrun. "

Wong is one of the leading citizens of Yunnan, and is held in highhonour by his townsmen. His house is a handsome Chinese mansion; it hasa dignified entrance and the garden court is richly filled with plantsin porcelain vases. It may thus be said of him, as of the ConfucianSuperior Man, "riches adorn his house and virtue his person, his heartis expanded, and his body is at ease. "

A Szechuen man, a native of Chungking, fifty-nine years of age, Wong isa man of immense wealth, his bank being known all over China, and havingbranches in capital cities so far distant from each other as Peking, Canton, Kweiyang, Shanghai, Hankow, Nanchang, Soochow, Hangchow, andChungking. I may add that he has smoked opium for many years. 

I formed a high opinion of the intelligence of Wong. He questioned melike an insurance doctor as to my family history, and professed himselfcharmed with the amazing richness in sons of my most honourable family. He had heard of my native country, which he called _Hsin Chin Shan_, the"New Gold Mountain, " to distinguish it from the _Lao Chin Shan_, the"Old Gold Mountain, " as the Chinese term California. I was the morepleased to find that Wong had some knowledge of Australia and its gold, because a few months before I had been pained by an incident bearing onthis very subject, which occurred to me in the highly civilised city ofManila, in the Philippine Islands. On an afternoon in August, 1893, Istood in the Augustine Church, in Old Manila, to witness the funeralservice of the Padre Provincial of the Augustines. It was the firstoccasion for one hundred and twenty-three years that the Provincial ofthe Order had died while in the actual exercise of his office, and itwas known that the ceremony would be one of the most imposing ever seenin the Islands. The fine old church, built by the son of the architectof the Escorial--the only building in Manila left standing by theearthquake of 1645--was crowded with mourners, and almost everynotability of the province was said to be present. During the servicetwo young Spaniards, students from the University close by, pushed theirway in beside me. Wishing to learn who were the more distinguished ofthe mourners, I asked the students to kindly point out to me theGovernor-General (Blanco), and other prominent officials, and they didso with agreeable courtesy. When the service was finished I thanked themfor the trouble they had taken and was coming away, when one of themstopped me. 

"Pardon me, Caballero, " he said, "but will you do me the favour to tellme where you come from?"

"I am from Australia. "

"From Austria! so then you come from Austria?"

"No, sir, from Australia. "

"But 'Australia'--where is it?"

"It is a rich colony of England of immense importance. "

"But where is it?" he persisted. 

"_Dios mio!_" I exclaimed aghast, "it is in China. "

But his friend interposed. "The gentleman is talking in fun, " he said. "Thou knowest, Pepe, where is Australia, where is Seednay, andMelboornay, where all the banks have broken one after the other in abankruptcy colossal. "

"_Ya me figuraba donde era_, " Pepe replied, as I edged uncomfortablyaway. 

During my journey across China it was not often that I was called uponto make use of my profession. But I was pleased to be of some service tothis rich banker. He wished to consult me professionally, because he hadheard from the truthful lips of rumour of the wonderful powers ofdivination given to the foreign medical man. What was his probabletenure of life? That was the problem. I gravely examined two of hispulses--every properly organised Chinaman has four hundred--and findinghis heart where it should be in the centre of his body, with the otherorgans ranged round it like the satellites round the sun--every Chinamanis thus constructed--I was glad to be able to assure him that he willcertainly live forty years longer--if Heaven permit him. 

Wong has a grown-up son of twenty who will succeed to the bank; he is atpresent the managing proprietor of a small general store purchased forhim by his father. The son has been taught photography by Mr. Jensen, and has an excellent camera obtained from Paris. He is quite anenthusiast. In his shop a crowd is always gathered round the counterlooking at the work of this Chinese amateur. There are a variety ofstores for sale on the shelves, and I was interested to notice thecheerful promiscuity with which bottles of cyanide of potassium andperchloride of mercury were scattered among bottles of carbonate ofsoda, of alum, of Moët and Chandon (spurious), of pickles, and Howard'squinine. The first time that cyanide of potassium is sold for alum, orcorrosive sublimate for bicarbonate of soda there will be an _éclat_given to the dealings of this shop which will be very gratifying to itsowner. 

The telegraph in Yunnan is very largely used by the Chinese, especiallyby the bankers and officials. By telegraph you can remit, as I havesaid, through the Chinese banks, telegraphic transfers to the value ofthousands of taels in single transactions. It is principally the banksand the Government who make use of the telegraph, and theircommunications are sent by private code. When the Tsungli Yamen inPeking sends a telegram to the Viceroy in Yunnan it is in code that themessage comes; and it is by private code also that a Chinese bank inShanghai telegraphs to its far inland agents. Messages are sent in Chinaby the Morse system. The method of telegraphing Chinese characters, whose discovery enabled the Chinese to make use of the telegraph, wasthe ingenious invention of a forgotten genius in the Imperial MaritimeCustoms of China. The method is simplicity itself. The telegraph codeconsists of ten thousand numbers of four numerals each, and each groupso constituted represents a Chinese character. Any operator, howeverignorant of Chinese, can thus telegraph or receive a message in Chinese. He receives, for instance, a message containing a series of numbers suchas 0018, 0297, 5396, 8424. He has before him a series of ten thousandwood blocks on which the number is cut at one end and the correspondingChinese character at the other, he takes out the number, touches theinkpad with the other end, and stamps opposite each group its Chinesecharacter. The system permits, moreover, of the easy arrangement ofindecipherable private codes, because by adding or subtracting a certainnumber from each group of figures, other characters than thosetelegraphed can be indicated. 

I need hardly add that the system of wood blocks is not in practicaluse, for the numbers and their characters are now printed in code-books. And here we have an instance of the marvellous faculty of memorisingcharacteristic of the Chinese. A Chinaman's memory is somethingprodigious. From time immemorial the memory of the Chinese has beendeveloped above all the other faculties. Memory is the secret of successin China, not originality. Among a people taught to associate innovationwith impiety, and with whom precedent determines all action, it isinevitable that the faculty of recollection should be the most highlydeveloped of all the mental faculties. Necessity compels the Chinaman tohave a good memory. No race has ever been known where the power ofmemory has been developed even in rare individual cases to the degreethat is common to all classes of the Chinese, especially to theliterati. 

The Chinese telegraph clerk quickly learns all the essential portion ofthe code-book by heart. The book then lies in the drawer a superfluity. It is claimed for Chiang, the second Chinese clerk in Yunnan, that heknows all the 10, 000 numbers and their corresponding characters. 

Telegrams from Yunnan to Shanghai cost twenty-two tael cents (at thepresent value of the tael this is equal to sixpence) for each Chinesecharacter; but each word in any other language is charged double, thatis, forty-four cents. 

[Illustration: SOLDIERS ON THE WALL OF YUNNAN CITY. ]

From Yunnan to Talifu is a distance of 307 miles. The native banker inthe capital will remit for you by wire to his agent in Tali the sum of1000 taels, for a charge of eight taels, exclusive of the cost of thetelegram, and, as the value of silver in Tali is one per cent. Higherthan it is in Yunnan, the traveller can send his money by wire withperfect safety, and lose nothing in the remittance, not even the cost ofthe telegram. 

The telegraph offices are separated from the city wall by a smallcommon, which is quite level, and which the Chinaman of the future willconvert into a bowling green and lawn-tennis ground. There is a handsomeentrance. The large portal is painted with horrific gods armed withmonstrous weapons. The Chinese still seem to adhere to the belief thatthe deadliness of a weapon must be in proportion to the savageness ofits aspect. Inside, there are spacious courts and well-furnished guestrooms, roomy apartments, and offices for the mandarin, as well ascomfortable quarters for Mr. Jensen and his body of Chinese clerks andoperators. There is a pretty garden all bright and sunny, with a pond ofgold fish and ornamental parapet. Wandering freely in the enclosure arepeacocks and native companions, while a constant playmate of thechildren is a little laughing monkey of a kind that is found in thewoods beyond Tali. At night a watchman passes round the courts every twohours, striking a dismal gong under the windows, and waking theforeigner from his slumbers; but the noise he makes does not disturb thesleep of the Chinese--indeed, it is open to question if there is anydiscord known which, as mere noise, _could_ disturb a Chinaman. 

The walls that flank the entrance are covered with official postersgiving the names of the men of Yunnan City who contributed to the reliefof the sufferers by a recent famine in Shansi, together with the amountsof their contributions and the rewards to which their gifts entitledthem. The Chinese are firm believers in the doctrine of justification byworks, and on these posters one could read the exact return made in thisworld for an act of merit, apart, of course, from the reward that willbe reaped in Heaven. In a case like this it is usually arranged that for"gifts amounting to a certain percentage of the sums ordinarilyauthorised, subscribers may obtain brevet titles, posthumous titles, decorations, buttons up to the second class, the grade of licentiate, and brevet rank up to the rank of Colonel. Disgraced officials may applyto have their rank restored. Nominal donations of clothes, if the moneyvalue of the articles be presented instead, will entitle the givers tosimilar honours. "--_The Peking Gazette_, August 22, 1892. 

In the centre of the green stands the hollow pillar in which Chineseprinted waste-paper is reverently burnt. "When letters were invented, "the Chinese say, "Heaven rejoiced and Hell trembled. " "Reverence thecharacters, " is an injunction of Confucius which no Chinaman neglects tofollow. He remembers that "he who uses lettered paper to kindle the firehas ten demerits, and will have itchy sores"; he remembers that "he whotosses lettered paper into dirty water, or burns it in a filthy place, has twenty demerits and will frequently have sore eyes or become blind, "whereas "he who goes about and collects, washes, and burns letteredpaper, has 5000 merits, adds twelve years to his life, will becomehonoured and wealthy, and his children and grandchildren will bevirtuous and filial. " But his reverence has strict limits, and while hereverences the piece of paper upon which a moral precept is written, heoften thinks himself absolved from reverencing the moral precept itself, just as a deacon in England need not necessarily be one who neverover-reached his neighbours or swindled his creditors. 

CHAPTER XV. 

THE FRENCH MISSION AND THE ARSENAL IN YUNNAN CITY. 

The most prominent structure within the city walls is the Heavenly LordHall (_Tien-chu-tang_), the pile of buildings which form theheadquarters of the French Mission in the province of Yunnan. It was amaster-stroke to secure possession of so important a site. The palace ison a higher level even than the yamen of the Viceroy, and must interceptmuch of the good fortune that would otherwise flow into the city. Thefaçade of the central hall has been ornamented with a superb cross ofporcelain mosaic, which is a conspicuous object from the city wall. Alarge garden, where the eucalyptus has been wisely planted, surroundsthe buildings. In residence in the Heavenly Hall are the venerableVicaire Apostolique of the province, Monseigneur Fenouil, theProvicaire, and four missionary priests, all four of whom are fromAlsace. In the province altogether there are twenty-two French priestsand eight ordained Chinese priests--thirty in all; their converts number15, 000. Monseigneur Fenouil is a landmark of Western China; he first setfoot in the province in 1847, and is the oldest foreign resident in theinterior of China. No Chinaman speaks purer Chinese than he; he thinksin Chinese. Present in the province throughout the Mohammedaninsurrection, he was an eye-witness of the horrors of religious warfare. Few men have had their path in life marked by more thrilling episodes. He was elected Bishop, in 1880, by the unanimous vote of all the priestsin the province, a vote confirmed by Rome; which is, I am told, the modeof election by which Catholic Missionary Bishops in China are alwayschosen. 

The grand old Bishop seemed much amused at my journey. "I suppose youare riding a mule, " he said, "for you English have large bones, and theChinese ponies are very small. " I said that I had come so far most ofthe way on foot. "You speak Chinese, of course?"

"Hardly at all; I speak only a dozen words of Chinese. "

"Then you have a Chinese interpreter? No! An English companion who canspeak Chinese? No! A Chinese servant who can speak English? No, and noescort! But without doubt you are armed? No! No escort, no revolver, nocompanion, and you can live on Chinese food. Ah! you have a brave heart, Monsieur. "

At the time of my visit to Yunnan, Père de Gorostarza, the accomplishedProvicaire, was absent at Mungtze deciding a question of discipline. Four months before one of the most trusted converts of the mission hadbeen sent to Mungtze to purchase a property for the use of the mission. He was given the purchase-money of 400 taels, but, when he arrived inMungtze, and the eye of the mission was no longer upon him, he investedthe money, not in premises for the mission, but in a coolie-hong forhimself. His backsliding had availed him little. And he was nowdefending his conduct as best he could before the Bishop's deputy. 

Converts of the French mission in China, it is well to remember, are nolonger French subjects or _protégés_; the objection is no longertenable that the mission shields bad characters who only becomeconverted in order to escape from the consequences of their guilt. 

How wonderful has been the pioneer work done by the Jesuit Missionariesin China! It may almost be said that the foundation of all that we knowabout China we owe to the Jesuit Missionaries. All maps on China arefounded upon the maps of the Jesuit Missionaries employed for thepurpose by the Emperor Kanghi (1663-1723), "the greatest prince who evergraced the throne of China. " Their accuracy has been the wonder of allgeographers for a century past. "Now that the 'Great River' (theYangtse) has been surveyed, " says Captain Blakiston, "for nearly 1600miles from the ocean, and with instruments and appliances such as wereunknown in the days of those energetic and persevering men, no smallpraise is due to the first Christian explorers for the extraordinarycorrectness of their maps and records. " The reports of the early JesuitMissionaries even Voltaire describes as the "productions of the mostintelligent travellers that have extended and embellished the fields ofscience and philosophy. "

Yet we, as Protestants, are warned by a great missionary that we mustnot be deluded by these insidious compliments; we must not forget thatthe work of the Jesuits in China "overtops all other forms ofsuperstition and error in danger, and stands forth an organisedconspiracy against the liberties of mankind. The schemes of the Jesuitsmust be checked. "

One Sunday morning Mr. Jensen and I rode round the city wall. This isone of the most massive walls in a country of walled cities. It is builtof brick and stone over a body of earth thirty feet thick; it is ofimposing height, and wide enough for a carriage drive. When I wasmounted on my mule the upper edge of the parapet was on a level with myforehead. There are six city gates. The great north gate is closelybarred all through the rains to prevent the entrance of the "Flood God, "who, fortunately, his intelligence being limited, knows no other way toenter the city than by this gate. The great turreted south gate is themost important of all, as it is in all Chinese cities. Near this gatethe Viceroy's Yamen is situated, and the Yamen of the Futai (Governor ofthe Province); both buildings, of course, looking to the south, as didthe Temple of Solomon and the tombs of the Mings, and as Chinese customrequires that every building of importance shall do, whether temple oryamen, private residence or royal palace. But why should they looksouth? Because from the south the sun comes, bringing with it "genialand animating influence, " and putting new life into plant and animalafter the winter. 

The south gate is a double gate in a semi-circular bastion. Beyond it isa splendid triumphal arch erected by a grateful community to the memoryof the late viceroy. A thickly-populated suburb extends from here to thewide common, where stands the lofty guardian pagoda of the city, 250feet high, a conspicuous sight from every part of the great Yunnanplain. Rich temples are all around it, their eaves hung with sweet-tonedbells, which tinkle with every breath of wind, giving forth what theChinese poetically describe as "the tribute of praise from inanimatenature to the greatness of Buddha. "

[Illustration: THE PAGODA OF YUNNAN CITY, 250 FEET HIGH. ]

In the early morning the traveller is awakened by the steam whistle ofthe arsenal, a strange sound to be heard in so far inland a city inChina. The factory is under Chinese management, a fact patent to anyvisitor. Its two foremen were trained partly in the arsenal in Nankingunder Dr. Macartney (now Sir Halliday Macartney), and partly in thesplendid Shanghai arsenal under Mr. Cornish. I went to the arsenal, andwas received as usual in the opium-room. There was nothing to conceal, and I was freely shown everything. The arsenal turns out Krupp guns of7-1/2 centimetres calibre, but the iron is inferior, and the workmen arein need of better training. Cartridges are also made here. And in oneroom I saw two men finishing with much neatness a pure silver opium-trayintended for the Fantai (provincial treasurer), but why made in thearsenal only a Chinaman could tell you. Work in the furnace is done at adisadvantage owing to the shortness of the furnace chimney, which isonly 25 feet high. All attempts to increase its height are now forbiddenby the authorities. There was agitation in the city when the chimney wasbeing heightened. Geomancers were consulted, who saw the feeling of themajority, and therefore gave it as their unprejudiced opinion that, ifthe chimney were not stunted, the _fungshui_ (good luck) of the Futai'syamen (provincial governor), and of that portion of the city under itsprotection, would depart for ever. All the machinery of the arsenal isstamped with the name of Greenwood, Battley and Co. , Leeds. Rust anddirt are everywhere, and the 100 workmen for whom pay is drawn nevernumber on the rare pay days more than sixty persons, a phenomenonobserved in most establishments in China worked by government. Yet witha foreigner in charge excellent work could be turned out from thefactory. The buildings are spacious, the grounds are ample. 

The powder factory is outside the city, near the north-eastern angle ofthe wall, but the powder magazine is on some rising ground inside thecity. No guns are stationed anywhere on the walls, though they may be inconcealment in the turrets; but near the small west gate I saw somesmall cannon of ancient casting, built on the model of the guns cast bythe Jesuit missionaries in China two centuries ago, if they were not theactual originals. They were all marked in relief with a cross and thedevice I. H. S. --a motto that you would think none but a Chinaman couldselect for a weapon designed to destroy men, yet characteristic of thiscountry of contradictions. "The Chinese statesman, " says Wingrove Cooke, the famous _Times_ correspondent, "cuts off 10, 000 heads, and cites apassage from Mencius about the sanctity of human life. He pockets themoney given him to repair an embankment and thus inundates a province, and he deplores the land lost to the cultivator of the soil. "

Du Halde tells us that "the first Chinese cannon were cast under thedirections of Père Verbiest in 1682, who blest the cannon, and gave toeach the name of a saint. " "A female saint!" says Huc. 

Near the arsenal and drill ground there is a large intramural swamp orreedy lake, the reeds of which have an economic value as wicks forChinese candles. Dykes cross the swamp in various directions, and in thecentre there is a well known Taoist Temple, a richly endowed edifice, with superior gods and censers of great beauty. Where the swamp deepensinto a pond at the margin of the temple, a pretty pavilion has beenbuilt, which is a favourite resort of the Yunnan gentry. The most _chic_dinner parties in the province are given here. The pond itself swarmswith sacred fish; they are so numerous that when the masses move thewhole pond vibrates. Many merits are gained by feeding the fish, and, as it happened at the time of my visit that I had no money, I wasconstrained to borrow fifteen cash from my chair coolies, with which Ipurchased some of the artificial food that women were vending and threwit to the fish, so that I might add another thousand to the innumerablemerits I have already hoarded in Heaven. 

Upon a pretty wooded hill near the centre of the city is the ConfucianTemple, and on the lower slope of the hill, in an admirable position, are the quarters of the China Inland Mission, conducted by Mr. And Mrs. X. , assisted by Mr. Graham, who at the time of my visit was absent inTali, and by two exceedingly nice young girls, one of whom comes fromMelbourne. The single ladies live in quarters of their own on the edgeof a swamp, and suffer inevitably from malarial fever. Mr. X. "finds thepeople very hard to reach, " he told me, and his success has only beenrelatively cheering. After labouring here nearly six years--the missionwas first opened in 1882--he has no male converts, though there are twopromising nibblers, who are waiting for the first vacancy to becomeadherents. There _was_ a convert, baptised before Mr. X. Came here, apoor manure-coolie, who was employed by the mission as an evangelist ina small way; but "Satan tempted him, he fell from grace, and had to beexpelled for stealing the children's buttons. " It was a sad trial to themission. The men refuse to be saved, recalcitrant sinners! but the womenhappily are more tractable. Mr. X. Has up to date (May, 1894), baptisedhis children's nurse girl, the "native helper" of the single ladies, andhis wife's cook. Mr. X. Works hard, far too hard. He is of the type thatnever can be successful in China. He was converted when nearing middleage, is narrow and uncompromising in his views, and is as stern as aCameronian. It is a farce sending such men to China. At his servicesthere is never any lack of listeners, who marvel greatly at the newmethod of speaking Chinese which this enterprising emissary--in Londonhe was in the oil trade--is endeavouring to introduce into the province. Of "tones" instead of the five used by the Chinese, he does notrecognise more than two, and these he uses indifferently. He hopes, however, to be understood by loud speaking, and he bellows at the placidcoolies like a bull of Bashan. 

I paid an early visit to my countrymen at the _Yesu-tang_ (Jesus Hall), the mission home, as I thought that my medical knowledge might be ofsome service. I wished to learn a little about their work, but to mygreat sorrow I was no sooner seated than they began plying me withquestions about the welfare of my soul. I am a "poor lost sinner, " theytold me. They flung texts at my head, and then sang a terrifying ballad, by which I learnt for the first time the awful fate that is to be mine. It is something too dreadful to contemplate. And the cheerful equanimitywith which they announced it to me! I left the _Yesu-tang_ in a coldsweat, and never returned there. 

Missionary work is being pursued in the province with increasing vigour. Among its population of from five to seven millions, spread over an areaof 107, 969 square miles, there are eighteen Protestant missionaries, nine men and nine ladies (this is the number at present, but the usualstrength is twenty-three). Stations are open at Chaotong (1887), Tongchuan (1891), Yunnan City (1882), Tali (1881), and Kuhtsing (1889). The converts number--the work, however, must not be judged bystatistics--two at Chaotong, one at Tongchuan, three at Yunnan City, three at Tali, and two at Kuhtsing. 

That the Chinese are capable of very rapid conversion can be proved bynumberless instances quoted in missionary reports on China. The Rev. S. F. Woodin (in the _Records_ of the Missionary Conference, 1877, p. 91)states that he converted a "grossly immoral Chinaman, who had smokedopium for more than twenty years, " simply by saying to him "in a spiritof earnest love, elder brother Six, as far as I can see, you mustperish; you are Hell's child. "

Mr. Stanley P. Smith, B. A. , who was formerly stroke of the Cambridgeeight, had been only seven months in China when he performed thatwonderful conversion, so applauded at the Missionary Conference of 1888, of "a young Chinaman, a learned man, a B. A. Of his University, " whoheard Mr. Smith speak in the Chinese that can be acquired in sevenmonths, and "accepted Him there and then. " (_Records_ of the MissionaryConference, 1888, i. , 46). Indeed, the earlier the new missionaries inChina begin to preach the more rapid are the conversions they make. 

Now, in this province of Yunnan, conversions will have to be infinitelymore rapid before we can say that there is any reasonable hope of theproximate conversion of the province. The problem is this: In apopulation of from five to seven millions of friendly and peaceablepeople, eighteen missionaries in eight years (the average time duringwhich the mission stations have been opened), have converted elevenChinese; how long, then, will it take to convert the remainder?

"I believe, " said a late member of the House of Commons, who was onceLord Mayor of London, speaking at the anniversary meeting of the ChinaInland Mission in 1884, "I believe God intends to accomplish greatthings in China, " and, undoubtedly, the opinion of an ex-Lord Mayor onsuch a subject is entitled to great weight. 

"The Gospel, " he said, "is making rapid progress in China. . . . We areamazed at the great things God hath wrought" (in the conversion of theChinese). 

Let us examine for a moment an instance of the rapid progress whichexcited the amazement of this good man. No missionary body in China isworking with greater energy than the China Inland Mission. Theirmissionaries go far afield in their work, and they are, what theirmission intends them to be, pioneer Protestant missionaries in InlandChina. At the present time, the beginning of 1894, the Inland Missionnumbers 611 male and female missionaries. They are assisted by 261 paidnative helpers, and the combined body of 872 Evangelists baptised duringthe year just passed (1893) 821 Chinese. These figures, taken from_China's Millions_, 1894, p. 122, attest a rather lower rate of progressthan the other missions can boast of; but a considerable part of theinland work, it must be remembered, is the most difficult work ofall--the preaching of the Gospel for the first time in newly-openeddistricts. 

[Illustration: THE VICEROY OF THE TWO PROVINCES OF YUNNAN AND KWEICHOW. ]

The Viceroy of the two provinces of Yunnan and Kweichow, Wong-wen-shao, is one of the most enlightened rulers in China. No stranger could failto be impressed with his keen intellectual face and courtly grace ofmanner. His career has been a distinguished one. Good fortune attendedhim even at his birth. He is a native of Hangchow, in Chehkiang, a cityfamous in China for its coffins. Every Chinaman will tell you that truefelicity consists in three things: to be born in Peking (under theshadow of the Son of Heaven); to live in Soochow (where the girls areprettiest); and to die in Hangchow (where the coffins are grandest). Twelve years ago he was Governor of the province of Hunan. Called thento Peking as one of the Ministers of State of the "Tsungli Yamen, " orForeign Office, he remained there four years, his retirement being thendue to the inexorable law which requires an official to resign officeand go into mourning for three years on the death of one of his parents. In this case it was his mother. (A Chinese mother suckles her child twoand a half years, and, as the age of the child is dated from a timeanterior by some months to birth, the child is three years old before itleaves its mother's breast. Three years, therefore, has been defined asthe proper period for mourning. ) At the termination of the three years, Wong was reappointed Governor of Hunan, and a year and a half later, inMay, 1890, he was appointed to his present important satrapy, where hehas the supreme control of a district larger than Spain and Portugal, and with a population larger than that of Canada and Australia combined. In May, 1893, he made application to the throne to be allowed to returnto his ancestral home to die, but the privilege was refused him. 

Before leaving Yunnan city the Mandarin Li kindly provided me with aletter of introduction to his friend Brigadier-General Chang-chen Nien, in Tengyueh. Since it contained a communication between persons of rank, the envelope was about the size of an ordinary pillow-slip. The Generalwas presumably of higher rank than the traveller; I had, therefore, inaccordance with Chinese etiquette, to provide myself with a suitablevisiting card of a size appropriate to his importance. Now Chinesevisiting cards differ from ours in differing in size according to theimportance of the person to whom they are to be presented. My ordinarycard is eight inches by three, red in colour--the colour ofhappiness--and inscribed in black with the three characters of myChinese name. But the card that I was expected to present to theGeneral was very much larger than this. Folded it was of the same size, but unfolded it was ten times the size of the other (eight by thirtyinches), and the last page, politely inscribed in Chinese, containedthis humiliating indication of its purport: "Your addlepated nephewMo-li-son bows his stupid head, and pays his humble respects to yourexalted Excellency. "

[Illustration]

I still have this card in my possession; and I should be extremelyreluctant to present it to any official in the Empire of lower rank thanthe Emperor. 

CHAPTER XVI. 

THE JOURNEY FROM YUNNAN CITY TO TALIFU. 

I sold the mule in Yunnan City, and bought instead a little white ponyat a cost, including saddle, bridle, and bells, of _£3 6s. _ In doingthis I reversed the exchange that would have been made by a Chinaman. Amule is a more aristocratic animal than a pony; it thrives better on ajourney, and is more sure-footed. If a pony, the Chinese tell you, letsslip one foot, the other three follow; whereas a mule, if three feetslip from under him, will hold on with the fourth. 

My men, who had come with me from Chaotong, were paid off in Yunnan; butit was pleasant to find all three accept an offer to go on with me toTalifu. Coolies to do this journey are usually supplied by the coolieagents for the wage of two _chien_ a day each (_7d. _), each man to carryseventy catties (93lbs. ), find himself by the way, and spend thirteendays on the journey. But no coolies, owing to the increase in the priceof food, were now willing to go for so little. Accordingly I offered mytwo coolies three taels each (_9s. _), instead of the hong price of _7s. 9d. _, and loads of fifty catties instead of seventy catties. I offeredto refund them 100 cash each (_2-1/2d. _) a day for every day that theyhad been delayed in Yunnan, and, in addition, I promised them a rewardof five mace each (_1s. 6d. _) if they would take me to Tali in ninedays, instead of thirteen, the first evening not to count. To Laohwan, who had no load to carry, but had to attend to me and the pony and payaway the cash, I made a similar offer. These terms, involving me in anoutlay of _36s. _ for hiring three men to go with me on foot 915 li, andreturn empty-handed, were considered liberal, and were agreed to atonce. 

The afternoon, then, of the 19th April saw us again _en route_, bound tothe west to Talifu, the most famous city in western China, theheadquarters of the Mohammedan "Sultan" during the great rebellion of1857-1873. 

By the courtesy of the Mandarin Li, two men were detailed to "sung"me--to accompany me, that is--and take the responsibility for my safedelivery at the next hsien. One was a "wen, " a chairen, or yamen runner;the other was a "wu, " a soldier, with a sightless right eye, who wasdressed in the ragged vestiges of a uniform that reflected both thepoverty of his environment and, inversely, the richness of hiscommanding officer. For in China the officer enriches himself by thetwofold expedient of drawing pay for soldiers who have no existence, except in his statement of claim, and by diverting the pay of hissoldiers who do exist from their pockets into his own. 

[Illustration: THE GIANT OF YUNNAN. ]

As I was leaving, a colossal Chinaman, sent by the Fantai to speed theforeign gentleman on his way, strode into the court. He was dressed inmilitary jacket and official hat and foxtails. He was the Yunnan giant, Chang Yan Miun, a kindly-featured monster, whom it is a pity to seeburied in China when he might be holding _levées_ of thousands in aWestern side-show. For the information of those in search of novelties, I may say that the giant is thirty years of age, a native of Tongchuan, born of parents of ordinary stature; he is 7ft. 1in. In his bare feet, and weighs, when in condition, 27st. 6lb. With that ingeniousarrangement for increasing height known to all showmen, this giant mightbe worth investing in as a possible successor to his unrivallednamesake. There is surely money in it. Chang's present earnings arerather less than _7s. _ a month, without board and lodging; he isunmarried, and has no incumbrance; and he is slightly taller and muchmore massively built than a well-known American giant whom I once hadpermission to measure, who has been shown half over the world as the"tallest man on earth, " his height being attested as "7ft. 11in. In hisstockings' soles, " and who commands the salary of an English admiral. 

We made only a short march the first evening, but after that wetravelled by long stages. The country was very pretty, open glades withclumps of pine, and here and there a magnificent sacred tree like thebanyan, under whose far-reaching branches small villages are often halfconcealed. Despite the fertility of the country, poverty and starvationmet us at every step; the poor were lingering miserably through theyear. Goitre, too, was increasing in frequency. It was rarely that agroup gathered to see us some of whose members were not suffering fromthis horrible deformity. And everywhere in the pretty country were signsof the ruthless devastation of religious war. That was a war ofextermination. "A storm of universal fire blasted every field, consumedevery house, destroyed every temple. "

Crumbling walls are at long distances from the towns they used to guard;there are pastures and waste lands where there were streets ofbuildings; walls of houses have returned whence they came to the motherearth; others are roofless. In the open country, far from habitation, the traveller comes across groups of bare walls with foundations stilluncovered, and dismantled arches, and broken images in the long grass, that were formerly yamens and temples in the midst of thrivingcommunities. Yet there are signs of a renaissance; many new houses arebeing built along the main road; walls are being repaired, and bridgesreconstructed. When an exodus takes place from Szechuen to thisprovince, there is little reason why Yunnan should not become one of therichest provinces in China. It has every advantage of climate, greatfertility of soil, and immense mineral resources hardly yet developed. It needs population. It needs the population that dwelt in the provincebefore the rebellion involved the death of millions. It can absorb animmense proportion of the surplus population of China. During, andsubsequent to, the Taiping rebellion the province of Szechuen increasedby 45, 000, 000 in forty years (1842-82); given the necessity, there seemsno reason why the population of Yunnan should not increase in an almostequal proportion. 

On the 22nd we passed Lu-feng-hsien, another ruined town. The fineststone bridge I have seen in Western China, and one that would arrestattention in any country in the world, is at this town. It crosses thewide bed of a stream that in winter is insignificant, but which grows involume in the rains of summer to a broad and powerful river. It is abridge of seven beautiful arches; it is 12 yards broad and 150 yardslong, of perfect simplicity and symmetry, with massive piers, all builtof dressed masonry and destined to survive the lapse of centuries. Triumphal archways with memorial tablets and pedestals of carved lionsare befitting portals to a really noble work. 

On the 23rd we reached the important city of Chuhsing-fu, a walled city, still half-in-ruins, that was long occupied by the Mohammedans, andsuffered terrible reprisals on its recapture by the Imperialists. Forfour days we had travelled at an average rate of one hundred and five li(thirty-five miles) a day. I must, however, note that these distances asestimated by Mr. Jensen, the constructor of the telegraph line, do notagree with the distances in Mr. Baber's itinerary. The Chinese distancesin li agree in both estimates; but, whereas Mr. Jensen allows three lifor a mile, Mr. Baber allows four and a-half, a wide difference indeed. For convenience sake I have made use of the telegraph figures, but Mr. Baber was so scrupulously accurate in all that he wrote that I have nodoubt the telegraph distances are over-estimated. 

We were again in a district almost exclusively devoted to the poppy; thevalley-plains sparkled with poppy flowers of a multiplicity of tints. The days were pleasant, and the sun shone brightly; every plant was inflower; doves cooed in the trees, and the bushes in blossom were brightwith butterflies. Lanes led between hedges of wild roses white withflower, and, wherever a creek trickled across the plain, itswillow-lined borders were blue with forget-me-nots. And everywhere apeaceful people, who never spoke a word to the foreigner that was notfriendly. 

On the evening of the 24th, at a ruined town thirty li from Luho, wereceived our first check. It was at a walled town, with gateways and apagoda that gave some indication of its former prosperity, prettilysituated among the trees on the confines of a plain of remarkablefertility. Near sundown we passed down the one long street, all batteredand dismantled, which is all that is left of the old town. News of theforeigner quickly spread, and the people gathered into the street tosee me--no reception could be more flattering. We did not wait, but, pushing on, we passed out by the west gate and hastened on across theplain. But I noticed that Laohwan kept looking back at the impoverishedtown, shaking his head and stuttering "_pu-pu-pu-pu-hao! pu-pu-pu-hao!_"(bad! bad!) We had thus gone half a mile or so, when we were arrested bycries behind us, and our last chairen was seen running, panting, afterus. We waited for him; he was absurdly excited, and could hardly speak. He made an address to me, speaking with great energy and gesticulation;but what was its purport, _Dios sabe_. When he had finished, not to beoutdone in politeness, I thanked him in English for the kindly phrasesin which he had spoken to me, assured him of my continued sympathy, andundertook to say that, if ever he came to Geelong, he would find there ahouse at his disposition, and a friend who would be ever ready to do hima service. He seemed completely mystified, and began to speak again, more excitedly than before. It was getting late, and a crowd wascollecting, so I checked him by waving my left hand before my face andbawling at him with all my voice: "_Putung_, you stupid ass, _putung_ (Idon't understand)! Can't you see I don't understand a word you say, youbenighted heathen you? _Putung_, man, _putung_! Advance Australia, _dzo_(go)!" And, swinging open my umbrella, I walked on. His excitementincreased--we must go back to the town; he seized me by the wrists, andurged me to go back. We had a slight discussion; his feet gave fromunder him and he fell down, and I was going on cheerfully when he burstout crying. This I interpreted to mean that he would get into trouble ifI did not return, so, of course, I turned back at once, for the tearsof a Chinaman are sadly affecting. Back, then, we were taken to anexcellent inn in the main street, where a respectful _levée_ of thetownsfolk had assembled to welcome me. A polite official called upon me, to whom I showed, with simulated indignation, my official card and myChinese passport, and I hinted to him in English that this interferencewith my rights as a traveller from England, protected by the favour ofthe Emperor, would--let him mark my word--be made an internationalquestion. While saying this, I inadvertently left on my box, so that allmight see it, the letter of introduction to the Brigadier-General inTengyueh, which was calculated to give the natives an indication of theclass of Chinese who had the privilege to be admitted to my friendship. The official was very polite and apologetic. I freely forgave him, andwe had tea together. 

He had done it all for the best. A moneyed foreigner was passing throughhis town near sundown without stopping to spend a single cash there. Wasit not his duty, as a public-spirited man, to interfere and avert thisloss, and compel the stranger to spend at least one night within hisgates?

This was what I wrote at the time. I subsequently found that I had beensent for to come back because the road was believed to be dangerous, there was no secure resting-place, and the authorities could notguarantee my safety. Imagine a Chinese in a Western country acting withthe bluster that I did, although in good humour; I wonder whether hewould be treated with the courtesy that those Chinamen showed to me!

On the 25th an elderly chairen was ready to accompany us in the morning, and he remained with us all day. All day he was engrossed in deepthought. He spoke to no one, but he kept a watchful eye over his charge, never leaving me a moment, but dogging my very footsteps all thehundred li we travelled together. Poorly clad, he was better providedthan his brother of yesterday in that he wore sandals, whereas thechairen of yesterday was in rags and barefoot. He was, of course, unprovided with weapon of any kind--it was moral force that he reliedon. Over his shoulder was slung a bag from which projected hisopium-pipe; a tobacco pipe and tobacco box hung at his girdle; a greenglass bottle of crude opium he carried round his neck. 

The chairen is the policeman of China, the lictor of the magistrate, thesatellite of the official; the soldier is the representative of militaryauthority. Now, China, in the person of her greatest statesman, Li HungChang, has, through the secretary of the Anti-Opium Society, called uponEngland "to aid her in the efforts she is now making to suppress opium. "If, then, China is sincere in her alleged efforts to abolish opium, itis the chairen and the soldier who must be employed by the authoritiesto suppress the evil; yet I have never been accompanied by either achairen or a soldier who did not smoke opium, nor have I to my knowledgeever met a chairen or a soldier who was not an opium-smoker. Through alldistricts of Yunnan, wherever the soil permits it, the poppy is grownfor miles, as far as the sight can reach, on every available acre, onboth sides of the road. 

But why does China grow this poppy? Have not the _literati_ and eldersof Canton written to support the schemes of the Anti-Opium Society inthese thrilling words: "If Englishmen wish to know the sentiments ofChina, here they are:--If we are told to let things go on as they aregoing, then there is no remedy and no salvation for China. Oh! it makesthe blood run cold, and we want in this our extremity to ask thequestion of High Heaven, what unknown crimes or atrocity have theChinese people committed beyond all others that they are doomed tosuffer thus?" (Cited by Mr. S. S. Mander, _China's Millions_, iv. , 156. )

And the women of Canton, have they not written to the missionaries "thatthere is no tear that they shed that is not red with blood because ofthis opium?" ("China, " by M. Reed, p. 63). Why, then, does China, whileshe protests against the importation of a drug which a Governor ofCanton, himself an opium-smoker, described as a "vile excrementitioussubstance" ("Barrow's Travels, " p. 153), sanction, if not foster, withall the weight of the authorities in the ever-extending opium-districtsthe growth of the poppy? To the Rev. G. Piercy (formerly of the W. M. S. , Canton), we are indebted for the following explanation of this anomaly:China, it appears, is growing opium in order to put a stop toopium-smoking. 

"Moreover, China has not done with the evils of opium, even if our handswere washed of this traffic to-day. China in her desperation has invokedSatan to cast out Satan. She now grows her own opium, vainly dreamingthat, if the Indian supply lapse, she can then deal with this rapidlygrowing evil. But Satan is not divided against himself; he means hiskingdom to stand. Opium-growing will not destroy opium-smoking. "(Missionary Conference of 1888, _Records_, ii. , 546. )

"Yet the awful guilt remains, " said the Ven. Archdeacon Farrar on arecent occasion in Westminster Abbey, "that we, 'wherever winds blow andwaters roll, ' have girdled the world with a zone of drunkenness, until Iseem to shudder as I think of the curses, not loud but deep, mutteredagainst our name by races which our fire-water has decimated and ourvice degraded. " (_National Righteousness_, December 1892, p. 4. )

And this patriotic utterance of a distinguished Englishman the Chinesewill quote in unexpected support of the memorial "On the Restriction ofChristianity" addressed to the Throne of China in 1884 by the HighCommissioner Pêng Yü-lin, which memorial stated in severe language that"_since the treaties have permitted foreigners from the West to spreadtheir doctrines, the morals of the people have been greatly injured_. "("The Causes of the Anti-Foreign Disturbances in China. " Rev. GilbertReid, M. A. , p. 9. )

Forty li from our sleeping place we came to the pretty town ofShachiaokai, on some undulating high ground well sheltered with trees. Justice had lately been here with her headsman and brought death to agang of malefactors. Their heads, swinging in wooden cages, hung fromthe tower near the gateway. They could be seen by all persons passingalong the road, and, with due consideration for the feelings of thebereaved relatives, they were hung near enough for the features to berecognised by their friends. Each head was in a cage of its own, and wassuspended by the pigtail to the rim, so that it might not lie upsidedown but could by-and-by rattle in its box as dead men's bones shoulddo. To each cage a white ticket was attached giving the name of thecriminal and his confession of the offence for which he was executed. They were the heads of highway robbers who had murdered two travellerson the road near Chennan-chow, and it was this circumstance whichaccounted for the solicitude of the officials near Luho to prevent ourbeing benighted in a district where such things were possible. 

[Illustration: THE "EAGLE NEST BARRIER, " ON THE ROAD BETWEEN YUNNAN ANDTALIFU. ]

Midway between Shachiaokai and Pupêng there was steep climbing to bedone till we reached Ying-wu-kwan, the "Eagle Nest Barrier, " which ismore than 8000 feet above the sea. Then by very hilly and poor countrywe came to Pupêng, and, pursuing our way over a thickly-peopled plateau, we reached a break in the high land from which we descended into a wideand deep valley, skirted with villages and gleaming with sheets ofwater--the submerged rice-fields. At the foot of the steep was a poormud town, but, standing back from it in the fields, was a splendidTaoist temple fit for a capital. In this village we were delayed fornearly an hour while my three men bargained against half the village forthe possession of a hen that was all unconscious of the comments, flattering and deprecatory, that were being passed on its fatness. Itwas secured eventually for 260 cash, the vendors having declared thatthe hen was a family pet, hatched on a lucky day, that it had beencarefully and tenderly reared, and that nothing in the world couldinduce them to part with it for a cash less than 350. My men with equalconfidence, based upon long experience in the purchase of poultry, asserted that the real value of the hen was 200 cash, and that not asingle cash more of the foreign gentleman's money could theyconscientiously invest in such a travesty of a hen as _that_. But littleby little each party gave way till they were able to _tomber d'accord_. 

A pleasant walk across the busy plain brought us to Yunnan Yeh, where wepassed the night. 

On the 27th we had an unsatisfactory day's journey. We travelled onlyseventy li over an even road, yet with four good hours of daylightbefore us my men elected to stop when we came to the village ofYenwanshan. We had left the main road for some unknown reason, and weretaking a short cut over the mountains to Tali. But a short-cut in Chinaoften means the longest distance, and I was sure that this short-cutwould bring us to Tali a day later than if we had gone by the mainroad--in ten days, that is, from Yunnan, instead of the nine which mymen had promised me. Laohwan, who, like most Chinaman I met, persistedin thinking that I was deaf, yelled to me in the presence of the villagethat the next stopping place was twenty miles distant, that "_mitteliao! mitte liao!_" ("there were no beans") on the way for the pony, andthat assuredly we would reach Tali to-morrow, having given the pony theadmirable rest that here offered. As he stammered these sentences thepeople supported what he said. Obviously their statements were _exparte_, and were promoted solely by the desire to see the distinguishedforeign mandarin sojourn for one night in their hungry midst. So here Iwas detained in a tumble-down inn that had formerly been a temple. Allof us, men and master, were housed in the old guest-room. Beds wereformed of disused coffin boards, laid between steps made of clods of dryclay; the floor was earth, the windows paper. The pony was feeding froma trough in the temple hall itself, an armful of excellent grass beforeit, while a bucket of beans was soaking for him in our corner. Othermules and ponies were stationed in the side pavilions where formerlywere displayed the scenes of torture in the Buddhist Hells. 

As I wrote at a table by the window, a crowd collected, stretchingacross the street and quarrelling to catch a glimpse of the foreignteacher and his strange method of writing, so different from theChinese. Poor sickly people were these--of the ten in the first rowthree were suffering from goitre, one from strabismus, and two fromophthalmia. All were poorly clad and poorly nourished; all were verydirty, and their heads were unshaven of the growth of days. But, despitetheir poverty, nearly all the women, the children as well as thegrandmothers, wore silver earrings of pretty filigree. 

Now, even among these poor people, I noticed that there was adisposition rather to laugh at me than to open the eyes of wonder; andthis is a peculiarity of the Chinese which every traveller will bestruck with. It often grieved me. During my journey, although I wastreated with undeniable friendliness, I found that the Chinese, insteadof being impressed by my appearance, would furtively giggle when theysaw me. But they were never openly rude like the coloured folk were inJamaica, when, stranded in their beautiful island, I did them the honourto go as a "walk-foot buccra" round the sugar plantations from Ewartonto Montego Bay. Even poor ragged fellows, living in utter misery, wouldlaugh and snigger at me when not observed, and crack jokes at theforeigner who was well-fed, well-clad, and well-mounted in a way youwould think to excite envy rather than derision. But Chinese laughterseems to be moved by different springs from ours. The Chinaman makesmerry in the presence of death. A Chinaman, come to announce to you thedeath of a beloved parent or brother, laughs heartily as he tellsyou--you might think he was overflowing with joy, but he is really sickand sore at heart, and is only laughing to deceive the spirits. So itmay be that the poor beggars who laughed at that noble presence whichhas been the admiration of my friends in four continents, were moved todo so by the hope to deceive the evil spirits who had punished them withpoverty, and so by their apparent gaiety induce them to relax theseverity of their punishment. 

To within two or three miles of this village the road was singularlylevel; I do not think that it either rose or fell 100 feet in twentymiles. Forty li from where we slept the night before, having previouslyleft the main road, we came to the large walled town of Yunnan-hsien. The streets were crowded, for it was market day, and both sides of themain thoroughfares, especially in the vicinity of the Confucian Temple, were thronged with peasant women selling garden produce, turnips, beansand peas, and live fish caught in the lake beyond Tali. Articles ofWestern trade were also for sale--stacks of calico, braid, and thread, "new impermeable matches made in Trieste, " and "toilet soap of thefinest quality. " I had a royal reception as I rode through the crowd, and the street where was situated the inn to which we went for lunchspeedily became impassable. There was keen competition to see me. Twothieves were among the foremost, with huge iron crowbars chained totheir necks and ankles, while a third prisoner, with his head pilloriedin a _cangue_, obstructed the gaze of many. There was the most admirablecourtesy shown me; it was the "foreign teacher" they wished to see, notthe "foreign devil. " When I rose from the table, half a dozen guestssitting at the other tables rose also and bowed to me as I passed out. Of all people I have ever met, the Chinese are, I think, the politest. My illiterate Laohwan, who could neither read nor write, had a courtesyof demeanour, a well-bred ease of manner, a graceful deference thatnever approached servility, which it was a constant pleasure to me towitness. 

As regards the educated classes, there can be little doubt, I think, that there are no people in the world so scrupulously polite as theChinese. Their smallest actions on all occasions of ceremony aregoverned by the most minute rules. Let me give, as an example, themethod of cross-examination to which the stranger is subjected, andwhich is a familiar instance of true politeness in China. 

When a well-bred Chinaman, of whatever station, meets you for the firsttime, he thus addresses you, first asking you how old you are:

"What is your honourable age?"

"I have been dragged up a fool so many years, " you politely reply. 

"What is your noble and exalted occupation?"

"My mean and contemptible calling is that of a doctor. "

"What is your noble patronymic?"

"My poverty-struck family name is Mô. "

"How many honourable and distinguished sons have you?"

"Alas! Fate has been niggardly; I have not even one little bug. "

But, if you can truthfully say that you are the honourable father ofsons, your interlocutor will raise his clasped hands and say gravely, "Sir, you are a man of virtue; I congratulate you. " He continues--

"How many tens of thousands of pieces of silver have you?" meaning howmany daughters have you?

"My yatows" (forked heads or slave children), "my daughters, " you answerwith a deprecatory shrug, "number so many. "

So the conversation continues, and the more minute are the inquiries themore polite is the questioner. 

Unlike most of the Western nations, the Chinese have an overmasteringdesire to have children. More than death itself the Chinaman fears todie without leaving male progeny to worship at his shrine; for, if heshould die childless, he leaves behind him no provision for his supportin heaven, but wanders there a hungry ghost, forlorn and forsaken--an"orphan" because he has no children. "If one has plenty of money, " saysthe Chinese proverb, "but no children, he cannot be reckoned rich; ifone has children, but no money, he cannot be considered poor. " To havesons is a foremost virtue in China; "the greatest of the three unfilialthings, " says Mencius, "is to have no children. " (Mencius, iv. , pt. I. , 26). 

In China longevity is the highest of the five grades of felicity. Triumphal arches are erected all over the kingdom in honour of those whohave attained the patriarchal age which among us seems only to beassured to those who partake in sufficient quantity of certainfruit-salts and pills. Age when not known is guessed by the length ofthe beard, which is never allowed to grow till the thirty-second year. Now it happens that I am clean-shaven, and, as it is a well-known factthat the face of the European is an enigma to the Oriental, just as theface of the Chinaman is an inscrutable mystery to most of us, I haveoften been amused by the varying estimates of my age advanced by curiousbystanders. It has been estimated as low as twelve--"look at theforeigner, " they said, "there's a fine fat boy!"--and never higher thantwenty-two. But it is not only in China that a youthful appearance hashampered me in my walk through life. 

I remember that on one occasion, some years ago, I obliged a medicalfriend by taking his practice while he went away for a few days to bemarried. It was in a semi-barbarian village named Portree, in aforgotten remnant of Scotland called the Isle of Skye. The time waswinter. The first case I was called to was that of a bashful matron, thebaker's wife, who had lately given birth to her tenth child. I enteredthe room cheerfully. She looked me over critically, and then greatlydisconcerted me by remarking that: "She was gey thankfu' to the Lordthat it was a' by afore I cam', as she had nae wush to be meddled wi' bya laddie of nineteen. " Yet I was two years older than the doctor who hadattended her. 

If in China you are so fortunate as to be graced with a beard, theChinaman will add many years to your true age. In the agreeable companyof one of the finest men in China, I once made a journey to the NankowPass in the Great Wall, north of Peking. My friend had a beard like aWelsh bard's, and, though a younger man than his years, forty-four, there was not a native who saw him, who did not gaze upon him with awe, as a possible Buddha, and not one who attributed to him an age less thaneighty. 

Next day, the 28th of April, despite my misgivings, my men fulfilledtheir promise, and led me into Tali on the ninth day out from Yunnan. Wehad come 307 miles in nine days. They walked all the way, livingfrugally on scanty rations. I walked only 210 miles; I was better fedthan they, and I had a pony at my hand ready to carry me whenever I wastired. 

My men thus earned a reward of eighteen pence each for doing thirteenstages in nine days. Long before daylight we were on our way. For milesand miles in the early morning we were climbing up the mountains, tillwe reached a plateau where the wind blew piercingly keen, and my fingersached with the cold, and the rarefaction in the atmosphere madebreathing uneasy. The road was lonely and unfrequented. We wereaccompanied by a muleteer who knew the way, by his sturdy son of twelve, and his two pack horses. By midday we had left the bare plateau, hadpassed the three pagoda peaks, and were standing on the brow of a steephill overlooking the valleys of Chaochow and Tali. The plains werestudded with thriving villages, in rich fields, and intersected withroadways lined with hedges. There on the left was the walled city ofChaochow, beyond, to the right, was the great lake of Tali, hemmed in bymountains, those beyond the lake thickly covered with snow, and rising7000 feet above the lake, which itself is 7000 feet above the sea. 

We descended into the valley, and, as we picked our way down the steeppath, I could count in the lap of the first valley eighteen villagesbesides the walled city. Crossing the fields we struck the main road, and mingled with the stream of people who were bending their stepstowards Hsiakwan. Many varieties of feature were among them, a diversityof type unlooked for by the traveller in China who had become habituatedto the uniformity of type of the Chinese face. There were faces plainlyEuropean, others as unmistakably Hindoo, Indigenes of Yunnan province, Thibetans, Cantonese pedlars, and Szechuen coolies. A broad flagged roadbrought us to the important market town of Hsiakwan, which guards thesouthern pass to the Valley of Tali. It is on the main road going westto the frontier of Burma, and is the junction where the road turns northto Tali. It is a busy town. It is one of the most famous halting placeson the main road to Burma. The two largest caravanserais in WesternChina are in Hsiakwan, and I do not exaggerate when I say that aregiment of British cavalry could be quartered in either of them. At arestaurant near the cross-road we had rice and a cup of tea, and a bowlof the vermicelli soup known as _mien_, the muleteer and his son sittingdown with my men. When the time came to go, the muleteer, unrolling astring of cash from his waistband, was about to pay his share, whenLaohwan with much civility refused to permit him. He insisted, butLaohwan was firm; had they been Frenchmen, they could not have been morepolite and complimentary. The muleteer gave way with good grace, andLaohwan paid with my cash, and gained merit by his courtesy. 

CHAPTER XVII. 

THE CITY OF TALI--PRISONS--POISONING--PLAGUES AND MISSIONS. 

Three hours later we were in Tali. A broad paved road, smooth from thepassage of countless feet, leads to the city. Rocky creeks drain themountain range into the lake; they are spanned by numerous bridges ofdressed stone, many of the slabs of which are well cut granite blockseighteen feet in length. At a stall by the roadside excellent ices werefor sale, genuine ices, made of concave tablets of pressed snowsweetened with treacle, costing one cash each--equal to one penny forthree dozen. We passed the Temple to the Goddess of Mercy, and enteredTali by the south gate. Then by the yamen of the Titai and the GreatFive Glory Gate, the northern entrance of what was for seventeen yearsthe palace of the Mohammedan king during the rebellion, we turned downthe East street to the _Yesu-tang_, the Inland Mission, where Mr. AndMrs. John Smith gave me a cordial greeting. 

Tali has always been an important city. It was the capital of anindependent kingdom in the time of Kublai Khan and Marco Polo. It wasthe headquarters of the Mohammedan Sultan or Dictator, Tu Wen Hsiu, during the rebellion, and seemed at one time destined to become thecapital of an independent Moslem Empire in Western China. 

The city surrendered to the Mohammedans in 1857. It was recaptured bythe Imperialists under General Yang Yu-ko on January 15th, 1873, theChinese troops being aided by artillery cast by Frenchmen in the arsenalof Yunnan and manned by French gunners. At its recapture the carnage wasappalling; the streets were ankle-deep in blood. Of 50, 000 inhabitants30, 000 were butchered. After the massacre twenty-four panniers of humanears were sent to Yunnan city to convince the people of the capital thatthey had nothing more to fear from the rebellion. 

In March, 1873, Yang was appointed _Titai_ or Commander-in-chief ofYunnan Province, with his headquarters in Tali, not in the capital, andTali has ever since been the seat of the most important military commandin the province. 

The subsequent history of Yang may be told in a few words. He assumeddespotic power over the country he had conquered, and grew in power tillhis authority became a menace to the Imperial Government. They fearedthat he aspired to found a kingdom of his own in Western China, andrecalled him to Peking--to do him honour. He was not to be permitted toreturn to Yunnan. At the time of his recall another rebellion had brokenout against China--the rebellion of the French--and, like another Uriah, the powerful general was sent to the forefront in Formosa, where he wasopportunely slain by a French bullet, or by a misdirected Chinese one. 

After his death it was found that Yang had made a noble bequest to theCity of Tali. During his residence he had built for himself a splendidyamen of granite and marble. This he had richly endowed and left as afree gift to the city as a college for students. It is one of thefinest residences in China, and, though only seventy undergraduates wereliving there at the time of my visit, the rooms could accommodate incomfort many hundreds. 

[Illustration: SNOW-CLAD MOUNTAINS BEHIND TALIFU. ]

Tali is situated on the undulating ground that shelves gently from thebase of snow-clad mountains down to the lake. The lower slopes of themountain, above the town, are covered with myriads of grave-mounds, which in the distance are scarcely distinguishable from the graniteblocks around them. Creeks and rills of running water spring from themelting of the snows far up the mountain, run among the grave-mounds, and are then trained into the town. The Chinese residents thus enjoy theprivilege of drinking a diluted solution of their ancestors. Half-way tothe lake, there is a huge tumulus of earth and stone over-grown withgrass, in which are buried the bones of 10, 000 Mohammedans who fellduring the massacre. There is no more fertile valley in the world thanthe valley of Tali. It is studded with villages. Between the two passes, Hsiakwan on the south, and Shang-kwan on the north, which are distantfrom each other a long day's walk, there are 360 villages, each in itsown plantation of trees, with a pretty white temple in the centre withcurved roof and upturned gables. The sunny reaches of the lake are busywith fleets of fishing boats. The poppy, grown in small pockets by themargin of the lake, is probably unequalled in the world; the flowers, asI walked through the fields, were on a level with my forehead. 

Tali is not a large city; its wall is only three and a half miles incircumference. Before the rebellion populous suburbs extended half-wayto Hsiakwan, but they are now only heaps of rubble. In the town itselfthere are market-gardens and large open spaces where formerly therewere narrow streets of Chinese houses. The wall is in fairly goodrepair, but there are no guns in the town, except a few old-fashionedcannon lying half buried in the ground near the north gate. 

One afternoon we climbed up the mountain intending to reach a famouscave, "The Phoenix-eyed Cave" (_Fung-yen-tung_) which overlooks aprecipice, of some fame in years gone by as a favourite spot forsuicides. We did not reach the cave. My energy gave out when we wereonly half-way, so we sat down in the grass and, to use a phrase that Ifancy I have heard before, we feasted our eyes on the scene before us. And here we gathered many bunches of edelweiss. 

As we were coming back down the hill, picking our way among the graves, a pensive Chinaman stopped us to ask our assistance in finding him alucky spot in which to bury his father, who died a year ago but wasstill above ground. He was sorry to hear that we could not pretend toany knowledge of such things. He was of an inquiring mind, for he thenasked us if we had seen any precious stones in the hillside--everyChinaman knows that the foreigner with his blue eyes can see four feetunderground--but he was again disappointed with our reply, or did notbelieve us. 

At the poor old shrine to the God of Riches, half a dozen Chinamen inneed of the god's good offices were holding a small feast in his honour. They had prepared many dishes, and, having "dedicated to the god thespiritual essence, were now about to partake of the insipid remains. ""_Ching fan_, " they courteously said to us when we approached down thepath. "We invite (you to take) rice. " We raised our clasped hands:"_Ching, ching_, " we replied, "we invite (you to go on), we invite, " andpassed on. They were bent upon enjoyment. They were taking as an_apéritif_ a preliminary cup of that awful spirit _tsiu_, which isalmost pure alcohol and can be burnt in lamps like methylated spirit. 

On the level sward, between this poor temple and the city, the annualThibetan Fair is held on the 17th, 18th, and 19th of April, whencaravans of Thibetans, with herds of ponies, make a pilgrimage fromtheir mountain villages to the ancient home of their forefathers. Butthe fair is falling into disfavour owing to the increasing number oflikin-barriers on the northern trade routes. 

There are many temples in Tali. The finest is the Confucian Temple, withits splendid halls and pavilions, in a beautiful garden. Kwanti, the Godof War, has also a temple worthy of a god whose services to China in thepast can never be forgotten. Every Chinaman knows, that if it had notbeen for the personal aid of this god, General Gordon could never havesucceeded in suppressing the Taiping rebellion. In the present rebellionof the Japanese, the god appears to have maintained an attitude ofstrict neutrality. 

The City Temple is near the drill-ground. As the Temple of a Fu city itcontains the images of both Fu magistrate and Hsien magistrate, withtheir attendants. In its precincts the _Kwan_ of the beggars, (thebeggar king or headman), is domiciled, who eats the Emperor's rice andis officially responsible for the good conduct of the guild of beggars. 

In the main street there is a Memorial Temple to General Yang, who wonthe city back from the Mohammedans. But the temple where prayer isoffered most earnestly, is the small temple near the _Yesu-tang_, erected to the goddess who has in her power the dispensation of thepleasures of maternity. Rarely did I pass here without seeing two orthree childless wives on their knees, praying to the goddess to removefrom them the sin of barrenness. 

Some of the largest caravanserais I have seen in China are in Tali. Oneof the largest belongs to the city, and is managed by the authoritiesfor the benefit of the poor, all profits being devoted to a poor-relieffund. There are many storerooms here, filled with foreign goods andstores imported from Burma, and useful wares and ornamental nick-nacksbrought from the West by Cantonese pedlars. Prices are curiously low. Ibought condensed milk, "Milkmaid brand, " for the equivalent of _7d. _ atin. In the inn there is stabling accommodation for more than a hundredmules and horses, and there are rooms for as many drivers. The tariffcannot be called immoderate. The charges are: For a mule or horse pernight, fodder included, one farthing; for a man per night, a supper ofrice included, one penny. 

Even larger than the city inn is the caravanserai where my pony wasstabled; it is more like a barracks than an inn. One afternoon thelandlord invited the missionary and me into his guest-room, and as I wasthe chief guest, he insisted, of course, that I should occupy the seatof honour on the left hand. But I was modest and refused to; hepersisted and I was reluctant; he pushed me forward and I held back, protesting against the honour he wished to show me. But he would take norefusal and pressed me forward into the seat. I showed becomingreluctance of course, but I would not have occupied any other. By-and-byhe introduced to me with much pride his aged father, to whom, when hecame into the room, I insisted upon giving my seat, and humbly sat onan inferior seat by his side, showing him all the consideration due tohis eighty years. The old man bore an extraordinary resemblance toMoltke. He had smoked opium, he told Mr. Smith, the missionary, forfifty years, but always in moderation. His daily allowance was two_chien_ of raw opium, rather more than one-fifth of an ounce, but heknew many Chinese, he told the missionary, who smoked daily five timesas much opium as he did without apparent injury. 

In Tali there are four chief officials: the Prefect or Fu Magistrate, the Hsien or City Magistrate, the Intendant or Taotai, and the Titai. The yamen of the Taotai is a humble residence for so important anofficial; but the yamen of the Titai, between the South Gate and theFive Glory Tower, is one of the finest in the province. The Titai is notonly the chief military commander of the province of Yunnan, but he is avery much married man. An Imperialist, he has yet obeyed the Mohammedaninjunction and taken to himself four wives in order to be sure ofobtaining one good one. He has been abundantly blessed with children. Inoffices at the back of the Titai's yamen and within its walls, is thelocal branch of the Imperial Chinese telegraphs, conducted by twoChinese operators, who can read and write English a little, and canspeak crudely a few sentences. 

The City Magistrate is an advanced opium-smoker, a slave to the pipe, who neglects his duties. In his yamen I saw the wooden cage in whichprisoners convicted of certain serious crimes are slowly done to deathby starvation and exhaustion, as well as the wooden cages of differentshape in which criminals of another class condemned to death are carriedto and from the capital. 

The City prison is in the Hsien's yamen, but permission to enter wasrefused me, though the missionary has frequently been admitted. "Theprison, " explained the Chinese clerk, "is private, and strangers cannotbe admitted. " I was sorry not to be allowed to see the prison, all themore because I had heard from the missionary nothing but praise of thehumanity and justice of its management. 

The gaols of China, or, as the Chinese term them, the "hells, " just asthe prison hulks in England forty years ago were known as "floatinghells, " have been universally condemned for the cruelties anddeprivations practised in them. They are probably as bad as were theprisons of England in the early years of the present century. 

The gaolers purchase their appointments, as they did in England in thetime of John Howard, and, as was the case in England, they receive noother pay than what they can squeeze from the prisoners or theprisoners' friends. Poor and friendless, the prisoners fare badly. But Iquestion if the cruelties practised in the Chinese gaols, allowing forthe blunted nerve sensibility of the Chinaman, are less endurable thanthe condition of things existing in English prisons so recently as whenCharles Reade wrote "It is Never Too Late to Mend. " The cruelties ofHawes, the "punishment jacket, " the crank, the dark cell, andstarvation, "the living tortured, the dying abandoned, the dead kickedout of the way"; when boys of fifteen, like Josephs, were driven toself-slaughter by cruelty. These are statements published in 1856, "every detail of which was verified, every fact obtained, by researchand observation. " ("Life of Charles Reade, " ii. , 33. )

And it cannot admit, I think, of question that there are no crueltiespractised in the Chinese gaols greater, even if there are any equal tothe awful and degraded brutality with which the England of our fatherstreated her convicts in the penal settlements of Norfolk Island, FortArthur, Macquarie Harbour, and the prison hulks of Williamstown. "Theconvict settlements were terrible cesspools of iniquity, so bad that itseemed, to use the words of one who knew them well, 'the heart of manwho went to them was taken from him, and there was given to him theheart of a beast. '"

Can the mind conceive of anything more dreadful in China than theincident narrated by the Chaplain of Norfolk Island, the Rev. W. Ullathorne, D. D. , afterwards Roman Catholic Bishop of Birmingham, in hisevidence before the Commission of the House of Commons in 1838: "As Imentioned the names of those men who were to die, they one afteranother, as their names were pronounced, dropped on their knees andthanked God that they were to be delivered from that horrible place, whilst the others remained standing mute, weeping. It was the mosthorrible scene I have ever witnessed. "

Those who have read Marcus Clarke's "For the Term of His Natural Life, "remember the powerfully-drawn character of Maurice Frere, the Governorof Norfolk Island. It is well known, of course, that the story isfounded upon fact, and is a perfectly true picture of the convict days. The original of Maurice Frere is known to have been the late Colonel----, who was killed by the convicts in the prison hulk "Success, " atWilliamstown, in 1853. To this day there is no old lag that was everexposed to his cruelty but reviles his memory. I once knew the convictwho gave the signal for his murder. He was sentenced to death, but wasreprieved and served a long term of imprisonment. The murder happenedforty-one years ago, yet to this day the old convict commends themurder as a just act of retribution, and when he narrates the story hetells you with bitter passion that the "Colonel's dead, and, if there'sa hell, he's frizzling there yet. "

Captain Foster Fyans, a former Governor of Norfolk Island ConvictSettlement, spent the last years of his life in the town I belong to, Geelong, in Victoria. The cruelties imposed on the convicts under hischarge were justified, he declared, by the brutalised character of theprisoners. On one occasion, he used to tell, a band of convictsattempted to escape from the Island; but their attempt was frustrated bythe guard. The twelve convicts implicated in the outbreak were put ontheir trial, found guilty, and sentenced to death by strangulation, ashanging really was in those days. Word was sent to headquarters inSydney, and instructions were asked for to carry the sentence intoeffect. The laconic order was sent back from Sydney to "hang half ofthem. " The Captain acknowledged the humour of the despatch, though itplaced him in a difficulty. Which half should he hang, when all wereequally guilty? In his pleasant way the Captain used to tell how heacted in the dilemma. He went round to the twelve condemned wretches, and asked each man separately if, being under sentence of death, hedesired a reprieve or wished for death. As luck would have it, of thetwelve men, six pleaded for life and six as earnestly prayed that theymight be sent to the scaffold. So the Captain hanged the six men whowished to live, and spared the six men who prayed for death to releasethem from their awful misery. This is an absolutely true story, which Ihave heard from men to whom the Captain himself told it. Besides, itbears on its face the impress of truth. And yet we are accustomed tospeak of the Chinese as centuries behind us in civilisation andhumanity. 

I went to two opium-poisoning cases in Tali, both being cases ofattempted suicide. The first was that of an old man living not _at_ theSouth Gate as the messenger assured us, who feared to discourage us ifhe told the truth, but more than a mile beyond it. On our way we boughtin the street some sulphate of copper, and a large dose made the old manso sick that he said he would never take opium again, and, if he did, hewould not send for the foreign gentleman. 

The other was that of a young bride, a girl of unusual personalattraction, only ten days married, who thus early had become weary ofthe pock-marked husband her parents had sold her to. She was dressedstill in her bridal attire, which had not been removed since marriage;she was dressed in red--the colour of happiness. "She was dressed in herbest, all ready for the journey, " and was determined to die, becausedead she could repay fourfold the injuries which she had received whileliving. In this case many neighbours were present, and, as all wereanxious to prevent the liberation of the girl's evil spirit, I proved tothem how skilful are the barbarian doctors. The bride was induced todrink hot water till it was, she declared, on a level with her neck, then I gave her a hypodermic injection of that wonderful emeticapomorphia. The effect was very gratifying to all but the patient. 

Small-pox, or, as the Chinese respectfully term it, "Heavenly Flowers, "is a terrible scourge in Western China. It is estimated that twothousand deaths--there is a charming vagueness about all Chinesefigures--from this disease alone occur in the course of a year in thevalley of Tali. Inoculation is practised, as it has been for manycenturies, by the primitive method of introducing a dried pock-scab, ona lucky day, into one of the nostrils. The people have heard of theresults of Western methods of inoculation, and immense benefit could beconferred upon a very large community by sending to the Inland Missionin Talifu a few hundred tubes of vaccine lymph. Vaccination introducedinto Western China would be a means, the most effective that could beimagined, to check the death rate over that large area of country whichwas ravaged by the civil war, and whose reduced population is only asmall percentage of the population which so fertile a country needs forits development. Infanticide is hardly known in that section of Yunnanof which Tali may be considered the capital. Small-pox kills thechildren. There is no need for a mother to sacrifice her superfluouschildren, for she has none. 

Another disease endemic in Yunnan is the bubonic plague, which is, nodoubt, identical with the plague that has lately played havoc in HongKong and Canton. Cantonese peddlers returning to the coast probablycarried the germs with them. 

The China Inland Mission in Tali was the last of the mission stationswhich I was to see on my journey. This is the furthest inland of thestations of the Inland Mission in China. It was opened in 1881 by Mr. George W. Clarke, the most widely-travelled, with the single exceptionof the late Dr. Cameron, of all the pioneer missionaries of this bravesociety; I think Mr. Clarke told me that he has been in fourteen out ofthe eighteen provinces. His work here was not encouraging; he wastreated with kindness by the Chinese, but they refused to accept thetruth when he placed it before them. 

"For the Bible and the Light of Truth, " says Miss Guinness, in hercharming but hysterical "Letters from the Far East"--a book that hasdeluded many poor girls to China--"For the Bible and the Light of Truththe Chinese cry with outstretched, empty, longing hands" (p. 173). Butthis allegation unhappily conflicts with facts when applied to Tali. 

For the first eleven years the mission laboured here without any successwhatever; but now a happier time seems coming, and no less than threeconverts have been baptised in the last two years. 

There are now three missionaries in Tali--there are usually four; theyare universally respected by the Chinese; they have made their littlemission home one of the most charming in China. Mr. John Smith, whosucceeded Mr. Clarke, has been ten years in Tali. He is welcomedeverywhere, and in every case of serious sickness or opium-poisoning heis sent for. During all the time he has been in Tali he has neverrefused to attend a summons to the sick, whether by day or night. In thecourse of the year he attends, on an average, between fifty and sixtycases of attempted suicide by opium in the town or its environs, and, ifcalled in time, he is rarely unsuccessful. Should he be called to a caseoutside the city wall and be detained after dark, the city gate will bekept open for him till he returns. The city magistrate has himselfpublicly praised the benevolence of this missionary, and said, "there isno man in Tali like Mr. Smith--would that there were others!" He is aChristian in word and deed, brave and simple, unaffected andsympathetic--the type of missionary needed in China--an honour to hismission. I saw the courageous man working here almost alone, far distantfrom all Western comforts, cut off from the world, and almost unknown, and I contrasted him with those other missionaries--the majority--wholive in luxurious mission-houses in absolute safety in the treaty ports, yet whose courage and self-denial we have accustomed ourselves topraise in England and America, when with humble voices they parade thedangers they undergo and the hardships they endure in preaching, dearfriends, to the "perishing heathen in China, God's lost ones!"

In addition to the three converts who have been baptised in Tali in thelast two years, there are two inquirers--one the mission cook--who arenearly ready for acceptance. At the Sunday service I met the threeconverts. One is the paid teacher in the mission school; another is ahumble pedlar; the third is a courageous native belonging to one of theindigenous tribes of Western China, a Minchia man, whose conversion, judged by all tests, is one of those genuine cases which bring real joyto the missionary. He has only recently been baptised. Every Sunday hecomes in fifteen li from the small patch of ground he tills to themission services. His son is at the mission school, and is boarded onthe premises. There is a small school in connection with the missionunder the baptised teacher, where eight boys and eight girls are beingtaught. They are learning quickly, their wonderful gifts of memory beinga chief factor in their progress. At the service there was anotherworshipper, a sturdy boy of fourteen, who slept composedly all throughthe exhortation. If any boy should feel gratitude towards the kindmissionaries it is he. They have reared him from the most degradedpoverty, have taught him to read and write, and are now on the eve ofapprenticing him to a carpenter. He was a beggar boy, the son of aprofessional beggar, who, with unkempt hair and in rags and filth, usedto shamble through the streets gathering reluctant alms. The fatherdied, and some friends would have sold his son to pay the expenses ofhis burial; but the missionaries intervened and, to save the son fromslavery, buried his father. This action gave them some claim to help theboy, and the boy has accordingly been with them since in a comfortable, kindly home, instead of grovelling round the streets in squalor andnakedness. 

The mission-house, formerly occupied by Mr. George Clarke is near theCity Temple. We went to see it a day or two after my arrival. It is nowin the possession of a family of Mohammedans, one of the very few Moslemfamilies still living in the valley of Tali. "When we were in possessionof the valley, " said the father sorrowfully, "we numbered '12, 000 tens'(120, 000 souls), now we are '100 fives' (500 souls). Our men were slain, our women were taken in prey, only a remnant escaped the destroyer. "Several members of the family were in the court when we entered, andamong the men were three with marked Anglo-Saxon features, a peculiarityfrequently seen in Western China, where every traveller has given adifferent explanation of the phenomenon. One especially moved mycuriosity, for he possessed to an absurd degree the closest likeness tomyself. Could I give him any higher praise than that?

That the Mohammedan Chinese is physically superior to his Buddhistcountryman is acknowledged by all observers; there is a fearlessness andindependence of bearing in the Mohammedan, a militant carriage thatdistinguishes him from the Chinese unbeliever. His religion is but athinly diluted Mohammedanism, and excites the scorn of the truebelievers from India who witness his devotion, or rather his want ofdevotion. 

One of the men talking to us in the old mission-house was acomical-looking fellow, whose head-dress differed from that of theother Chinese, in that, in addition to his queue, lappets of hair weredrawn down his cheeks in the fashion affected by old ladies in England. I raised these strange locks--impudent curiosity is often politeattention in China--whereupon the reason for them was apparent. The bodybequeathed to him by his fathers had been mutilated--he had suffered theremoval of both ears. He explained to us how he came to lose them, butwe knew even before he told us; "he had lost them in battle facing theenemy"--and of course we believed him. The less credulous wouldassociate the mutilation with a case of theft and its detection andpunishment by the magistrate; but "a bottle-nosed man, " says the Chineseproverb, "may be a teetotaller and yet no one will think so. "

Our milkman at the mission was a follower of the Prophet, and the milkhe gave us was usually as reduced in quality as are his co-religionistsin number. In the milk he supplied there was what a chemist describes asa remarkable absence of butter fat. Yet, when he was reproached for hisdeceit, he used piously to say, even when met coming from the well, "Icould not put a drop of water in the milk, for there is a God upthere"--and he would jerk his chin towards the sky--"who would see me ifI did. "

CHAPTER XVIII. 

THE JOURNEY FROM TALI, WITH SOME REMARKS ON THE CHARACTER OF THECANTONESE, CHINESE EMIGRANTS, CRETINS, AND WIFE-BEATING IN CHINA. 

The three men who had come with me the six hundred and seventeen milesfrom Chaotong left me at Tali to return all that long way home on footwith their well-earned savings. I was sorry to say good-bye to them; butthey had come many miles further than they intended, and their friends, they said, would be anxious: besides Laohwan, you remember, was newlymarried. 

I engaged three new men in their places. They were to take me rightthrough to Singai (Bhamo). Every day was of importance now with fourhundred and fifty miles to travel and the rainy season closing in. Laotseng was the name of the Chinaman whom I engaged in place ofLaohwan. He was a fine young fellow, active as a deer, strong, andhigh-spirited. I agreed to pay him the fancy wage of _24s. _ for thejourney. He was to carry no load, but undertook, in the event of eitherof my coolies falling sick, to carry his load until a new coolie couldbe engaged. The two coolies I engaged through a coolie-hong. One was astrongly-built man, a "chop dollar, " good-humoured, but of rareugliness. The other was the thinnest man I ever saw outside a Bowerydime-show. He had the opium habit. He was an opium-eater rather than anopium-smoker; and he ate the ash from the opium-pipe, instead of theopium itself--the most vicious of the methods of taking opium. He wasthe nearest approach I saw in China to the Exeter Hall type ofopium-eater, whose "wasted limbs and palsied hands" cry out against thesin of the opium traffic. Though a victim of the injustice of England, this man had never tasted Indian opium in his life, and, perishing as hewas in body and soul, going "straight to eternal damnation, " his "dyingwail unheard, " he yet undertook a journey that would have deterred themajority of Englishmen, and agreed to carry, at forced speed, a farheavier load than the English soldier is ever weighted with on march. The two coolies were to be paid 4 taels each (_12s. _) for the twentystages to Singai, and had to find their own board and lodging. But Ialso stipulated to give them _churo_ money (pork money) of 100 cash eachat three places--Yungchang, Tengyueh, and Bhamo--100 cash each a dayextra for every day that I detained them on the way, and, in addition, Iwas to reward them with 150 cash each a day for every day that theysaved on the twenty days' journey, days that I rested not to count. 

Of course none of the three men spoke a word of English. All werenatives of the province of Szechuen, and all carried out their agreementto the letter. 

On May 3rd I left Tali. The last and longest stage of all the journeywas before me, a distance of some hundreds of miles, which I had totraverse before I could hope to meet another countryman or foreignerwith whom I could converse. The two missionaries, Mr. Smith and Mr. Graham, kindly offered to see me on my way, and we all started togetherfor Hsiakwan, leaving the men to follow. 

Ten li from Tali we stopped to have tea at one of the many tea-housesthat are grouped round the famous temple to the Goddess of Mercy, the_Kwanyin-tang_. The scene was an animated one. The open space betweenthe temple steps and the temple theatre opposite was thronged withChinese of strange diversity of feature crying their wares from underthe shelter of huge umbrellas. There is always a busy traffic toHsiakwan, and every traveller rests here, if only for a few minutes. Forthis is the most famous temple in the valley of Tali. The Goddess ofMercy is the friend of travellers, and no thoughtful Chinese shouldventure on a journey without first asking the favour of the goddess andobtaining from her priests a forecast of his success. The temple is afine specimen of Chinese architecture. It was built specially to recorda miracle. In the chief court, surrounded by the temple buildings, thereis a huge granite boulder lying in an ornamental pond. It is connectedby marble approaches, and is surmounted by a handsome monument ofmarble, which is faced on all sides with memorial tablets. This boulderwas carried to its present position by the goddess herself, the monumentand bridges were built to detain it where it lay, and the templeafterwards erected to commemorate an event of such happy augury for thebeautiful valley. 

[Illustration: MEMORIAL IN THE TEMPLE OF THE GODDESS OF MERCY, NEARTALIFU. ]

But the temple has not always witnessed only scenes of mercy. Two yearsago a tragedy was enacted here of strange interest. At a religiousfestival held here in April, 1892, and attended by all the highofficials and by a crowd of sightseers, a thief, taking advantage of thecrush, tried to snatch a bracelet from the wrist of a young woman, and, when she resisted, he stabbed her. He was seized red-handed, draggedbefore the Titai, who happened to be present, and ordered to bebeheaded there and then. An executioner was selected from among thesoldiers; but so clumsily did he do the work, hacking the head off byrepeated blows, instead of severing it by one clean cut, that thefriends of the thief were incensed and vowed vengeance. That same nightthey lay in wait for the executioner as he was returning to the city, and beat him to death with stones. Five men were arrested for thiscrime; they were compelled to confess their guilt and were sentenced todeath. As they were being carried out to the execution-ground, one ofthe condemned pointed to two men, who were in the crowd of sightseers, and swore that they were equally concerned in the murder. So these twomen were also put on their trial, with the result that one was foundguilty and was equally condemned to death. As if this were notsufficient, at the execution the mother of one of the prisoners, whenshe saw her son's head fall beneath the knife, gave a loud scream andfell down stone-dead. Nine lives were sacrificed in this tragedy: thewoman who was stabbed recovered of her wound. 

Hsiakwan was crowded, as it was market day. We had lunch together at aChinese restaurant, and then, my men having come up, the kindmissionaries returned, and I went on alone. A river, the Yangki River, drains the Tali Lake, and, leaving the south-west corner of the lake, flows through the town of Hsiakwan, and so on west to join the Mekong. For three days the river would be our guide. A mile from the town theriver enters a narrow defile, where steep walls of rock rise abruptlyfrom the banks. The road here passes under a massive gateway. Forts, nowdismantled, guard the entrance; the pass could be made absolutelyimpregnable. At this point the torrent falls under a natural bridge ofunusual beauty. We rode on by the narrow bank along the river, crossedfrom the left to the right bank, and continued on through a beautifulcountry, sweet with the scent of the honeysuckle, to the charming littlevillage of Hokiangpu. Here we had arranged to stay. The inn was a largeone, and very clean. Many of its rooms were already occupied by a largeparty of Cantonese returning home after the Thibetan Fair with loads ofopium. 

The Cantonese, using the term in its broader sense as applied to thenatives of the province of Kuangtung, are the Catalans of China. Theyare as enterprising as the Scotch, adapt themselves as readily tocircumstances, are enduring, canny, and successful; you meet them in themost distant parts of China. They make wonderful pilgrimages on foot. They have the reputation of being the most quick-witted of all Chinese. Large numbers come to Tali during the Thibetan Fair, and in the opiumseason. They bring all kinds of foreign goods adapted for Chinesewants--cheap pistols and revolvers, mirrors, scales, fancy pictures, anda thousand gewgaws useful as well as attractive--and they return withopium. They travel in bands, marching in single file, their carryingpoles pointed with a steel spearhead two feet long, serving a doubleuse--a carrying pole in peace, a formidable spear in trouble. 

Everywhere they can be distinguished by their dress, by their enormousoiled sunshades, and by their habit of tricing their loads high up tothe carrying pole. They are always well clad in dark blue; their headsare always cleanly shaved; their feet are well sandalled, and theircalves neatly bandaged. They have a travelled mien about them, and carrythemselves with an air of conscious superiority to the untravelledsavages among whom they are trading. To me they were always polite andamiable; they recognised that I was, like themselves, a stranger farfrom home. 

This is the class of Chinese who, emigrating from the thickly-peopledsouth-eastern provinces of China, already possess a predominant share ofthe wealth of Borneo, Sumatra, Java, Timor, the Celebes and thePhilippine Islands, Burma, Siam, Annam and Tonquin, the StraitsSettlements, Malay Peninsula, and Cochin China. "There is hardly a tinyislet visited by our naturalists in any part of these seas but Chinamenare found. " And it is this class of Chinese who have already driven usout of the Northern Territory of Australia, and whose unrestricted entryinto the other colonies we must prevent at all hazards. We cannotcompete with Chinese; we cannot intermix or marry with them; they arealiens in language, thought, and customs; they are working animals oflow grade but great vitality. The Chinese is temperate, frugal, hard-working, and law-evading, if not law-abiding--we all acknowledgethat. He can outwork an Englishman, and starve him out of thecountry--no one can deny that. To compete successfully with a Chinaman, the artisan or labourer of our own flesh and blood would require to bedegraded into a mere mechanical beast of labour, unable to support wifeor family, toiling seven days in the week, with no amusements, enjoyments, or comforts of any kind, no interest in the country, contributing no share towards the expense of government, living on foodthat he would now reject with loathing, crowded with his fellows ten orfifteen in a room that he would not now live in alone, except withrepugnance. Admitted freely into Australia, the Chinese would starveout the Englishman, in accordance with the law of currency--that of twocurrencies in a country the baser will always supplant the better. "InVictoria, " says Professor Pearson, "a single trade--that offurniture-making--was taken possession of and ruined for white menwithin the space of something like five years. " In the small colony ofVictoria there are 9377 Chinese in a population of 1, 150, 000; in allChina, with its population of 350, 000, 000, there are only 8081foreigners (Dyer Ball), a large proportion of whom are working forChina's salvation. 

There is not room for both in Australia. Which is to be our colonist, the Asiatic or the Englishman?

In the morning we had another beautiful walk round the snow-cladmountains to the village of Yangpi, at the back of Tali. There was along delay here. News of my arrival spread, and the people hurried alongto see me. No sooner was I seated at an inn than two messengers from theyamen called for my passport. They were officious young fellows, sadlywanting in respect, and they asked for my passport in a noisy way that Idid not like, so I would not understand them. I only smiled at them inthe most friendly manner possible. I kept them for some time in a feverof irritation at their inability to make me understand; I listened withimperturbable calmness to their excited phrases till they were nearlydancing. Then I leisurely produced my passport, as if to satisfy acuriosity of my own, and began scanning it. Seeing this, they rudelythrust forth their hands to seize it; but I had my eye on them. "Not soquick, my friends, " I said, soothingly. "Be calm; nervous irritabilityis a fruitful source of trouble. See, here is my passport; here is theofficial seal, and here the name of your unworthy servant. Now I fold itup carefully and--put it back in my pocket. But here is a copy, whichis at your service. If you wish to show the original to the magistrate, I will take it to his honour myself, but out of my hands it does notpass. " They looked puzzled, as they did not understand English; theydebated a minute or two, and then went away with the copy, which in duetime they politely returned to me. 

If you wish to travel quickly in China, never be in a hurry. Appearunconscious of all that is passing; never be irritated by any delay, andassume complete indifference, even when you are really anxious to pushon. Emulate, too, that leading trait in the Chinese character, and neverunderstand anything which you do not wish to understand. No man on earthcan be denser than a Chinaman, when he chooses. 

Let me give an instance. It was not so long ago, in a police court inMelbourne, that a Chinaman was summoned for being in possession of atenement unfit for human habitation. The case was clearly proved, and hewas fined _£1_. But in no way could John be made to understand that a finehad been inflicted. He sat there with unmoved stolidity, and all thatthe court could extract from him was: "My no savvy, no savvy. " Aftersaying this in a voice devoid of all hope, he sank again into silence. Here rose a well-known lawyer. "With your worship's permission, I thinkI can make the Chinaman understand, " he said. He was permitted to try. Striding fiercely up to the poor Celestial, he said to him in a loudvoice, "John, you are fined two pounds. " "No dam fear! Only _one_!"

Crossing now the river by a well-constructed suspension bridge, we had afearful climb of 2000 feet up the mountain. My coolie "Bones" nearlydied on the way. Then there was a rough descent by a jagged path downthe rocky side of the mountain-river to the village of Taiping-pu. Itwas long after dark when we arrived; and an hour later stalked in thegaunt form of poor "Bones, " who, instead of eating a good meal, coiledup on the _kang_ and smoked an opium-pipe that he borrowed from thechairen. All the next day, and, indeed, for every day till we reachedTengyueh, our journey was one of the most arduous I have ever known. Theroad has to surmount in succession parallel ridges of mountains. Theroad is never even, for it cannot remain where travelling is easiest, but must continually dip from the crest of the ranges to the depths ofthe valleys. 

Shortly before reaching Huanglien-pu my pony cast a shoe, and it wassome time before we were able to have it seen to; but I had brought halfa dozen spare shoes with me, and by-and-by a muleteer came along whofixed one on as neatly as any farrier could have done, and gladlyaccepted a reward of one halfpenny. He kept the foot steady whileshoeing it by lashing the fetlock to the pony's tail. 

Caravans of cotton coming from Burma were meeting us all day. Miles awaythe booming of their gongs sounded in the silent hills; a long timeafterwards their bells were heard jingling, and by-and-by the mules andhorses appeared under their huge bales of cotton, the foremost decoratedwith scarlet tufts and plumes of pheasant tails, the last carrying thesaddle and bedding of the headman, as well as the burly headman himself, perched above all. A man with a gong always headed the way; there was adriver to every five animals. In the sandy bed of the river at one placea caravan was resting. Their packs were piled in parallel rows; theirhorses browsed on the hillside. I counted 107 horses in this onecaravan. 

The prevailing pathological feature of the Chinese of Western Yunnan isthe deformity goitre. It may safely be asserted that it is as common inmany districts as are the marks of small-pox. Goitre occurs widely inAnnam, Siam, Upper Burma, the Shan States, and in Western China as faras the frontier of Thibet. It is distinctly associated with cretinismand its interrupted intellectual development. And the disease mustincrease, for there is no attempt to check it. To be a "thickneck" is nobar to marriage on either side. The goitrous intermarry, and havechildren who are goitrous, or, rather, who will, if exposed to the sameconditions as their parents, inevitably develop goitre. Frequently thedisease is intensified in the offspring into cretinism, and I canconceive of no sight more disgusting than that which so often met ourview, of a goitrous mother suckling her imbecile child. On oneafternoon, among those who passed us on the road, I counted eightypersons with the deformity. On another day nine adults were climbing apath, by which we had just descended, every one of whom had goitre. Inone small village, out of eighteen full-grown men and women whom I metin the street down which I rode, fifteen were affected. My diary in theWest, especially from Yunnan City to Yungchang, after which point thecases greatly diminished in number, became a monotonous record of cases. At the mission in Tali three women are employed, and of these two aregoitrous; the third, a Minchia woman, is free from the disease, and Ihave been told that among the indigenes the disease is much less commonthan among the Chinese. On all sides one encounters the horribledeformity, among all classes, of all ages. The disease early manifestsitself, and I have often seen well-marked enlargement in children asyoung as eight. Turn any street corner in any town of importance inWestern Yunnan and you will meet half a dozen cases; there must be fewfamilies in the western portion of the province free from the taint. 

On a day, for example, like this (May 5th), when the road was more thanusually mountainous, though that may have been an accident, my chairenwas a "thickneck" and my two soldiers were "thicknecks. " At the villageof Huanglien-pu, where I had lunch, the landlady of the inn had agoitrous neck that was swelled out half-way to the shoulder, and her sonwas a slobbering-mouthed cretin with the intelligence of an animal. Andamong the people who gathered round me in a dull, apathetic way everyother one was more or less marked with the disease and its attendantmental phenomena. Again, at the inn in a little mountain village, wherewe stopped for the night, mother, father, and every person in the house, to the number of nine, above the age of childhood was either goitrous orcretinous, dull of intelligence, mentally verging upon dementia in threecases, in two of which physical growth had been arrested at childhood. 

Rarely during my journey to Burma was I offended by hearing myselfcalled "_Yang kweitze_" (foreign devil), although this is the universalappellation of the foreigner wherever Mandarin is spoken in China. To-day, however, (May 6th), I was seated at the inn in the town ofChutung when I heard the offensive term. I was seated at a table in themidst of the accustomed crowd of Chinese. I was on the highest seat, ofcourse, because I was the most important person present, when abystander, seeing that I spoke no Chinese, coolly said the words "_Yangkweitze_" (foreign devil). I rose in my wrath, and seized my whip. "YouChinese devil" (_Chung kweitze_), I said in Chinese, and then I assailedhim in English. He seemed surprised at my warmth, but said nothing, and, turning on his heel, walked uncomfortably away. 

I often regretted afterwards that I did not teach the man a lesson, andcut him across the face with my whip; yet, had I done so, it would havebeen unjust. He called me, as I thought, "_Yang kweitze_, " but I have nodoubt, having told the story to Mr. Warry, the Chinese adviser to theGovernment of Burma, that he did not use these words at all, but othersso closely resembling them that they sounded identically the same to myuntrained ear, and yet signified not "foreign devil, " but "honouredguest. " He had paid me a compliment; he had not insulted me. TheYunnanese, Mr. Warry tells me, do not readily speak of the devil forfear he should appear. 

On my journey I made it a rule, acting advisedly, to refuse to occupyany other than the best room in the inn, and, if there was only oneroom, I required that the best bed in the room, as regards elevation, should be given to me. So, too, at every inn I insisted that the besttable should be given me, and, if there were already Chinese seated atit, I gravely bowed to them, and by a wave of my hand signified that itwas my pleasure that they should make way for the distinguishedstranger. When there was only the one table, I occupied, as by right, its highest seat, refusing to sit in any other. I required, indeed, bypoliteness and firmness, that the Chinese take me at my own valuation. And they invariably did so. They always gave way to me. They recognisedthat I must be a traveller of importance, despite the smallness of myretinue and the homeliness of my attire; and they acknowledged mysuperiority. Had I been content with a humbler place, it would quicklyhave been reported along the road, and, little by little, my complacencewould have been tested. I am perfectly sure that, by never verging frommy position of superiority, I gained the respect of the Chinese, and itis largely to this I attribute the universal respect and attention shownme during the journey. For I was unarmed, entirely dependent upon theChinese, and, for all practical purposes, inarticulate. As it was, Inever had any difficulty whatever. 

Chinese etiquette pays great attention to the question of position; soimportant, indeed, is it that, when a carriage was taken by LordMacartney's Embassy to Peking as a present, or, as the Chinese said, astribute to the Emperor Kienlung, great offence was caused by thearrangement of the seats requiring the driver to sit on a higher levelthan His Majesty. A small enough mistake surely, but sufficient to marthe success of an expedition which the Chinese have always regarded as"one of the most splendid testimonials of respect that a tributarynation ever paid their Court. "

On the morning of May 7th, as we were leaving the village where we hadslept the night before, we were witnesses of a domestic quarrel whichmight well have become a tragedy. On the green outside their cabin ahusband with goitre, enraged against his goitrous wife, was kept fromkilling her by two elderly goitrous women. All were speaking withhorrible goitrous voices as if they had cleft palates, and the husbandwas hoarse with fury. Jealousy could not have been the cause of thequarrel, for his wife was one of the most hideous creatures I have seenin China. Throwing aside the bamboo with which he was threatening her, the husband ran into the house, and was out again in a momentbrandishing a long native sword with which he menaced speedy death tothe joy of his existence. I stood in the road and watched thedisturbance, and with me the soldier-guard, who did not venture tointerfere. But the two women seized the angry brute and held him tillhis wife toddled round the corner. Now, if this were a determined woman, she could best revenge herself for the cruelty that had been done her bygoing straightway and poisoning herself with opium, for then would herspirit be liberated, ever after to haunt her husband, even if he escapedpunishment for being the cause of her death. If in the dispute he hadkilled her, he would be punished with "strangulation after the usualperiod, " the sentence laid down by the law and often recorded in the_Peking Gazette_ (_e. G. _, May 15th, 1892), unless he could prove herguilty of infidelity, or want of filial respect for his parents, inwhich case his action would be praiseworthy rather than culpable. If, however, in the dispute the wife had killed her husband, or by herconduct had driven him to suicide, she would be inexorably tied to thecross and put to death by the "_Ling chi_, " or "degrading and slowprocess. " For a wife to kill her husband has always been regarded as amore serious crime than for a husband to kill his wife; even in our ownhighly favoured country, till within a few years of the present century, the punishment for the man was death by hanging, but in the case of thewoman death by burning alive. 

Let me at this point interpolate a word or two about the method ofexecution known as the _Ling chi_. The words are commonly, and quitewrongly, translated as "death by slicing into 10, 000 pieces"--a trulyawful description of a punishment whose cruelty has beenextraordinarily misrepresented. It is true that no punishment is moredreaded by the Chinese than the _Ling chi_; but it is dreaded, notbecause of any torture associated with its performance, but because ofthe dismemberment practised upon the body which was received whole fromits parents. The mutilation is ghastly and excites our horror as anexample of barbarian cruelty: but it is not cruel, and need not exciteour horror, since the mutilation is done, not before death, but after. The method is simply the following, which I give as I received itfirst-hand from an eye-witness:--The prisoner is tied to a rude cross:he is invariably deeply under the influence of opium. The executioner, standing before him, with a sharp sword makes two quick incisions abovethe eyebrows, and draws down the portion of skin over each eye, then hemakes two more quick incisions across the breast, and in the next momenthe pierces the heart, and death is instantaneous. Then he cuts the bodyin pieces; and the degradation consists in the fragmentary shape inwhich the prisoner has to appear in heaven. As a missionary said to me:"He can't lie out that he got there properly when he carries with himsuch damning evidence to the contrary. "

[Illustration: THE DESCENT TO THE RIVER MEKONG. ]

In China immense power is given to the husband over the body of hiswife, and it seems as if the tendency in England were to approximate tothe Chinese custom. Is it not a fact that, if a husband in Englandbrutally maltreats his wife, kicks her senseless, and disfigures her forlife, the average English bench of unpaid magistrates will findextenuating circumstances in the fact of his being the husband, and willrarely sentence him to more than a month or two's hard labour?

CHAPTER XIX. 

THE MEKONG AND SALWEEN RIVERS--HOW TO TRAVEL IN CHINA. 

To-day, May 7th, we crossed the River Mekong, even at this distance fromSiam a broad and swift stream. The river flows into the light from adark and gloomy gorge, takes a sharp bend, and rolls on between themountains. Where it issues from the gorge a suspension bridge has beenstretched across the stream. A wonderful pathway zigzags down the faceof the mountain to the river, in an almost vertical incline of 2000ft. At the riverside an embankment of dressed stone, built up from the rock, leads for some hundreds of feet along the bank, where there wouldotherwise have been no foothold, to the clearing by the bridge. Thelikin-barrier is here, and a teahouse or two, and the guardian temple. The bridge itself is graceful and strong, swinging easily 30ft. Abovethe current; it is built of powerful chains, carried from bank to bankand held by masses of solid masonry set in the bed-rock. It is 60 yardslong and 10ft. Wide, is floored with wood, and has a picket parapetsupported by lateral chains. From the river a path led us up to a smallvillage, where my men rested to gather strength. For facing us were themountain heights, which had to be escaladed before we could leave theriver gulch. Then with immense toil we climbed up the mountain path bya rocky staircase of thousands of steps, till, worn out, and with"Bones" nearly dead, we at length reached the narrow defile near thesummit, whence an easy road brought us in the early evening to Shuichai(6700ft. ). 

In the course of one afternoon we had descended 2000ft. To the river(4250ft. Above the sea), and had then climbed 2450ft. To Shuichai. Andthe ascent from the river was steeper than the descent into it; yet therailway which is to be built over this trade-route between Burma andYunnan will have other engineering difficulties to contend with evengreater than this. 

My soldier to-day was a boy of fifteen or sixteen. He was armed with arevolver, and bore himself valiantly. But his revolver was moredangerous in appearance than in effect, for the cylinder would notrevolve, the hammer was broken short off, and there were no cartridges. Everywhere the weapon was examined with curiosity blended with awe, andI imagine that the Chinese were told strange tales of its deadliness. 

Next morning we continued by easy gradients to Talichao (7700ft. ), rising 1000ft. In rather less than seven miles. It was bitterly cold inthe mists of the early morning. But twenty miles further the road dippedagain to the sunshine and warmth of the valley of Yungchang, where, inthe city made famous by Marco Polo, we found comfortable quarters in anexcellent inn. 

Yungchang is a large town, strongly walled. It is, however, only aremnant of the old city, acres of houses having been destroyed duringthe insurrection, when for three years, it is said, Imperialists andMohammedans were contending for its possession. There is a telegraphstation in the town. The streets are broad and well-paved, the innslarge, and the temples flourishing. One fortunate circumstance thetraveller will notice in Yungchang--there is a marked diminution in thenumber of cases of goitre. And the diminution is not confined to thetown, but is apparent from this point right on to Burma. 

Long after our arrival in Yungchang my opium-eating coolie "Bones" hadnot come, and we had to wait for him in anger and annoyance. He had myhamper of eatables and my bundle of bedding. Tired of waiting for him, Iwent for a walk to the telegraph office and was turning to come back, when I met the faithful skeleton, a mile from the inn, walking along asif to a funeral, his neck elongating from side to side like a camel's, alean and hungry look in his staring eyes, his bones crackling inside hisskin. Continuing in the direction that he was going when I found him, hemight have reached Thibet in time, but never Burma. I led him back tothe hotel, where he ruefully showed me his empty string of cash, as ifthat had been the cause of his delay; he had only 6 cash left, and hewanted an advance. 

This was the worst coolie I had in my employ during my journey. But hewas a good-natured fellow and honest. He was better educated, too, thanmost of the other coolies, and could both read and write. His dress onmarch was characteristic of the man. He was nearly naked; his clotheshardly hung together; he wore no sandals on his feet; but round his neckhe carried a small earthenware phial of opium ash. In the early stageshe delayed us all an hour or two every day, but he improved as we wentfurther. And then he was so long and thin, so grotesque in his gait, andafforded me such frequent amusement, that I would not willingly haveexchanged him for the most active coolie in China. 

[Illustration: INSIDE VIEW OF A SUSPENSION BRIDGE IN FAR WESTERN CHINA. ]

On the 9th we had a long and steep march west from the plain ofYungchang. At Pupiao I had a public lunch. It was market day, and thecountry people enjoyed the rare pleasure of seeing a foreigner feed. Thestreet past the inn was packed in a few minutes, and the innkeeper hadall he could do to attend to the many customers who wished to take teaat the same time as the foreigner. I was now used to thesedemonstrations. I could eat on with undisturbed equanimity. On suchoccasions I made it a practice, when I had finished and was leaving theinn, to turn round and bow gravely to the crowd, thanking them in a fewkindly words of English, for the reception they had accorded me. At thesame time I took the opportunity of mentioning that they wouldcontribute to the comfort of future travellers, if only they would pay alittle more attention to their table manners. Then, addressing theinnkeeper, I thought it only right to point out to him that it wasabsurd to expect that one small black cloth should wipe all cups andcup-lids, all tables, all spilt tea, and all dishes, all through theday, without getting dirty. Occasionally, too, I pointed out anotherdefect of management to the innkeeper, and told him that, while Ipersonally had an open mind on the subject, other travellers might comehis way who would disapprove, for instance--he would pardon mymentioning it--of the manure coolie passing through the restaurant withhis buckets at mealtime, and halting by the table to see the strangereat. 

When I spoke in this way quite seriously and bowed, those whose eyes metmine always bowed gravely in return. And for the next hour on the trackmy men would tell each other, with cackles of laughter, how Mô Shensen, their master, mystified the natives. 

From Pupiao we had a pleasant ride over a valley-plain, between hedgesof cactus in flower and bushes of red roses, past graceful clumps ofbamboo waving like ostrich feathers. By-and-by drizzling rain came onand compelled us to seek shelter in the only inn in a poorout-of-the-way hamlet. But I could not stop here, because the best roomin the inn was already occupied by a military officer of somedistinction, a colonel, on his way, like ourselves, to Tengyueh. Anofficial chair with arched poles fitted for four bearers was in thecommon-room; the mules of his attendants were in the stables, and werevaluable animals. The landlord offered me another room, an inferior one;but I waved the open fingers of my left hand before my face and said, "_puyao! puyao!_" (I don't want it, I don't want it). For I was not sofoolish or inconsistent as to be content with a poorer quarter of theinn than that occupied by the officer, whatever his button. I could notacknowledge to the Chinese that any Chinaman travelling in the MiddleKingdom was my equal, let alone my superior. Refusing to remain, Iwaited in the front room until the rain should lift and allow us toproceed. But we did not require to go on. It happened as I expected. TheColonel sent for me, and, bowing to me, showed by signs that one halfhis room was at my service. In return for his politeness he had theprivilege of seeing me eat. With both hands I offered him in turn everyone of my dishes. Afterwards I showed him my photographs--I treated him, indeed, with proper condescension. 

On the 10th we crossed the famous River Salween (2600 ft. ). Through anopen tableland, well grassed and sparsely wooded, we came at length tothe cleft in the hills from which is obtained the first view of theriver valley. There was a small village here, and, while we were takingtea, a soldier came hurriedly down the road, who handed me a letteraddressed in Chinese. I confess that at the moment I had a suddenmisgiving that some impediment was to be put in the way of my journey. But it was nothing more than a telegram from Mr. Jensen in Yunnan, telling me of the decision of the Chinese Government to continue thetelegraph to the frontier of Burma. The telegram was written by theChinese operator in Yungchang in a neat round hand, without any error ofspelling; it had come to Yungchang after my departure, and had beencourteously forwarded by the Chinese manager. The soldier who brought ithad made a hurried march of thirty-eight miles before overtaking me, anddeserved a reward. I motioned Laotseng, my cash-bearer, to give him apresent, and he meanly counted out 25 cash, and was about to give them, when I ostentatiously increased the amount to 100 cash. The soldier wasdelighted; the onlookers were charmed with this exhibition of Westernmunificence. Suppose a rich Chinese traveller in England, who spoke noEnglish, were to offer Tommy Atkins twopence halfpenny for travelling onfoot thirty-eight miles to bring him a telegram, having then to walkback thirty-eight miles and find himself on the way, would the Englishsoldier bow as gratefully as did his perishing Chinese brother when Ithus rewarded him?

We descended by beautiful open country into the Valley of the Shadow ofDeath--the valley of the River Salween. No other part of Western Chinahas the evil repute of this valley; its unhealthiness is a by-word. "Itis impossible to pass, " says Marco Polo; "the air in summer is so impureand bad and any foreigner attempting it would die for certain. "

The Salween was formerly the boundary between Burma and China, and it isto be regretted that at the annexation of Upper Burma England did notpush her frontier back to its former position. But the delimitation ofthe frontier of Burma is not yet complete. No time could be moreopportune for its completion than the present, when China is distractedby her difficulties with Japan. China disheartened could need but littlepersuasion to accede to the just demand of England that the frontier ofBurma shall be the true south-western frontier of China--the SalweenRiver. 

There are no Chinese in the valley, nor would any Chinaman venture tocross it after nightfall. The reason of its unhealthiness is notapparent, except in the explanation of Baber, that "border regions, 'debatable grounds, ' are notoriously the birthplace of myths andmarvels. " There can be little doubt that the deadliness of the valley isa tradition rather than a reality. 

By flights of stone steps we descended to the river, where at thebridge-landing, we were arrested by a sight that could not be seenwithout emotion. A prisoner, chained by the hands and feet and cooped ina wooden cage, was being carried by four bearers to Yungchang toexecution. He was not more than twenty-one years of age, waswell-dressed, and evidently of a rank in life from which are recruitedfew of the criminals of China. Yet his crime could not have been muchgraver. On the corner posts of his cage white strips of paper wereposted, giving his name and the particulars of the crime which he was sosoon to expiate. He was a burglar who had escaped from prison by killinghis guard, and had been recaptured. Unlike other criminals I have seenin China, who laugh at the stranger and appear unaffected by their lot, this young fellow seemed to feel keenly the cruel but well-deserved fatethat was in store for him. Three days hence he would be put to death bystrangulation outside the wall of Yungchang. 

[Illustration: THE RIVER SALWEEN, THE FORMER BOUNDARY BETWEEN CHINA ANDBURMA. ]

Another of those remarkable works which declare the engineering skill ofthe Chinese, is the suspension bridge which spans the Salween by adouble loop--the larger loop over the river, the smaller one across theoverflow. A natural piece of rock strengthened by masonry, rising fromthe river bed, holds the central ends of both loops. The longer span is80 yards in length, the shorter 55; both are 12ft. Wide, and are formedof twelve parallel chain cables, drawn to an appropriate curve. A rapidriver flows under the bridge, the rush of whose waters can be heard highup the mountain slopes. 

None but Shans live in the valley. They are permitted to governthemselves under Chinese supervision, and preserve their own laws andcustoms. They have a village near the bridge, of grass-thatched huts andopen booths, where travellers can find rest and refreshment, and wherenative women prettily arrayed in dark-blue, will brew you tea inearthenware teapots. Very different are the Shan women from the Chinese. Their colour is much darker; their head-dress is a circular pile formedof concentric folds of dark-blue cloth; their dress closely resembleswith its jacket and kilt the bathing dress of civilisation; their armsare bare, they have gaiters on their legs, and do not compress theirfeet. All wear brooches and earrings, and other ornaments of silverfiligree. 

From the valley the main road rises without intermission 6130 feet tothe village of Fengshui-ling (8730 feet), a climb which has to becompleted in the course of the afternoon. We were once more among thetrees. Pushing on till I was afraid we should be benighted, we reachedlong after dark an encampment of bamboo and grass, in the lonely bush, where the kind people made us welcome. It was bitterly cold during thenight, for the hut I slept in was open to the air. My three men and theescort must have been even colder than I was. But at least we all sleptin perfect security, and I cannot praise too highly the constant care ofthe Chinese authorities to shield even from the apprehension of harm onewhose only protection was his British passport. 

All the way westward from Yunnan City I was shadowed both by ayamen-runner and a soldier; both were changed nearly every day, and thefurther west I went the more frequently were they armed. Theyamen-runner usually carried a long native sword only, but the soldier, in addition to his sword, was on one occasion, as we have seen, armedwith the relics of a revolver that would not revolve. On May 10th, forthe first time, the soldier detailed to accompany me was provided with arusty old musket with a very long barrel. I examined this weapon withmuch curiosity. China is our neighbour in Eastern Asia, and is, it isoften stated, an ideal power to be intrusted with the government of thebuffer state called for by French aggression in Siam. In China, it isalleged, we have a prospective ally in Asia, and it is preferable thatEngland should suffer all reasonable indignities and humilities at herhands rather than endanger any possible relations, which maysubsequently be entered into, with a hypothetically powerful neighbour. 

On my arrival in Burma I was often amused by the serious questions I wasasked concerning the military equipment of the Chinese soldiers ofWestern Yunnan. The soldier who was with me to-day was a type of thewarlike sons of China, not only in the province bordering on Burma, but, with slight differences, all over the Middle Kingdom. Now, physically, this man was fit to be drafted into any army in the world, but, apartfrom his endurance, his value as a fighting machine lay in the weaponwith which the military authorities had armed him. This weapon waspeculiar; I noted down its peculiarities on the spot. In this weapon thespring of the trigger was broken so that it could not be pulled; if ithad been in order, there was no cap for the hammer to strike; if therehad been a cap, it would have been of no use because the pinhole wasrusted; even if the pinhole had been open, the rifle would still havebeen ineffective because it was not loaded, for the very good reasonthat the soldier had not been provided with powder, or, if he had, hehad been compelled to sell it in order to purchase the rice which theEmperor, "whose rice he ate, " had neglected to send him. 

An early start in the morning and we descended quickly to the RiverShweli. 

[Illustration: THE RIVER SHWELI AND ITS SUSPENSION BRIDGE. ]

The Salween River is at an elevation of 2600 feet. Forty-five li furtherthe road reaches at Fengshui-ling a height of 8730, from which point, inthirty-five li, it dips again to the River Shweli, 4400 feet above sealevel. There was the usual suspension bridge at the river, and theinevitable likin-barrier. For the first time the Customs officialsseemed inclined to delay me. I was on foot, and separated from my men byhalf the height of the hill. The collectors, and the underlings who arealways hanging about the barriers, gathered round me and interrogated meclosely. They spoke to me in Chinese, and with insufficient deference. The Chinese seem imbued with the mistaken belief that their language isthe vehicle of intercourse not only within the four seas, but beyondthem, and are often arrogant in consequence. I answered them in English. "I don't understand one word you say, but, if you wish to know, " I said, energetically, "I come from Shanghai. " "Shanghai, " they exclaimed, "hecomes from Shanghai!" "And I am bound for Singai" (Bhamo);--"Singai, "they repeated, "he is going to Singai!"--"unless the ImperialGovernment, suspicious of my intentions, which the meanest intelligencecan see are pacific, should prevent me, in which case England will finda coveted pretext to add Yunnan to her Burmese Empire. " Then, addressingmyself to the noisiest, I indulged in some sarcastic speculations uponhis probable family history, deduced from his personal peculiarities, till he looked very uncomfortable indeed. Thereupon I gravely bowed tothem, and, leaving them in dumb astonishment, walked on over the bridge. They probably thought I was rating them in Manchu, the language of theEmperor. Two boys staggering under loads of firewood did not escape soeasily, but were detained and a log squeezed from each wherewith tolight the likin fires. 

A steep climb of another 3000 or 4000 feet over hills carpeted withbracken, with here and there grassy swards, pretty with lilies anddaisies and wild strawberries, and then a quick descent, and we were inthe valley of Tengyueh (5600ft. ). A plain everywhere irrigated, flankedby treeless hills; fields shut in by low embankments; villages inplantations round its margin; black-faced sheep in flocks on thehillsides; and, away to the right the crenellated walls of Tengyueh. Astone-flagged path down the centre of the plain led us into the town. Weentered by the south gate, and, turning to the left, were conducted intothe telegraph compound, where I was to find accommodation, the clerk incharge of the operators being able to speak a few words of English. Iwas an immediate object of curiosity. 

CHAPTER XX. 

THE CITY OF TENGYUEH--THE CELEBRATED WUNTHO SAWBWA--SHAN SOLDIERS. 

I was given a comfortable room in the telegraph offices, but I hadlittle privacy. My room was thronged during all the time of my visit. The first evening I held an informal and involuntary reception, whichwas attended by all the officials of the town, with the dignifiedexception of the Brigadier-General. The three members of the ChineseBoundary Commission, which had recently arranged with the BritishCommission the preliminaries to the delimitation of the boundary betweenBurma and China, were here, disputing with clerks, yamen-runners, andchair-coolies for a sight of my photographs and curiosities. Thetelegraph Manager Pen, Yeh (the magistrate), and a stalwart soldier(Colonel Liu), formed the Commission, and they retain hallowedrecollections of the benignity of the Englishmen, and the excellence oftheir champagne. Colonel Liu proved to be the most enlightened member ofthe party. He is a tall, handsome fellow, fifty years of age, a nativeof Hunan, the most warlike and anti-foreign province in China. He wasespecially glad to see a foreign doctor. The gallant Colonel confided tome a wish that had long been uppermost in his heart. From some member, unknown, of the British Commission he had learnt of the marvellousrejuvenating power of a barbarian medicine--could I get him some?_Could I get him a bottle of hair-dye?_ Unlike his compatriots, whoregard the external features of longevity as the most coveted attributeof life, this gentleman, in whose brain the light of civilisation wasdawning, wished to frustrate the doings of age. Could I get him a bottleof hair-dye? He was in charge of the fort at Ganai, two days out on theway to Bhamo, and would write to the officer in charge during hisabsence directing him to provide me with an escort worthy of mybenefaction. 

One celebrity, who lives in the neighbourhood of Tengyueh, did notfavour me with a visit. That famous dacoit, the outlawed Prince ofWuntho--the Wuntho Sawbwa--lives here, an exile sheltered by the ChineseGovernment. A pure Burmese himself, the father-in-law of the amiableSawbwa of Santa, he is believed by the Government of Burma to have been"concerned in all the Kachin risings of 1892-1893. " A reward of 5000rupees is offered for his head, which will be paid equally whether thehead be on or off the shoulders. Another famous outlaw, the Shan ChiefKanhliang, is also believed to be in hiding in the neighbourhood ofTengyueh. The value of _his_ head has been assessed at 2000 rupees. 

Tengyueh is more a park than a town. The greater part of the city withinthe walls is waste land or gardens. The houses are collected mainly nearthe south gate, and extend beyond the south gate on each side of theroad for half a mile on the road to Bhamo. There is an excellent wall inadmirable order, with an embankment of earth 20ft. In width. But I sawno guns of any kind whatever, nor did I meet a single armed man in thetown or district. 

Tengyueh is so situated that the invading army coming from Burma willfind a pleasant pastime in shelling it from the open hills all aroundthe town. This was the last stronghold of the Mohammedans. It wasformerly a prosperous border town, the chief town in all the fertilevalley of the Taiping. It was in the hands of the rebels till June 10th, 1873, when it was delivered over to the Imperialists to carnage anddestruction. The valley is fertile and well populated, and prosperity isquickly returning to the district. 

There is only one yamen in Tengyueh of any pretension, and it is theofficial residence of a red-button warrior, the Brigadier-General(_Chentai_) Chang, the successor, though not, of course, the immediatesuccessor, of Li-Sieh-tai, who was concerned in the murder of Margaryand the repulse of the expedition under Colonel Horace Browne in 1875. Atall, handsome Chinaman is Chang, of soldierly bearing and blissfulinnocence of all knowledge of modern warfare. Yungchang is the limit ofhis jurisdiction in one direction, the Burmese boundary in the other;his only superior officer is the Titai in Tali. 

The telegraph office adjoins the City Temple and Theatre of Tengyueh. Atthis time the annual festival was being celebrated in the temple. Theatrical performances were being given in uninterrupted successiondaily for the term of one month. Play began at sunrise, and the curtainfell, or would have fallen if there had been a curtain, at twilight. Daywas rendered hideous by the clangour of the instruments which theblunted senses of Chinese have been misguided into believing aremusical. Already the play, or succession of plays, had continued fifteendays, and another thirteen days had yet to be endured before itscompletion. Crowds occupied the temple court during the performance, while a considerable body of dead-heads witnessed the entertainment fromthe embankment and wall overlooking the open stage. My host, thetelegraph Manager Pen, and his two friends Liu and Yeh, were given animprovised seat of honour outside my window, and here they sat all dayand sipped tea and cracked jokes. No actresses were on the stage; thefemale parts were taken by men whose make-up was admirable, and whoimitated, with curious fidelity, the voice and gestures of women. Thedresses were rich and varied. Scene-shifters, band, supers, and friendsremained on the stage during the performance, dodging about among theactors. There is no drop curtain in a Chinese theatre, and all scenesare changed on the open stage before you. The villain, whose nose ispainted white, vanquished by triumphant virtue, dies a gory death; heremains dead just long enough to satisfy you that he _is_ dead, and thengets up and serenely walks to the side. There is laughter at sallies ofindecency, and the spectators grunt their applause. The Chinaman israrely carried away by his feelings at the theatre; indeed, it may bequestioned if strong emotion is ever aroused in his breast, except bythe first addresses of the junior members of the China Inland Mission, the thrilling effect of whose Chinese exhortations is recorded everymonth in _China's Millions_. 

The Manager of the telegraph, to show his good feeling, presented mewith a stale tin of condensed milk. His second clerk and operator wasthe most covetous man I met in China. He begged in turn for nearly everyarticle I possessed, beginning with my waterproof, which I did not givehim, and ending with the empty milk tin, which I did, for "Give to himthat asketh, " said Buddha, "even though it be but a little. " The chiefoperator in charge of the telegraph offices speaks a little English, andis the medium by which English messages and letters are translated intoChinese for the information of the officials. His name is Chueh. Hismethod of translation is to glean the sense of a sentence by theprobable meaning, derived from an inaccurate Anglo-Chinese dictionary, of the separate words of the sentence. He is a broken reed to trust toas an interpreter. Chueh is not an offensively truthful man. When hespeaks to you, you find yourself wondering if you have ever met agreater liar than he. "Three men's strength, " he says, "cannot prevailagainst truth;" yet he is, I think, the greatest liar I have met since Ileft Morocco. Indeed, the way he spoke of my head boy Laotseng, who wasundoubtedly an honest Chinese, and the opinion Laotseng emphaticallyheld of Chueh, was a curious repetition of an experience that I had notlong ago in Morocco. I was living in Tangier, when I had occasion to goto Fez and Mequinez. My visit was arranged so hurriedly that I had nomeans of learning what was the degree of personal esteem attaching tothe gentleman, a resident of Tangier, who was to be my companion. Iaccordingly interrogated the hotel-keeper, Mr. B. "What kind of a man isD. ?" I asked. "Not a bad fellow, " he replied, "if he wasn't such ablank, blank awful liar!" On the road to Wazan I became very friendlywith D. , and one day questioned him as to his private regard for Mr. B. Of the hotel. "A fine fellow B. Seems, " I said, "very friendly andentertaining. What do you think of him?" "What do I think of him?" heshouted in his falsetto. "I _know_ he's the biggest blank liar inMorocco. " It was pleasant to meet, even in Morocco, such a rare case ofmutual esteem. 

My pony fared badly in Tengyueh. There was a poor stable in thecourtyard with a tiled roof that would fall at the first shower. Therewere no beans. The pony had to be content with rice or paddy, which itdisliked equally. The rice was _1-1/2d. _ the 7-1/2lbs. There was nograss, Chueh said, to be obtained in the district. He assured me so onhis honour, or its Chinese equivalent; but I sent out and bought some inthe street round the corner. 

Silver in Tengyueh is the purest Szechuen or Yunnanese silver. Rupeesare also current, and at this time were equivalent to 400 cash--the taelat the same time being worth 1260 cash. Every 10 taels, costing me_30s. _ in Shanghai, I could exchange in Tengyueh for 31 rupees. Rupeesare the chief silver currency west from Tengyueh into Burma. 

On May 31st I had given instructions that we were to leave early, but mymen, who did not sleep in the telegraph compound, were late in coming. To still further delay me, at the time of leaving no escort had made itsappearance. I did not wait for it. We marched out of the townunaccompanied, and were among the tombstones on the rise overlooking thetown when the escort hurriedly overtook us. It consisted of aquiet-mannered chairen and two soldiers, one of whom was an impudent cubthat I had to treat with every indignity. He was armed with a swordcarried in the folds of his red cincture, in which was also concealed anold muzzle-loading pistol, formidable to look at but unloaded. This wasone of the days on my journey when I wished that I had brought arevolver, not as a defence in case of danger, for there was no danger, but as a menace on occasion of anger. 

Rain fell continuously. At a small village thronged with muleteers fromBhamo we took shelter for an hour. The men sipping tea under theverandahs had seen Europeans in Bhamo, and my presence evoked nointerest whatever. Many of these strangers possessed an astonishinglikeness to European friends of my own. Contact with Europeans, causingthe phenomena of "maternal impression, " was probably in a few casesaccountable for the moulding of their features, but the generalprevalence of the European type has yet to be explained. "My conscience!Who could ever have expected to meet _you_ here?" I was often on thepoint of saying to some Chinese Shan or Burmese Shan in whom, to myconfusion, I thought I recognised a college friend of my own. 

Leaving the village, we followed the windings of the River Taiping, coasting along the edge of the high land on the left bank of the river. 

[Illustration: THE SUBURB BEYOND THE SOUTH GATE OF TENGYUEH. (Stallsunder the Umbrellas. )]

Rain poured incessantly; the creeks overflowed; the paths becamewatercourses and were scarcely fordable. "Bones, " my opium-eating cooliewith the long neck, slipped into a hole which was too deep even for hislong shanks, and all my bedding was wetted. It was ninety li to Nantien, the fort we were bound to beyond Tengyueh, and we finished the distanceby sundown. The town is of little importance. It is situated on aneminence and is surrounded by a wall built, with that strange spirit ofcontrariness characteristic of the Chinese, and because it incloses afort, more weakly than any city wall. It is not more substantial norhigher than the wall round many a mission compound. Some 400 soldiersare stationed in the fort, which means that the commander draws the payfor 1000 soldiers, and represents the strength of his garrison as 1000. Their arms are primitive and rusty muzzle-loaders of many patterns;there are no guns to be seen, if there are any in existence--which isdoubtful. The few rusty cast-iron ten-pounders that lie _hors de combat_in the mud have long since become useless. There may be ammunition inthe fort; but there is none to be seen. It is more probable, and more inaccordance with Chinese practice in such matters, that the ammunitionleft by his predecessor (if any were left, which is doubtful) has longago been sold by the colonel in command, whose perquisite this wouldnaturally be. 

The fort of Nantien is a fort in name only--it has no need to beotherwise, for peace and quiet are abroad in the valley. Besides, themere fact of its being called a fort is sufficiently misleading to theneighbouring British province of Burma, where they are apt to picture aChinese fort as a structure seriously built in some accordance withmodern methods of fortification. 

I was given a comfortable room in a large inn already well filled withtravellers. All treated me with pleasant courtesy. They were at supperwhen I entered the room, and they invited me to share their food. Theygave me the best table to myself, and after supper they crowded intoanother room in order to let me have the room to myself. 

Next day we continued along the sandy bed of the river, which was heremore than a mile in width. The river itself, shrunk now into itssmallest size, flowed in a double stream down the middle. Then we leftthe river, and rode along the high bank flanking the valley. All pavedroads had ended at Tengyueh, and the track was deeply cut and jagged bythe rains. At one point in to-day's journey the road led up an almostvertical ascent to a narrow ledge or spur at the summit, and then fellas steeply into the plain again. It was a short-cut, that, as you wouldexpect in China, required five times more physical effort to compassthan did the longer but level road which it was intended to save. Sonarrow is the ridge that the double row of open sheds leaves barely roomfor pack mules to pass. The whole traffic on the caravan route to Burmapasses by this spot. The long bamboo sheds with their grass roofs aredivided into stalls, where Shan women in their fantastic turbans, withsilver bracelets and earrings, their lips and teeth stained withbetel-juice, sit behind the counters of raised earth, and eagerlycompete for the custom of travellers. More than half the women hadgoitre. Before them were laid out the various dishes. There were palecuts of pork, well soaked in water to double their weight, eggs andcabbage and salted fish, bean curds, and a doubtful tea flavoured withcamomile and wild herbs. There were hampers of coarse grass for thehorses, and wooden bowls of cooked rice for the men, while hollowbamboos were used equally to bring water from below, to hold sheaves ofchopsticks where the traveller helped himself, and to receive the cash. Trade was busy. Muleteers are glad to rest here after the climb, if onlyto enjoy a puff of tobacco from the bamboo-pipe which is always carriedby one member of the party for the common use of all. 

Descending again into the river valley, I rode lazily along in the sun, taking no heed of my men, who were soon separated from me. The broadriver-bed of sand was before me as level as the waters of a lake. As Iwas riding slowly along by myself, away from all guard, I sawapproaching me in the lonely plain a small body of men. They were movingquickly along in single file, and we soon met and passed each other. They were three Chinese Shan officers on horseback, dressed in Chinesefashion, and immediately behind them were six soldiers on foot, who Isaw were Burmese or Burmese Shans. They were smart men, clad in loosejerseys and knickerbockers, with sun-hats and bare legs, and theymarched like soldiers. Cartridge-belts were over their left shoulders, and Martini-Henry rifles, carried muzzle foremost, on their right. Itook particular note of them because they were stepping in admirableorder, and, though small of stature, I thought they were the first armedmen I had met in all my journey across China who could without shame bepresented as soldiers in any civilised country. 

They passed me, but seemed struck by my appearance; and I had not gone adozen yards before they all stopped by a common impulse, and when Ilooked back they were still there in a group talking, with the officers'horses turned towards me; and it was very evident I was the subject oftheir conversation. I was alone at the time, far from all my men, without weapon of any kind. I was dressed in full Chinese dress andmounted on an unmistakably Chinese pony. I rode unconcernedly on, but Imust confess that I did not feel comfortable till I was assured thatthey did not intend to obtrude an interview upon me. At length, to myrelief, the party continued on its way, while I hurried on to mycoolies, and made them wait till my party was complete. I was probablyalarmed without any reason. But it was not till I arrived in Burma thatI learnt that this was the armed escort of the outlawed Wuntho Sawbwa, the dacoit chief who has a price set on his head. The soldiers' riflesand cartridge-belts had been stripped from the dead bodies of Britishsepoys, killed on the frontier in the Kachin Hills. 

My men, when we were all together again, indicated to me by signs thatI would shortly meet an elephant, and I thought that at last I was aboutto witness the realisation of that story, everywhere current in WesternChina, of the British tribute from Burma. Sure enough we had not gonefar when, at the foot of a headland which projected into the plain, wecame full upon a large elephant picking its way along the margin of therocks--a remarkable sight to my Chinese. Its scarlet howdah was empty;its trappings were scarlet; the mahout was a Shan. It was the elephantof the Wuntho Prince--a little earlier and I might have had theprivilege of meeting the dacoit himself. The elephant passedunconcernedly on, and we continued down the plain of sand to the villageof Ganai, where we were to stay the night. 

It was market-day in the town. A double row of stalls extended down themain street, each stall under the shelter of a huge umbrella. Japanesematches from Osaka were for sale here, and foreign nick-nacks, needlesand braid and cotton, and Manchester dress stuffs mixed with themultitudinous articles of native produce. This is a Shan town, but largenumbers of native women--Kachins--were here also with their ugly blackfaces, and coarse black fringes hiding their low foreheads. Far awayfrom the town an obliging Shan had attached himself to us as guide. Hewas dressed in white cotton jacket and dark-blue knickerbockers, with adark-blue sash round his waist. He was barelegged, and rode as theChinese do, and as you would expect them to do who do everything _alreves_, with the heel in the stirrup instead of the toe. His turban wasdark-blue, and the pigtail was coiled up under it, and did not hang downfrom under the skull cap as with the Chinese. When I rode into the townaccompanied by the guide, all the people forsook the market street andfollowed the illustrious stranger to the inn which had been selected forhis resting-place. It was a favourite inn, and was already crowded. Thebest room was in possession of Chinese travellers, who were on the roadlike myself. They were dozing on the couches, but what must they do whenI entered the room but, thinking that I should wish to occupy it bymyself, rise and pack up their things, and one after another move intoanother apartment adjoining, which was already well filled, and nowbecame doubly so. Their thoughtfulness and courtesy charmed me. Theymust have been more tired than I was, but they smiled and noddedpleasantly to me as they left the room, as if they were grateful to mefor putting them to inconvenience. They may be perishing heathen, Ithought, but the average deacon or elder in our enlightened countrycould scarcely be more courteous. 

Ganai is a mud village thatched with grass. It is a military stationunder the command of the red-button Colonel Liu, whom I met in Tengyueh. The Colonel had earned his bottle of hair-dye. He had written to have meprovided with an escort, and by-and-by the two officers who were toaccompany me on the morrow came in to see me. As many spectators ascould find elbow-room squeezed into my room behind them. Both weregentlemanly young fellows, very amiable and inquisitive, and keenlydesirous to learn all they could concerning my honourable family. Theircuriosity was satisfied. By the help of my Chinese phrase-book I gavethem all particulars, and a few more. You see it was important that Ishould leave as favourable an impression as possible for the benefit offuture travellers. More than one of my ancestors I brought to life againand endowed with a patriarchal age and a beard to correspond. As to myown age they marvelled greatly that one so young-looking could be soold, and when, in answer to their earnest question, I modestly confessedthat I was already the unhappy possessor of two unworthy wives, fivewretched sons, and three contemptible daughters, their admiration of myvirtue increased tenfold. 

The officers left me after this, but till late at night I held _levées_of the townsfolk, our landlady, who was most zealous, no soonerdismissing one crowd than another pressed into its place. The courtyard, I believe, remained filled till early in the morning, but I was allowedto sleep at last. 

A large crowd followed me out of the town in the morning, and swarmedwith me across the beautiful sward, as level as the Oval, which herewidens into the country. No guest was ever sped on his way with akindlier farewell. The fort is outside the town; we passed it on ourleft; it is a square inclosure of considerable size, inclosed by a mudwall 15 feet high; it is in the unsheltered plain, and presents noformidable front to an invader. At each of the four corners outside thesquare are detached four-sided watch-towers. No guns of any kind aremounted on the walls, and there are no sentries; one could easilyimagine that the inclosure was a market-square, but imagination couldnever picture it as a serious obstacle to an armed entry into WesternChina. The river was well on our right. The plain down which we rode isof exceeding richness and highly cultivated, water being trained intothe paddy-fields in the same way that everywhere prevails in Chinaproper. Buffaloes were ploughing--wearily plodding through mud and waterup to their middles. We were now among the Shans, and those working inthe fields were Shans, not Chinese. Ganai, Santa, and other places arebut little principalities or Shan States, governed by hereditaryprincelets or Sawbwas, and preserving a form of self-government underthe protection of the Chinese. There are no more charming people in theworld than the Shans. They are courteous, hospitable, and honest, withall the virtues and few of the vices of Orientals. "The elder brothersof the Siamese, they came originally from the Chinese province ofSzechuen, and they can boast of a civilisation dating from twenty-threecenturies B. C. " So Terrien de Lacouperie tells us, who had a happyfaculty of drawing upon his imagination for his facts. 

Under the wide branches of a banyan tree I made my men stop, for I wasvery tired, and while they waited I lay down for an hour on the grassand had a refreshing sleep. While I slept, the rest of the escort sentto "_sung_" me to Santa arrived. Within a few yards of my resting placethere is a characteristic monument, dating from the time when Burmaoccupied not only this valley but the fertile territory beyond it, andbeyond Tengyueh to the River Salween. It is a solid Burmese pagoda, built of concentric layers of brick and mortar, and surmounted with asolid bell-shaped dome that is still intact. It stands alone on theplain near a group of banyans, and its erection no doubt gained manymyriads of merits for the conscience-stricken Buddhist who found themoney to build it. All goldleaf has been peeled off the pagoda yearsago. 

It was a picturesque party that now enfiladed into the wide stretch ofsand which in the rainy season forms the bed of the river. Mounted onhis white pony, there was the inarticulate European who had discardedhis Chinese garb and was now dressed in the æsthetic garments of theAustralian bush; there were his two coolies and Laotseng his boy, noneof whom could speak any English, the two officers in their loose Chineseclothes, mounted on tough little ponies, and eight soldiers. They wereShans of kindly feature, small and nimble fellows, in neatuniforms--green jackets edged with black and braided with yellow, yellowsashes, and loose dark-blue knickerbockers--the uniform of the Sawbwa ofGanai. They were armed with Remington rifles, carried their cartridgesin bandoliers, and seemed to be of excellent fighting material. Alltheir accoutrements were in good order. 

Now we had to cross the broad stream, here running with a swift currentover the sand, in channels of varying depths that are frequentlychanging. For the width of nearly half a mile at the crossing place thewater was never shallower than to my knee, nor deeper than to my waist. We all crossed safely, but, to my tribulation, the soldier who wascarrying my two boxes tripped in the deepest channel and let both boxesslip from the carrying pole into the water. All the notes and papersupon which this valuable record is founded were much damaged. But itmight have been worse. I had a presentiment that an accident wouldhappen, and had waded back to the channel and was standing by at thetime. But for this the papers might have been floated down to theIrrawaddy and been lost to the world--loss irreparable!

The sun was very hot. I laid out my things on the bank and dried them. Long and narrow dugouts, as light and swift as the string-test gigs ofcivilisation, paddled or poled, were gliding with extraordinary speeddown the channel near the bank. Riding then a little way, we dismountedunder a magnificent banyan tree, one of the finest specimens, I shouldthink, in the world. Ponies and men were dwarfed into Lilliputians underthe amazing canopy of its branches. A number of villagers, come to seethe foreigner, were clambering like monkeys over its roots, which"writhed in fantastic coils" over half an acre. Their village was hardby, a poor array of mud houses; the teak temple to which we wereconducted was raised on piles in the centre of the village. The templewas lumbered like an old curiosity shop with fragmentary gods and tornmissals. Yet the ragged priest in his smirched yellow gown, and shavenhead that had been a week unshaven, seemed to enjoy a reputation for nocommon sanctity, to judge by the reverence shown him by my followers, and the contemptuous indifference with which he regarded theirobeisance. He was club-footed and could only hobble about withdifficulty--an excuse he would, no doubt, urge for the disorder of hissanctuary. To me, of course, he was very polite, and gave me the bestseat he had, while Laotseng prepared me a bowl of cocoa. Then we rodealong the right bank of the river, but kept moving away from the streamtill in the distance across the plain at the foot of the hills, we sawthe Shan town of Santa, the end of our day's stage. 

Native women, returning from the town, were wending their way across theplain--lank overgrown girls with long thin legs and overhanging mops ofhair like deck-swabs. They were a favourite butt of my men, who chaffedthem in the humorous Eastern manner, with remarks that were, I amafraid, more coarse than witty. Kachins are not virtuous. Their customspreclude such a possibility. No Japanese maiden is more innocent ofvirtue than a Kachin girl. 

CHAPTER XXI. 

THE SHAN TOWN OF SANTA, AND MANYUEN, THE SCENE OF CONSUL MARGARY'SMURDER. 

It was market day in Santa, and the accustomed crowd gathered round meas I stood in the open square in front of the Sawbwa's yamen. I was hotand hungry, for it was still early in the afternoon, and the attentionsof the people were oppressive. Presently two men pushed their waythrough the spectators, and politely motioning to me to follow them, they led me to a neighbouring temple, to the upper storey, where theside pavilion off the chief hall was being prepared for my reception. Myquarters overlooked the main court; the pony was comfortably stabled inthe corner below me. Nothing could have been pleasanter than theattention I received here. Two foreign chairs were brought for my use, and half a dozen dishes of good food and clean chopsticks were setbefore me. The chief priest welcomed me, whose smiling face wasgood-nature itself. With clean-shaven head and a long robe of grey, witha rosary of black and white beads hung loosely from his neck, the kindold man moved about my room giving orders for my comfort. He heldauthority over a number of priests, some in black, others in yellow, andover a small band of choristers. Religion was an active performance inthe temple, and the temple was in good order, with clean matting andwell-kept shrines, with strange pictures on the walls of elephants andhorses, with legends and scrolls in Burmese as well as in Chinese. 

Towards evening the Santa Sawbwa, the hereditary prince (what aprivilege it was to meet a prince! I had never met even a lord before inmy life, or anyone approaching the rank of a lord, except a spuriousDuke of York whom I sent to the lunatic asylum), the _Prince_ of Santapaid me a State call, accompanied by a well-ordered retinue, verydifferent indeed from the ragged reprobates who follow at the heels of aChinese grandee when on a visit of ceremony. The Sawbwa occupied onechair, his distinguished guest the other, till the chief priest came in, when, with that deep reverence for the cloth which has alwayscharacterised me, I rose and gave him mine. He refused to take it, but Iinsisted; he pretended to be as reluctant to occupy it as any Frenchman, but I pushed him bodily into it, and that ended the matter. 

A pleasant, kindly fellow is the Prince; even among the Shans he isconspicuous for his courtesy and amiability. He was a great favouritewith the English Boundary Commission, and in his turn remembers withmuch pleasure his association with them. Half a dozen times, whenconversation flagged, he raised his clasped hands and said "Warry_Ching, ching_!" and I knew that this was his foolish heathen way ofsending greeting to the Chinese adviser of the Government of Burma. TheShan dialect is quite distinct from the Chinese, but all the princes orprincelets dress in Chinese fashion and learn Mandarin, and it was ofcourse in Mandarin that the Santa Sawbwa conversed with Mr. Warry. ThisSawbwa is the son-in-law of the ex-Wuntho Sawbwa. He rules over aterritory smaller than many squatters' stations in Victoria. He is oneof the ablest of Shans, and would willingly place his littleprincipality under the protection of England. He is thirty-five years ofage, dresses in full Chinese costume, with pigtail and skullcap, ispock-marked, and has incipient goitre. He is polite and refined, chewsbetel nut "to stimulate his meditative faculties, " and expectorates onthe floor with easy freedom. I showed him my photographs, and hegraciously invited me to give him some. I nodded cheerfully to him inassent, rolled them all up again, and put them back in my box. He knewthat I did not understand. 

We had tea together, and then he took his leave, "Warry _Ching, ching_!"being his parting words. 

As soon as he had gone the deep drum--a hollow instrument of wood shapedlike a fish--was beaten, and the priests gathered to vespers, dressed inmany-coloured garments of silk; and, as evening fell, they intoned asweet and mournful chant. 

The service over, all but the choristers entered the room off thegallery in which I was lying, where, looking in, I saw them throw offtheir gowns and coil themselves on the sleeping benches. Opium-lampswere already lit, and all were soon inhaling opium; all but one who hadrheumatism, and who, lying down, stretched himself at full length, whilea brother priest punched him all over in that primitive method ofmassage employed by every native race the wide world over. 

In the City Temple some festival was being celebrated, and night wasturbulent with the beating of gongs and drums and the bursting ofcrackers. Long processions of priests in their yellow robes were passingthe temple in the bright moonlight. Priests were as plentiful asblackberries; if they had been dressed in black instead of yellow, thetraveller might have imagined that he was in Edinburgh at Assembly time. 

In the morning another escort of half a dozen men was ready to accompanyme for the day's stage to Manyuen. They were in the uniform of the SantaSawbwa, in blue jackets instead of green. They were armed with rustymuzzle-loaders, unloaded, and with long Burmese swords (_dahs_). Theywere the most amiable of warriors, both in feature and manner, and wereunlike the turbaned braves of China, who, armed no better than thesemen, still regard, as did their forefathers, fierceness of aspect as animportant factor in warfare (_rostro feroz ao enemigo!_)--an illusionalso shared in the English army, where monstrous bearskin shakos wereintroduced to increase the apparent height of the soldiers. The officerin command was late in overtaking me. As soon as he came withinhorse-length he let down his queue and bowed reverently, and I could seepride lighting his features as he confessed to the honour that had beendone him in intrusting such an honourable and illustrious charge to themean and unworthy care of so contemptible an officer. 

The country before us was open meadow-land, pleasant to ride over, onlyhere and there broken by a massive banyan tree. Herds of buffaloes weregrazing on the hillsides. The mud villages were far apart on the marginof the river-plain, inclosed with superb hedges of living bamboo. 

Thirty li from Santa is the Shan village of Taipingkai. It wasmarket-day, and the broad main street was crowded. We were taken to thehouse of an oil-merchant, who kindly asked me in and had tea brewed forme. Earthenware jars of oil were stacked round the room. The basementopened to the street, and was packed in a moment. "_Dzo! Dzo!_" (Go!go!) cried the master, and the throng hustled out, to be renewed in aminute by a fresh body of curious who had waited their turn. 

Then we rode on, over a country as beautiful as a nobleman's park, tothe town of Manyuen. Every here and there by the roadside there aresprings of fresh water, where travellers can slake their thirst. Bambooladles are placed here by devotees, whose action will be counted untothem for righteousness, for "he that piously bestows a little watershall receive an ocean in return. " And, where there are no springs, neatlittle bamboo stalls with shelves are built, and in the cool shelterpitchers of water and bamboo cups are placed, so that the thirsty maybless the unknown hand which gives him to drink. 

Manyuen--or, to use the name by which it is better known to foreigners, Manwyne--is a large and straggling town overlooking the river-plain. Itwas here that Margary, the British Consular Agent, was murdered in 1875. I had a long wait at the yamen gate while they were arranging where tosend me, but by-and-by two yamen-runners came and conducted me to theCity Temple. It was the same temple that Margary had occupied. Manyshaven-pated Buddhist priests were waiting for me, and received mekindly in the temple hall. A table was brought for me and the onlyforeign chair, and Laotseng was shown where to spread my bedding in thetemple hall itself. And here I held _levées_ of the townspeople of allshades of colour and variety of feature--Chinese, Shan, Burmese, Kachin, and hybrid. The people were very amiable, and I found on all sides thesame courtesy and kindliness that Margary describes on his first visit. But the crowd was quiet for only a little while; then a dispute arose. It began in the far corner, and the crowd left me to gather round thedisputants. Voices were raised, loud and excited, and increased inenergy. A deadly interest seemed to enthral the bystanders. It was easyto imagine that they were debating to do with me as they had done withMargary. The dispute waxed warmer. Surely they will come to blows? Whensuddenly the quarrel ceased as it had begun, and the crowd came smilingback to me. What was the dispute? The priests were cheapening a chickenfor my dinner. 

The temple was built on teak piles, and teak pillars supported thetriple roof. It was like a barn or lumber room but for the gilt Buddhason the altar and the gilt cabinets by its side, containing many smallergilt images of Buddha and his disciples. Umbrellas, flags, and thetawdry paraphernalia used in processions were hanging from the beams. Sacerdotal vestments of dingy yellow--the yellow of turmeric--weretumbled over bamboo rests. When the gong sounded for prayers, men youthought were coolies threw these garments over the left shoulder, hitched them round the waist, and were transformed into priests, puttingthem back again immediately after the service. Close under the tiles wasa paper sedan-chair, to be sent for the use of some rich man in heaven. Painted scrolls of paper were on the walls, and on old ledges were tornbooks in the Burmese character, which a few boys made a pretence ofreading. Where I slept the floor was raised some feet from the ground, and underneath, seen through the gaping boards--though previouslydetected by another of the senses--were a number of coffins freightedwith dead, waiting for a fit occasion for interment. Heavy stones wereplaced on the lids to keep the dead more securely at rest. The luckyday for burial would be determined by the priests--it would bedetermined by them as soon as the pious relatives had paid sufficientlyfor their fears. So long, then, as the coffins remained where they were, they might be described as capital invested by the priests and returningheavy interest; removed from the temple, they ceased to be productive. 

As is the case in so many temples, there is an opium-room in the templeat the back of the gilded shrine, where priests and neophytes, throwingaside their office, can while away the licentious hours till the gongcalls them again to prayers. 

In the early morning, while I was still lying in my pukai on the floor, I saw many women, a large proportion of whom were goitrous, come to thehall, and make an offering of rice, and kneel down before the Buddha. Astime went on, and more kept coming in, small heaps of rice had collectedin front of the chief altar and before the cabinets. And when the womenretired, a chorister came round and swept with his fingers all thelittle heaps into a basket. To the gods the spirit! To the priests thesolid remains!

It was in Manyuen, as I have mentioned, that Margary met his death onFebruary 21st, 1875. He had safely traversed China from Hankow to Bhamo, had been everywhere courteously treated by the Chinese and been givenevery facility and protection on his journey. He had passed safelythrough Manyuen only five weeks before, and had then written: "I comeand go without meeting the slightest rudeness among this charmingpeople, and they address me with the greatest respect. " And yet fiveweeks later he was killed on his return! Even assuming that he waskilled in obedience to orders issued by the cruel Viceroy at YunnanCity, the notorious Tsen Yü-ying, and not by a lawless Chinesetrain-band which then infested the district and are believed by Baber tohave been the real murderers, the British Government must still be heldguilty of contributory negligence. Margary, having passed unmolested toBhamo, there met the expedition under Colonel Horace Browne, andreturned as its forerunner to prepare for its entry into China by theroute he had just traversed. The expedition was a "peace expedition"sent by the Government of Burma, and numbered only "fifty persons inall, together with a Burmese guard of 150 armed soldiers. "

Seven years before, an expedition under Major Sladen had advanced fromBurma into Western China as far as Tengyueh; had remained in Tengyuehfrom May 25th to July 13th, 1868; had entered into friendly negotiationswith the military governor and other Mohammedan officials in revoltagainst China; and had remained under the friendly protection of theMohammedan insurgents who were then in possession of Western China fromTengyueh to near Yunnan City. "To what principles, " it has been asked, "of justice or equity can we attribute the action of the British inretaining their Minister at the capital of an empire while sending apeaceful mission to a rebel in arms at its boundaries?"

The Mohammedan insurrection was not quelled till the early months of1874. And less than a year later the Chinese learned with alarm thatanother peaceful expedition was entering Western China, by the sameroute, under the same auspices, and with the identical objects of theexpedition which had been welcomed by the leaders of the insurrection. 

The Chinese mind was incapable of grasping the fact that the secondexpedition was planned solely to discover new fields for internationalcommerce and scientific investigation. Barbarians as they are, theyfeared that England thereby intended to "foster the dying embers of therebellion. " No time for such an expedition, a peaceful trade expedition, could have been more ill-chosen. The folly of it was seen in the murderof Margary and the repulse of Colonel Horace Browne, whose expeditionwas driven back at Tsurai within sight of Manyuen. And this murder, known to all the world, is the typical instance cited in illustration ofthe barbarity of the Chinese. 

China may be a barbarous country; many missionaries have said so, and itis the fashion so to speak; but let us for a moment look at facts. During the last twenty-three years foreigners of every nationality andevery degree of temperament, from the mildest to the most fanatical, have penetrated into every nook and cranny of the empire. Some have beensent back, and there has been an occasional riot with some destructionof property. But all the foreigners who have been killed can be numberedon the fingers of one hand, and in the majority of these cases it canhardly be denied that it was the indiscretion of the white man which wasthe exciting cause of his murder. In the same time how many hundreds ofunoffending Chinese have been murdered in civilised foreign countries?An anti-foreign riot in China--and at what rare intervals doanti-foreign riots occur in its vast empire--may cause some destructionof property; but it may be questioned if the destruction done in Chinaby the combined anti-foreign riots of the last twenty-three yearsequalled the looting done by the civilised London mob who a year or twoago on a certain Black Monday played havoc in Oxford-street andPiccadilly. "It is less dangerous, " says one of the most accuratewriters on China, the Rev. A. H. Smith, himself an American missionary, "for a foreigner to cross China than for a Chinese to cross the UnitedStates. " And there are few who give the matter a thought but must admitthe correctness of Mr. Smith's statement. 

On May 17th I was on the road again. The fort of Manyuen is outside thetown, and some little distance beyond it the dry creek bends into thepathway at a point where it is bordered with cactus and overshadowed bya banyan tree. This is said to be the exact spot where Margary waskilled. 

CHAPTER XXII. 

CHINA AS A FIGHTING POWER--THE KACHINS--AND THE LAST STAGE INTO BHAMO. 

We now left the low land and the open country, the pastures and meadows, and climbed up the jungle-clad spurs which form the triangular dividingrange that separates the broad and open valley of the Taiping, whereManyuen is situated, from the confined and tropical valley of theHongmuho, which lies at the foot of the English frontier fort ofNampoung, the present boundary of Burma. Two miles below Nampoung thetwo rivers join, and the combined stream flows on to enter the Irrawaddya mile or two above Bhamo. 

No change could be greater or more sudden. We toiled upwards in theblazing sun, and in two hours we were deep in the thickest jungle, inthe exuberant vegetation of a tropical forest. We had left the valley ofthe peaceful Shans and were in the forest inhabited by other "protectedbarbarians" of China--the wild tribes of Kachins, who even in Burma areslow to recognise the beneficent influences of British frontieradministration. Nature serenely sleeps in the valley; nature isthrobbing with life in the forest, and the humming and buzzing of allinsect life was strange to our unaccustomed ears. 

A well-cut path has been made through the forest, and caravans of mulesladen with bales of cotton were in the early stages of the longoverland journey to Yunnan. Their bells tinkled through the forest, while the herd boy filled the air with the sweet tones of his bambooflute, breathing out his soul in music more beautiful than any bagpipes. Cotton is the chief article of import entering China by this highway. From Talifu to the frontier a traveller could trace his way by thefluffs of cotton torn by the bushes from the mule-packs. 

The road through the forest reaches the highest points, because it is atthe highest points that the Chinese forts are situated, either on theroad or on some elevated clearing near it. 

The forts are stockades inclosed in wooden palisades, and guarded by_chevaux de frise_ of sharp-cut bamboo. The barracks are a few nativestraw-thatched wooden huts. Perhaps a score or two of men form thegarrison of each fort; they are badly armed, if armed at all. There areno guns and no store supplies. Water is trained into the stockades downopen conduits of split bamboo. To anyone who has seen the Chinesesoldiers at home in Western China, it is diverting to observe thecredence which is given to Chinese statements of the armed strength ofWestern China. How much longer are we to persist in regarding theChinese, as they now are, as a warlike power? In numbers, capacity forphysical endurance, calm courage when well officered, and powersunequalled by any other race of mankind of doing the greatest amount oflabour on the smallest allowance of food, their potential strength isstupendous. But they are not advancing, they are stationary; they lookbackwards, not forwards; they live in the past. Weapons with which theirancestors subdued the greater part of Asia they are loath to believeare unfitted for conducting the warfare of to-day. Should Japan bringChina to terms, she can impose no terms that will not tend towards theadvancement of China. Victories such as Japan has won over China mightaffect any other nation but China; but they are trifling andinsignificant in their effect upon the gigantic mass of China. SupposeChina has lost 20, 000 men in this war, in one day there are 20, 000births in the Empire, and I am perfectly sure that, outside theimmediate neighbourhood of the seat of operations, the Chinese as anation, apart from the officials, are profoundly ignorant that there iseven a war, or, as they would term it, a rebellion, in progress. Trouble, serious trouble, will begin in China in the near future, forthe time must be fast approaching when the effete and alien dynasty nowreigning in China--the Manchu dynasty--shall be overthrown, and aChinese Emperor shall rule on the throne of China. 

At a native village called Schehleh there is a likin-barrier. The yellowflag was drooping over the roadway in the hot sun. The customs officer, an amiable Chinese Shan, invited me in to tea, and brought his pukai forme to lie down upon. Like thousands of his countrymen, he had played forfortune in the Manila lottery. Two old lottery tickets and the prizelist in Chinese were on one wall of his room, on the other were a numberof Chinese visiting cards, to which I graciously permitted him to addmine. 

Soldiers accompanied me from camp to camp, Chinese soldiers fromdistricts many hundreds of miles distant in China. Some were armed, somewere unarmed, and there was equal confidence to be reposed in the one asin the other; but all were civil, and watched me with a care that wasembarrassing. 

At the first camp beyond Schehleh the gateway was ornamented withtrophies of valour. From two bare tree-trunks baskets of heads werehanging, putrefying in the heat. They were the heads of Kachin dacoits. And thus shall it be done with all taken in rebellion against the Son ofHeaven, whose mighty clemency alone permits the sun to shine on anykingdom beyond his borders. Kachin villages are scattered through theforest, among the hills. You see their native houses, long bamboostructures raised on piles and thatched with grass, with low eavessloping nearly to the ground. In sylvan glades sacred to the _nats_ youpass wooden pillars erected by the roadside, rudely cut, and rudelypainted with lines and squares and rough figures of knives, and closebeside them conical grass structures with coloured weathercocks. Splitbamboos support narrow shelves, whereon are placed the variousfood-offerings with which is sought the goodwill of the evil spirits. 

The Kachin men we met were all armed with the formidable _dah_ or nativesword, whose widened blade they protect in a univalvular sheath of wood. They wore Shan jackets and dark knickerbockers; their hair was gatheredunder a turban. They all carried the characteristic embroidered Kachinbag over the left shoulder. 

The Kachin women are as stunted as the Japanese, and are disfigured withthe same disproportionate shortness of legs. They wear Shan jackets andpetticoats of dark-blue; their ornaments are chiefly cowries; their legsare bare. Unmarried, they wear no head-dress, but have their hair cut ina black mop with a deep fringe to the eyebrows. If married, theirhead-dress is the same as that of the Shan women--a huge dark-blueconical turban. Morality among the Kachin maidens, a missionary tellsme, is not, as we understand the term, believed to exist. There is atradition in the neighbourhood concerning a virtuous maiden; but littlereliance can be placed on such legendary tales. Among the Kachins eachclan is ruled by a Sawbwa, whose office "is hereditary, not to theeldest son, but to the youngest, or, failing sons, to the youngestsurviving brother. " (Anderson. ) All Kachins chew betel-nut and nearlyall smoke opium--men, women and children. Goitre is very prevalent amongthem; in some villages Major Couchman believes that as many as 25 percent. Of the inhabitants are afflicted with the disease. They have nowritten language, but their spoken language has been romanised by theAmerican missionaries in Burma. 

We camped within five miles of the British border at the Chinese fortletof Settee, a palisaded camp whose gateway also was hung with heads ofdacoits. A Chinese Shan was in command, a smart young officer with aBurmese wife. He was active, alert, and intelligent, and gave me thebest room in the series of sheds which formed the barracks. I was madevery comfortable. There were between forty and fifty soldiers stationedin the barracks--harmless warriors--who were very attentive. Atnightfall the tattoo was beaten. The gong sounded; its notes died awayin a distant murmur, then brayed forth with a stentorian clangour thatmight wake the dead. At the same time a tattoo was beaten on the drum, then a gun was fired and the noise ceased, to be repeated again duringthe night at the change of guard. All foes, visible and invisible, werein this way scared away from the fort. 

Hearing that I was a doctor, the commandant asked me to see several ofhis men who were on the sick list. Among them was one poor young fellowdying, in the next room to mine, of remittent fever. When I went to thebedside the patient was lying down deadly ill, weak, and emaciated; buttwo of his companions took him by the arms, and, telling him to sit up, would have pulled him into what they considered a more respectfulattitude. In the morning I again went to see the poor fellow. He waslying on his side undergoing treatment. An opium-pipe was held to hislips by one comrade, while another rolled the pellet of opium and placedit heated in the pipe-bowl, so that he might inhale its fumes. 

In the morning the officer accompanied me to the gate of the stockadeand bade me good-bye, with many unintelligible expressions of good will. His eight best soldiers were told off to escort me to the frontier, distant only fifteen li. It was a splendid walk through the jungleacross the mountains to the Hongmuho. We passed the outlying stockade ofthe Chinese, and, winding along the spur, came full in view of theBritish camp across the valley, half-way up the opposite slope. By avery steep path we descended through the forest to the frontier fort ofthe Chinese, and emerged upon the grassy slope that shelves below it tothe river. 

There are a few bamboo huts on the sward, and here the Chinese guardleft me; for armed guards are allowed no further. I was led to the ford, my pony plunged into the swift stream, and a moment or two later I wason British soil and passing the Sepoy outpost, where the guard, to mygreat alarm, for I feared being shot, turned out and saluted me. Then Iclimbed up the steep hill to the British encampment, where the Englishofficer commanding, Captain R. G. Iremonger, of the 3rd Burma Regiment, gave me a kind reception, and congratulated me upon my successfuljourney. He telegraphed to headquarters the news of my arrival. It wasof no earthly interest to anybody that I, an unknown wanderer, shouldpass through safely; but it was of interest to know that anyone couldpass through so easily. Reports had only recently reached the Governmentthat Western China was in a state of disaffection; that a feelingstrongly anti-foreign had arisen in Yunnan; and that now, of all times, would it be inexpedient to despatch a commission for the delimitation ofthe boundary. My quiet and uninterrupted journey was in direct conflictwith all such reports. 

The encampment of Nampoung is at an elevation of 1500 feet above theriver. It is well exposed on all sides, and has been condemned bymilitary experts. But the law of fortifications which applies to anyordinary frontier does not apply to the frontier of China, where thereis no danger whatsoever. The palisade is irregularly made, and is notsuperior, of course, to any round the Chinese stockades. 

The houses are built of bamboo, are raised on piles, and thatched withgrass. A company of the 3rd Burma Regiment is permanently stationed hereunder an English officer, and consists of 100 men, who are either Sikhsor Punjabis, all of splendid stature and military bearing. A picket ofsix men under a non-commissioned native officer guards the ford, andpermits no armed Chinese to cross the border. 

There are numbers of transport mules and ponies. In the creek there areplenty of fish; the rod, indeed, is the chief amusement of the officerswho are exiled on duty to this lonely spot to pass three months in turnin almost uninterrupted solitude. There is a telegraph line into Bhamo, and it is at this point that connection will be made with the ImperialChinese Telegraphs. 

At the ford from fifty to one hundred loaded pack-animals, mostlycarrying cotton, cross into China daily. A toll of six annas is leviedupon each pack-animal, the money so collected being distributed by theGovernment among those Kachin Sawbwas who have an hereditary right tolevy this tribute. The money is collected by two Burmese officials, andhanded daily to the officer commanding. No duty is paid on enteringBurma. Chinese likin-barriers begin to harass the caravans at Schehleh. 

Beautiful views of the surrounding hills, all covered with "lofty foresttrees, tangled with magnificent creepers, and festooned with orchids, "are obtained from the camp. All the country round is extremely fertile, yielding with but little labour three crops a year. Cultivation of thesoil there is none. Fire clears the jungle, and the ashes manure thesoil; the ground is then superficially scratched, and rice is sown. Nothing more is done. Every seed germinates; the paddy ripens, and, where one basketful is sown, five hundred basketfuls are gathered. Andthe field lies untouched till again covered with jungle. Thus is theheathen rewarded five-hundred-fold in accordance with the law of Naturewhich gives blessing to the labour of the husbandman inversely as hedeserves it. 

In the evening the officer walked down with me to the creek, where Ibathed in the shadow of the bank, in a favourite pool for fishing. As wecrossed the field on our return, we met the two Burmesetribute-gatherers. They had occasion to speak to the officer, when, instead of standing upright like a stalwart and independent Chinaman, they squatted humbly on their heels, and, resting their elbows on theirknees in an attitude of servility, conversed with their superior. Howdifferent the Chinaman, who confesses few people his superior, and noneof any race beyond the borders of China!

From Nampoung to Bhamo is an easy walk of thirty-three miles. This isusually done in two stages, the halting place being the military stationof Myothit, which is fourteen miles from Nampoung. On leaving Nampoung, an escort of a lance-corporal and two soldiers was detailed to accompanyme. They were Punjabis, men of great stature and warlike aspect; butthey were presumably out of training, for they arrived at Myothit, limpand haggard, an hour or more after we did. There is an admirable roadthrough the jungle, maintained in that excellent order characteristic ofmilitary roads under British supervision. My Chinese from time to timequestioned me as to the distance. We had gone fifteen li when Laotsengasked me how much farther it was to Santien (Myothit). "Three li, " Isaid. We walked ten li further. "How far is it now?" he asked. "Onlyfive li further, " I replied, gravely. We went on another six li, whenagain he asked me: "Teacher Mô, how many li to Santien?" "Only eightmore li, " I said, and he did not ask me again. I was endeavouring togive him information in the fashion that prevails in his own country. 

At Myothit we camped in the dâk bungalow, an unfurnished cottage keptfor the use of travellers. The encampment is on the outskirts of aperfectly flat plain, skirted with jungle-clad hills and covered withelephant grass. Through the plain the broad river Taiping flows on itsmuddy way to the Irrawaddy. One hundred sepoys are stationed here undera native officer, a Sirdar, Jemadar, or Subadar (I am not certainwhich), who called upon me, and stood by me as I ate my tiffin, and, tomy great embarrassment, saluted me in the most alarming way every timemy eye unexpectedly caught his. I confess that I did not know thegentleman from Adam. I mistook him for an ornamental head-waiter, and, as I regarded him as a superfluous nuisance, I told him not to standupon the order of his going but go. I pointed to the steps; and he went, sidling off backwards as if from the presence of royalty. Drawing hisheels together, he saluted me at the stair-top and again at the bottom, murmuring words which were more unintelligible to me even than Chinese. 

During the night our exposed bungalow was assailed by a fearful storm ofwind and rain, and for a time I expected it to be bodily lifted off thepiles and carried to the lee-side of the settlement. The roof leaked ina thousand places, rain was driven under the walls, and everything I hadwas soaked with warm water. 

Next day we had a pleasant walk into Bhamo, that important militarystation on the left bank of the Irrawaddy. We crossed the Taiping atMyothit by a bridge, a temporary and very shaky structure, which isevery year carried away when the river rises, and every year renewedwhen the caravans take the road after the rains. 

Bhamo is 1520 miles by land from Chungking; and it is an equal distancefurther from Chungking to Shanghai. The entire distance I traversed inexactly one hundred days, for I purposely waited till the hundredth dayto complete it. And it surely speaks well of the sense of responsibilityinnate in the Chinese that, during all this time, I never had in myemploy a Chinese coolie who did not fulfil, with something to spare, allthat he undertook to do. I paid off my men in Bhamo. To Laotseng I gave400 cash too many, and asked him for the change. At once with muchreadiness he ranged some cash on the table in the form of an abacus, and, setting down some hieroglyphics on a sheet of paper, he worked outa calculation, by which he proved that I owed _him_ 400 cash, and, therefore, the accounts were now exactly balanced. For my own expenses Igave him 1175 cash in Tengyueh and 400 more in Bhamo, so that my entirepersonal expenses between two points nine days distant from each otherwere rather more than _3s. _ My entire journey from Shanghai to Bhamocost less than _£20_ sterling, including my Chinese outfit. Had Itravelled economically, I estimate that the journey need not have costme more than _£14_. Had I carried more silver with me, I would stillfurther have reduced the total cost of my tour. The gold I bought inYunnan with my surplus silver, I sold in Burma for 20 per cent. Profit, the rupees which I purchased in Tengyueh for _11d. _ were worth _13d. _ inBhamo. For some curios which I purchased in the interior for _£2 5s. _ Iwas offered when I reached civilisation _£14_. Without doubt the journeyacross China is the cheapest that can be done in all the world. 

I was sorry to say good-bye to my men, who had served me so faithfully. And I cannot speak more highly of the pleasure of my journey than todeclare that I felt greater regret when it was finished than I ever felton leaving any other country. The men all through had behaved admirably, and it is only fair to add that mine was the common experience oftravellers in far Western China. Thus a very great traveller in Chinaand Thibet (W. W. Rockhill), writing in the _Century_, April, 1894, onthe discomforts of his recent journey, says:

"But never a word of complaint from either the Thibetans or my Chinese. They were always alert, always good-tempered, always attentive to me, and anxious to contribute to my comfort in every way in their power. Andso I have ever found these peoples, with whom I am glad to say, aftertravelling over 20, 000 miles in their countries, I have never exchangeda rough word, and among whom I think I have left not one enemy and not afew friends. "

Two days after their arrival in Bhamo my three men started on theirreturn journey to Talifu. They were laden with medicines, stores, newspapers, and letters for the mission in Tali, which for months hadbeen accumulating in the premises of the American Mission in Bhamo, themissionary in charge, amid the multifarious avocations pertaining to hispost, having found no time to forward them to their destination to hislonely Christian brother in the far interior. And, had I not arrivedwhen I did, they could not have been sent till after the rains. A cooliewill carry eighty pounds weight from Bhamo to Tali for _12s. _; and Ineed hardly point out that a very small transaction in teak would coverthe cost of many coolies. Besides, any expenditure incurred would havebeen reimbursed by the Inland Mission. My three men were pursued bycruel fate on their return; they all were taken ill at Pupiao. Poor"Bones" and the pock-marked coolie died, and Laotseng lay ill in thehotel there for weeks, and, when he recovered sufficiently to go on toTali, he had to go without the three loads, which the landlord of theinn detained, pending the payment of his board and lodging and theburial expenses of his two companions. 

CHAPTER XXIII. 

BHAMO, MANDALAY, RANGOON, AND CALCUTTA. 

The finest residence in Bhamo is, of course, the American mission. America nobly supports her self-sacrificing and devoted sons who goforth to arrest the "awful ruin of souls" among the innumerable millionsof Asia, who are "perishing without hope, having sinned without law. "The missionary in charge told me that he labours with a "humble heart tobring a knowledge of the Saving Truth to the perishing heathen among theKachins. " His appointment is one which even a worldly-minded man mightcovet. I will give an instance of his methods. This devoted evangelisttold me that a poor woman, a Kachin Christian, in whose welfare he feltdeep personal interest, was, he greatly feared, dying fromblood-poisoning at a small Christian village one hour's ride up theriver from Bhamo; and he had little doubt that some surgicalinterference in her case would save her life. I at once offered to goand see her. I had received great kindness from many Americanmissionaries in China, and it would give me great pleasure, I said, if Icould be of any service. 

The missionary professed to be grateful for my offer, but, instead ofarranging to go that afternoon, named seven o'clock the followingmorning as the hour when he would call for me to take me to the village. At the time appointed I was ready; I waited, but no missionary came. There was a slight drizzle, sufficient to prevent his going to the sickwoman but not sufficient to deter him from going to market to theIrrawaddy steamer, where I accidentally met him. So far from beingabashed when he saw me, he took the occasion to tell me what he will, Iknow, pardon me for thinking an inexcusable untruth. He had written, hesaid, to the poor woman telling her, dying as he believed her to be, tocome down to Bhamo by boat to see me. 

In Bhamo I stayed in the comfortable house of the Deputy Commissioner, and was treated with the most pleasant hospitality. To my regret, theDeputy Commissioner was down the river, and I did not see him. He isregarded as one of the ablest men in the service. His rise has beenrapid, and he was lately invested with the C. I. E. --there seems, indeed, to be no position in Burma that he might not aspire to. In his absencehis office was being administered by the Assistant Commissioner, acourteous young Englishman, who gave me my first experience of the CivilService. I could not but envy the position of this young fellow, andmarvel at the success which attends our method of administering theIndian Empire. Here was a young man of twenty-four, acting as governorwith large powers over a tract of country of hundreds of square miles--anew country requiring for its proper administration a knowledge of law, of finance, of trade, experience of men, and ability to deal with theconflicting interests of several native races. Superior to all otherauthorities, civil and military, in his district, he was considered fitto fill this post--and success showed his fitness--because a year or twobefore he had been one of forty crammed candidates out of 200 who hadtaken the highest places in a series of examinations in Latin, English, mathematics, &c. With the most limited experience of human life, he hadobtained his position in exactly the same way that a Chinese Mandarindoes his--by competitive examination in subjects which, even less thanin the case of the Chinese, had little bearing upon his future work; andnow, like a Chinese Mandarin, "there are few things he isn't. "

On the face of it no system appears more preposterous; in its results nosystem was ever more successful. The Assistant Commissioner early learnsself-reliance, decision, and ability to wield authority; and he canalways look forward to the time when he may become Chief Commissioner. 

There is a wonderful mixture of types in Bhamo. Nowhere in the world, not even in Macao, is there a greater intermingling of races. Here livein cheerful promiscuity Britishers and Chinese, Shans and Kachins, Sikhsand Madrasis, Punjabis, Arabs, German Jews and French adventurers, American missionaries and Japanese ladies. 

There are many ruined pagodas and some wooden temples which, however, donot display the higher features of Burmese architecture. There is aclub, of course; a polo and football ground, and a cricket ground. Inside the fort, among the barracks, there is a building which has adouble debt to pay, being a theatre at one end and a church at theother, the same athletic gentleman being the chief performer at bothplaces. But, at its best, Bhamo is a forlorn, miserable, and wretchedstation, where all men seem to regard it as their first duty to thestranger to apologise to him for being there. 

The distinguished Chinese scholar and traveller, E. Colborne Baber, whowrote the classic book of travel in Western China, was formerly BritishResident in Bhamo. He spoke Chinese unusually well and was naturallyproud of his accomplishment. Now the ordinary Chinaman has this featurein common with many of the European races, that, if he thinks you cannotspeak his language, he _will_ not understand you, even if you speak tohim with perfect correctness of idiom and tone. And Baber had anexperience of this which deeply hurt his pride. Walking one day in theneighbourhood of Bhamo, he met two Chinese--strangers--and beganspeaking to them in his best Mandarin. They heard him with unmovedstolidity, and, when he had finished, one turned to his companion andsaid, as if struck with his discovery, "the language of these foreignbarbarians sounds not unlike our own!"

In Bhamo I had the pleasure of meeting the three members of the BoundaryCommission who represented us in some preliminary delimitation questionswith the Chinese Government. A better choice could not have been made. M. Martini, a Frenchman, has been twenty years in Upper Burma, and isour D. S. P. (District Superintendent of Police). Mr. Warry, the Chineseadviser to the Burmese Government, is one of the ablest men who evergraduated from the Consular Staff in China; while Captain H. R. Davies, of the Staff Corps, who is on special duty in the IntelligenceDepartment, is not only an exceptionally able officer, but is the mostaccomplished linguist of Upper Burma. These were the threerepresentatives. 

I sold my pony in Bhamo. I was exceedingly sorry to part with it, for ithad come with me 800 miles in thirty days, over an unusually difficultroad, at great variations of altitude, and amid many changes of climate. And it was always in good spirit, brave and hardy, carrying me as surelythe last twenty miles as it had the first twenty. Yet, when I came tosell it, I was astonished to learn how many were its defects. Itsheight, which was 12. 3 in Nampoung, had shrunk three days later to 11. 3in Bhamo. This one subaltern told me who came to look at the pony withthe view, he said, of making me an offer. Another officer proved to methat the off foreleg was gone hopelessly; a third confirmed thisdiagnosis of his friend, and in a clinical lecture demonstrated that thepoor beast was spavined, and that its near hind frog was rotten, "as allChinese ponies' are, " he added. One of the mounted constabulary, a smartofficer, fortunately discovered in time that the pony was a roarer;while the Hungarian Israelite who lends help on notes of hand, post-obits, personal applications, and other insecurities, and is onterms of friendly intimacy with most of the garrison, when about to makean offer, found, to his great regret, that the pony's hind legs wereeven more defective than the fore. The end of it was that I had to sellthe pony--for what it cost me. I am indebted to the Reverend Mr. Roberts, of the American Baptist Mission, for helping me to sell mypony. Mr. Roberts has a pious gift for buying ponies and sellingthem--at a profit. He offered me 40 rupees for my pony. I mentioned thisoffer at the Bhamo Club, when a civilian present at once offered me 50rupees for the pony; he did not know the pony, he explained, but--heknew Roberts. 

In a steamer of the Irrawaddy Flotilla Company I came down the riverfrom Bhamo to Mandalay. When I left the Commissioner's bungalow, theentire staff of the establishment and of some neighbouring bungalowsassembled to do me honour, creeping up to me, and with deep humilitycarrying each an article of my possessions from my room down to theporch. There were the _dhobie_ and _bearer_, the waterman with hisgoatskin waterbag, the washerman who washed my blue Chinese garments aswhite as his own, the _syce_ who did not collect grass, the cook whosent me ten bad eggs in three days, and the Christian Madrasi, thelaziest rascal in Bhamo, who early confessed to me his change of faithand the transformation it had effected in the future prospects of hissoul. There was the Burmese watchman, and the English-speaking Burmeseclerk, and the coolie who went to the bazaar for me, and many others. They lined the stairs as I came out, and placed their hands reverentlyto their foreheads when I passed by. It was pleasant to see suchdisinterested evidence of their good will, and my only regret was that Icould not reward them according to their deserts. But to the Chinesecoolie who was grinning to see my paltry outfit carried by so manyhands, and who gathered together all I possessed and swung off with itdown past the temples to the steamer landing in the native city, I gavea day's pay, and cheerfully--though he then asked for more. 

In Mandalay I was taken to the club, and passed many hours there readingthe home papers and wandering through its gilded halls. Few clubs in theworld have such a sumptuous setting as this, for it is installed in thethrone-room and chambers and reception-halls of the palace of KingTheebaw. 

In the very centre of the building is a seven-storeyed spire, "emblematic of royalty and religion, " which the Burmese look upon as the"exact centre of creation. " The reception-hall at the foot of thethrone is now the English chapel; the reading-room with its gilded daïswhere the Queen sat on her throne, with its lofty roof, its pillars ofteak, and walls all ablaze with gilding, was the throne-room ofTheebaw's chief Queen. 

Mandalay is largely Chinese, and on the outskirts of the city there is ahandsome temple which bears the charming inscription, so characteristicof the Chinese, "enlightenment finds its way even among the outerbarbarians. "

There is a military hospital with two nursing sisters, highly trainedladies from Bart. 's. Australians are now so widely distributed over theworld that it did not surprise me to find that one of the two sisterscomes from Melbourne. 

From Mandalay I went by train to Rangoon, where I lived in a prettyvilla among noble trees on the lower slope of the hill which is crownedwith the famous golden pagoda, the "Shway-dagon, " the most sacred templeof Indo-China. We looked out upon the park and the royal lake. I earlywent to the Intelligence Department and saw Major Couchman. In hisoffice I met the chief Chinese interpreter, a Chinaman with a raregenius for languages. He is a native of Fuhkien province, and, ofcourse, speaks the Fuhkien dialect; he knows also Cantonese andMandarin. In addition, he possesses French, Hindustani, Burmese, Shan, and Sanscrit, and, in an admirable translation which he has made of aChinese novel into English, he frequently quotes Latin. Fit assistant hewould make to Max Müller; his services command a high salary. 

The Chinese in Rangoon are a predominating force in the prosperity ofthe city. They have deeply impressed their potentiality upon thecommunity. "It seems almost certain, " says a great authority, perhaps_the_ greatest authority on Burma--J. G. Scott (Shway Yoe)--"that in novery long time Burma, or, at any rate, the large trading towns of Burma, will be for all practical purposes absorbed by the Chinese traders, justas Singapore and Penang are virtually Chinese towns. Unless somemarvellous upheaval of energy takes place in the Burmese character, theplodding, unwearying Chinaman is almost certainly destined to overrunthe country to the exclusion of the native race. "

The artisans of Rangoon are largely Chinese, and the carpentersexclusively so. The Chinese marry Burmese women, and, treating theirwives with the consideration which the Chinaman invariably extends tohis foreign wife in a foreign country, they are desired as husbands evenabove the Burmans. Next to the British, the only indispensable elementin the community is now the Chinese. 

The best known figure in Burma is the Reverend John Ebenezer Marks, D. D. , Principal of the St. John's College of the S. P. G. Dr. Marks hasbeen thirty-five years in Burma, is still hale and hearty, brimful ofreminiscences, and is one of the most amusing companions in the world. Ithink it was he who converted King Theebaw to Christianity. His schoolis a curiosity. It is an anthropological institute with perhaps thefinest collection of human cross-breeds in existence. It is away outbeyond the gaol, in large wooden buildings set in extensive playgrounds. Here he has 550 students, all but four of whom are Asiatics of fifteendifferent nationalities--Chinese, Karens, Kachins, Shans, and a variedassortment of Hindoos and Malays, both pure and blended with the nativeBurmese. All the different races represented in Burma have intermarriedwith the native Burmese, and the resulting half-breeds have crossedwith other half-breeds. Most of the better class Eurasian boys(European-Asian) are educated here, some being supported by theirfathers, some not. The former Dr. Marks ingeniously calls after theirmothers; the latter, who have been neglected, retain the names (whenthey are known), of their fathers. It is amusing to meet among thelatter the names of so many brave Englishmen who, in the earlier dayswhen morals had not attained the strictness that now characterises them, gallantly served their country in Burma. 

No woman in the world is more catholic in her tastes than the Burmese. She bestows her loves as variously as the Japanese. She marries withequal readiness Protestant or Catholic, Turk, Infidel, or Jew. Sheclings cheerfully to whichever will support her; but above all shedesires the Chinaman. No one treats her so well as the Chinaman. If sheis capable of experiencing the emotion of love for any being outside herown race, she feels it for the Chinaman, who is of a cognate race to herown, is hard-working, frugal, and industrious, permits her to live inidleness, and delights her with presents, loving her children with thataffection which the Chinaman has ever been known to bestow upon hisoffspring. The Chino-Burmese is not quite the equal of his father, buthe is markedly superior to the Burmese. The best half-caste in the Eastis, of course, the Eurasian of British parentage. Englishmen going toBurma are, as a rule, picked men, physically powerful, courageous, energetic, and enterprising; for it is the possession of these qualitieswhich has sent them to the East, either for business or in the serviceof their country. And their Burmese companions--of course I speak of acondition of things which is gradually ceasing to exist--are all pickedwomen, selected for the comeliness of their persons and the sweetness oftheir manners. 

After a stay of two or three weeks in Rangoon, I went round by theBritish India steamer to Calcutta. Ill fortune awaited me here. Thenight after my arrival I was laid down with remittent fever, and a fewdays later I nearly died. The reader will, I am sure, pardon me forobtruding this purely personal matter. But, as I opened this book with atestimony of gratitude to the distinguished surgeon who cut a spearpoint from my body, where nine months before it had been thrust by asavage in New Guinea, so should I be sorry to close this narrativewithout recording a word of thanks to those who befriended me inCalcutta. 

I was a stranger, knowing only two men in all Calcutta; but they werefriends in need, who looked after me during my illness with the greatestkindness. A leading doctor of Calcutta attended me, and treated me withunremitting attention and great skill. To Mr. John Bathgate and Mr. Maxwell Prophit and to Dr. Arnold Caddy I owe a lasting debt ofgratitude. And what shall I say of that kind nurse--dark of complexion, but most fair to look upon--whose presence in the sick room almostconsoled me for being ill? Bless her dear heart! Even hydrochlorate ofquinine tasted sweet from her fingers. 

THE END. 

[Illustration: CHINESE MAP OF CHUNGKING. ]

INDEX. 

 Adridge, Dr. , of Ichang, 10

 d'Amade, Capt. , in Yunnan, 150

 Ancestral worship, 67

 Anderson, Dr. J. , cited, 274, 277

 Anpien, 79

 Anti-foreign riots, 9, 54, 268

 Arsenal in Yunnan, 175

 Augustine mission, 6

 Baber, E. C. , cited, 51, 90, 239, 267; in Yunnan, 149; in Bhamo, 285; on distances, 187

 Ball, Dyer, cited, 113, 224

 Baller, Rev. F. W. , cited, 113

 Banks and banking, 95, 96, 163, 164

 Barrow, Sir John, cited, 101, 110, 191

 Béraud, Père, of Suifu, 63, 65

 Bhamo (Singai), 279-287

 Bible Christian mission, in Chaotong, 99; in Tongchuan, 121

 Blakiston, Capt. , cited, 173

 Blodget, Rev. Dr. , cited, 123

 Boell, M. , of _Le Temps_, in Yunnan, 150

 Bonvalot, G. , in Yunnan, 149

 Bridges, some notable, 26, 83, 85, 118, 186, 233, 240, 242

 Broomhall, B. , cited, 66, 67

 Browne, Col. Horace, 246, 267, 268

 Bugs in China and Spain, 55, 56

 Burdon, Bishop, cited, 123

 Cameron, Dr. , missionary traveller, 213

 Cantonese, 207; in Australia, 222-224

 Caravans of cotton, 226, 271

 Carruthers, A. G. H. , assistant commissioner of customs, Chungking, 51

 Cash currency of China, 161, 162

 Chairen, the policeman of China, 77, 190

 Chang-chen Nien, Brigadier-General, Tengyueh, 181, 246

 Chang Chi Tung, the viceroy, 3, 4

 Chang-show-hsien, 33

 Chang Yan Miun, the giant of Yunnan, 184, 185

 Chaochow, 200

 Chaotong, the city of, 97-116; its converts, 178

 Chehki, 137

 Ch'en, merchant prince, 29, 30

 Chennan-chow, 192

 Chentu, city, 62; river, 62

 Chiang, telegraph clerk, Yunnan, 168

 China Inland Mission, in Hankow, 6; in Wanhsien, 27-29; in Chungking, 49; in Suifu, 65, 73, 75; in Yunnan, 177; in Tali, 213-216; results in Yunnan province, 178; in China generally, 180; its teaching, 65-71

 Chinese, in Australia, 222-224; in Burma, 288-290

 Chinese, avarice, 79; benevolence, 29; beauty of women, 13; cards, visiting, 181, 182; characters, reverence for, 170; courtesy, 255; desire to have children, 197, 198; etiquette, 230; friendliness, 140; good nature, 117; gratitude, 27, 28; inaccuracy, 99; indifference to pain, 104, to sound, 74, 169; irreverence, 195; justification by works, 169; kindness to children, 113, 290; laughter, 195; love at first sight, 153-155; politeness, 196, 197, 201, 255; respect for old age, 117, 198; thoughtfulness, 189; true felicity, 180; wonderful memory, 167, 168

 Chipatzu, 22

 Chueh, telegraph operator and interpreter, 248

 Chungking, city of, 34-39

 Chuhsing-fu, 187

 Clarke, Mr. G. W. , missionary traveller, 213

 Clarke, Marcus, cited, 210

 Coal on the Yangtse, 32

 Coffins in China, 92, 137, 265

 Colquhoun, A. R. , in Yunnan, 150

 Conversion, instances of rapid, 179

 Converts, in China, 5; Wanhsien, 28; Chungking, 49; Suifu, 65; Chaotong, 99; Tongchuan, 121; Yunnan City, 177; Yunnan Province, 178, 179; Talifu, 214

 Cooke, G. W. , cited, 46, 176

 Coolies' enormous loads, 90, 91

 Couchman, Major, cited, 274; in Rangoon, 288

 Crockery, 118, 119

 Customs, China Inland (likin-barriers), 21, 48, 97, 118, 242, 272, 277

 Customs, Imperial Maritime, 13, 25, 35-38

 Davenport, Dr. Cecil, medical missionary, Chungking, 49

 Davies, Capt. H. R. , Bhamo, 285

 Davis, Sir J. F. , cited, 57

 Dedeken, Père, of Kuldja, 150

 De Gorostarza, Père, Provicaire in Yunnan, 172

 De Guignes, cited, 140

 Distances in China, 141, 278

 Doctors in China, 107-110; mule-doctor, 145

 Doolittle, Rev. Justus, cited, 69, 130, 170

 Doudart de la Grée, in Yunnan, 149

 Douglas, R. K. , cited, 127

 Dudgeon, Dr. J. , cited, 112, 130

 Du Halde, cited, 90, 108, 176

 Dymond, Rev. Frank, missionary, Chaotong, 98, 99

 Eclipse of the Sun, 125, 126

 Edkins, Rev. Dr. J. , cited, 130

 Eitel, Rev. Dr. E. J. , cited, 129

 Excoffier, Père, of Yunnan, 146

 Famine in Chaotong, 99; in Tongchuan, 127; on the way to Yunnan, 137-144

 Fan-yien-tsen, 82

 Farrar, Ven. Archdeacon, cited, 191

 Feng-hsiang, Gorge, 21, 30

 Fengshui-ling, 240

 Feng-tu-hsien, 33

 Fenouil, Monseigneur, of Yunnan, 171, 172

 Fraser, Consul E. H. , Chungking, 45

 Fuchou, 33

 _Fungshui_, 157, 175

 Fung-yen-tung, 205

 Fu-to-kuan, fort of, 52

 Ganai, Shan town, 254-256

 Gates of a Chinese city, 174

 Geary, H. Grattan, cited, 43

 Giles, H. A. , cited, 129

 Gill, Mr. Hope, missionary, Wanhsien, 27

 Gill, Capt. W. , cited, 17, 90

 Girls in China, 13, 14, 139, 140; bought, 155; sold, 100, 101; price of, 100

 Goitre, 101, 145, 155, 185; its prevalence, 227, 228

 Gold, on the Yangtse, 23; in Yunnan, 158-160

 Graham, Mr. , missionary, Yunnan, 177, 219

 Grosvenor Mission in Yunnan, 149

 Guinness, Miss G. , cited, 213

 Haas, M. , 42-44

 Hankow, the city of, 3-8

 Hanyang, 3

 Heads of criminals, 192; of dacoits, 273, 274

 Hirth, Dr. F. , Commissioner of Customs, 40

 Hobson, H. E. , cited, 31

 Hokiangpu, 222

 Hongmuho, 270, 275-277

 Hosie, A. M. , cited, 17; in Yunnan, 149

 Hsiakwan, 200, 219, 221

 Hsintan rapids, 15

 Huanglien-pu, 226; goitre at, 228

 Huc, Abbé, cited, 176

 Iangkai, 144

 Ichang, 9

 Infanticide in China, 129, 130; in Chaotong, 101; in Tongchuan, 129

 Inquirers at Wanhsien, 28; Yunnan, 177; Tali, 215

 Iremonger, Capt. R. G. , Nampoung, 275

 Jensen, Mr. C. , in Yunnan, 147; experiences in China, 156, 157; on distances, 187; to construct line to Burma, 238

 Jesuit Missionaries in China, 123, 173, 176

 John, Rev. Dr. Griffith, cited, 130

 Kachins ("protected barbarians"), 254, 259, 270, 273, 274

 Kanhliang, Shan chief, 245

 Kaw Hong Beng, Private Secretary to Viceroy, 4, 5

 Kiangti, 117

 Kong-shan, 141

 Kueichow on the Yangtse, 18

 Kuhtsing, its converts, 178

 Kung Chao-yuan, Minister to Great Britain, 73

 Kung-t'-an-ho, 33

 Kweichou-fu, 21

 Lacouperie, Terrien de, cited, 257

 Lanchihsien, 60

 Laokai, 148, 159

 Laowatan river, 79; town, 85

 Lay, G. T. , cited, 13, 45

 Leitoupo, 139

 Lenz, F. G. , in Yunnan, 150, 151

 Li Han Chang, in Yunnan, 149

 Li Hung Chang, 72, 149; on opium, 46, 190

 _Ling chi_, 69, 231, 232

 Li Pi Chang, Telegraph Manager, Yunnan, 151-153, 181, 184

 Li-Sieh-tai, of Tengyueh, 246

 Little, A. J. , cited, 13, 122; in Chungking, 51

 Little river, 40, 44, 52

 Liu, Colonel, of Chinese Boundary Commission, 244, 245, 255

 Liu, the Viceroy, 72

 Lockhart, Dr. W. , cited, 28, 130

 Loh-Ta-Jen, Chentai at Ichang, 9

 London Missionary Society, Hankow, 6; Chungking, 49

 Lorain, Père, Procureur in Chungking, 50

 Luchow, 60

 Lu-feng-hsien, 186

 Luho, 187

 MacCarthy, Justin, cited, 210

 MacGowan, Rev. Dr. D. J. , cited, 130

 Maire, Père, of Tongchuan, 133

 Mander, S. S. , cited, 47, 191

 Manyuen (Manwyne), 264-269

 Marco Polo, cited, 238; in Yunnan, 149

 Margary, A. R. , cited, 266; in Yunnan, 149, 246; his murder, 264-269

 Marks, Rev. Dr. J. E. , 289, 290

 Martin, Rev. Dr. W. A. P. , cited, 67, 170

 Martini, M. (D. S. P. ), in Bhamo, 285

 Mason, Rev. G. L. , cited, 28

 Mateer, Rev. C. W. , cited, 28, 140

 Meadows, T. T. , cited, 113, 154

 Medhurst, Rev. W. H. , cited, 87 (wrongly written "Meadows"), 197

 Medhurst, Sir W. H. , cited, 5, 45, 108

 Medicines in China, 83, 107-110

 Mekong river, 221, 233, 234

 Mencius, cited, 198

 Methodist Episcopalian Mission, 40, 54

 Michie, A. , cited, 124

 Missionaries, success in China, 5; numbers in Hankow, 6

 Missions Étrangères de Paris, 6, 64, 65, 105, 122, 146, 171

 Mi Tsang Gorge, 17

 Mohammedans, and opium, 112; in Chaotong, 113, 114; near Tongchuan, 128; in Tali, 216; insurrection, 145, 185, 187, 203; superiority, 216; the milkman, 217

 Momien (Tengyueh), the city of, 243-249

 Money, changing, 95; remittance of, 95

 Morgan, C. L. , cited, 66, 70

 Morphia, imported, 48, 49

 Moule, Bishop, cited, 130

 Moutot, Père, Provicaire in Suifu, 63, 65

 Muirhead, Rev. W. , cited, 123

 Mungtze, 148-150, 159

 Myothit (Santien), 278, 279

 Nampoung, encampment, 270, 275-278

 Nantien, fort of, 250, 251

 Opium, imports and exports of, 46-48; in Hankow, 3; in Chungking, 45; in Suifu, 72, 73; demoralising influence of, 41; ---- refuge, Chungking, 41; ---- ports, 33; poisoning by, 111, 112, 212; my chairbearers and, 94; my coolie and, 219; appeal for suppression, 190, 191

 d'Orleans, Prince Henri, cited, 148; in Yunnan, 149

 Parricide in China, 69

 Pearson, Prof. C. H. , cited, 186, 224

 _Peking Gazette_, cited, 53, 169, 231

 Pen, telegraph manager, Tengyueh, 244

 Pêng Yü-lin, high commissioner, cited, 192

 Pidgin-English, 3, 9, 18

 Piercy, Rev. G. , cited, 191

 Ping-shan-pa, 13

 Pits for the dead, 133

 Plague, bubonic, in Yunnan, 213

 Pollard, Rev. S. , missionary, Tongchuan, 121

 Poppy, 37, 57, 78, 84, 118, 142; surreptitiously grown, 46

 Post-offices, 95, 96

 Prisons in China, 209-211

 Punishments in China, 103, 104, 136, 239

 Pupêng, 193

 Pupiao, 236; my men die at, 281

 Reade, Charles, cited, 209

 Reed, Miss M. , cited, 191

 Reid, Rev. G. , cited, 41, 192

 "Rice Christians, " 6

 Roberts, Rev. Mr. , missionary, Bhamo, 286

 Rockhill, W. W. , cited, 280, 281

 St. Thomas, visit to Suifu, 65

 Salween river, 237-240

 Santa, Shan town, 259-263

 Schehleh, 272, 277

 Scott, J. G. , cited, 287, 289

 Sengki-ping, 84

 Settee, fort of, 274, 275

 Shachiaokai, 192

 Shang-kwan, 204

 Shans, 240, 252, 254, 256-269

 Shih-pao-chai, 32

 Shuichai, 234

 Shweli river, 242

 Silver in Yunnan, 161, 163; in Tengyueh, 249

 Singai (Bhamo), 218

 Sladen, Major, 267

 Small feet, 14, 101, 153

 Small-pox, 212, 213

 Smith, Rev. A. H. , cited, 41, 269

 Smith, Rev. John, missionary, Talifu, 202, 209, 214, 219

 Smith, Mr. Stanley P. , his rapid conversion of a Chinaman, 279

 Soldiers, their weapons, 234, 241, 249; fierceness of aspect, 263; courage, 271

 "Squeezing" in China, 151, 152

 Stead, W. T. , cited, 152

 Suicide by opium, 111; land of, 111, 112

 Suifu, the city of, 62-75

 Sutherland, Rev. Dr. A. , cited, 123, 173

 Swinburne, A. C. , cited, 14

 Szechuen, "country of the clouds, " 82; population, 186; contrasted with Yunnan, 85-88; Catholic stronghold, 64

 Taipingkai, Shan town, 263

 Taiping-pu, 226

 Taiping river, 246, 250, 252, 258, 278, 279

 Tak-wan-hsien, 92, 94, 96

 Tak-wan-leo, 92

 Talichao, 234

 Talifu, the city of, 202-219; its converts, 178

 Tanto, 82

 Taoshakwan, 86

 Tao[=u]en, 116

 Tawantzu, 92

 Taylor, Rev. Dr. J. Hudson, cited, 46, 67, 68, 70, 179; on opium, 46; on ancestral worship, 67; Chinese in lake of fire, 67, 68

 Tchih-li-pu, 86

 Telegraph, in Yunnan, 147; in Tali, 208; in Yungchang, 234; in Tengyueh, 243-248; system of telegraphing Chinese characters, 166-168; telegraphic transfers, 95, 159

 Tengyueh (Momien), the city of, 243-249

 "Term question, " 122, 123

 Theatre in Tengyueh, 246, 247

 Tommé, M. , in Yunnan, 150

 Tongchuan, the city of, 120-134; its converts, 178

 Tonquin, 148, 149

 Tragedy of the Tali valley, 220, 221

 Tremberth, Rev. Mr. , missionary, Chaotong, 101

 Tsen Yü-ying, the cruel Viceroy, 267

 Tung-lo-hsia, 35

 Turner, Rev. F. Storrs, cited, 46

 Tu Wen Hsiu, the Mohammedan Sultan, 203

 Ullathorne, Bishop, cited, 210

 Vial, Père, of Yunnan, 150

 Voltaire, cited, 173

 Von Richthofen, cited, 90

 Wanhsien, the city of, 24-31

 Warren, Consul Pelham, of Hankow, 8

 Warry, Mr. , Chinese adviser to the Burmese Government, 229, 261, 285

 Wherry, Rev. J. , cited, 123

 Widows, virtuous, 52, 53, 78

 Williams, Rev. Dr. S. Wells, cited, 47, 110, 126, 197, 267

 Williamson, Rev. Dr. A. W. , cited, 70, 223

 Wong, banker in Yunnan, 163-166

 Wong-wen-shao, the Viceroy, 180, 181

 Woodin, Rev. S. F. , cited, 66, 179

 Woolston, Miss S. H. , cited, 14

 Wuchang, 3

 Wuntho Sawbwa, 245, 253, 254

 Wushan Gorge, 20

 Wushan-hsien, 20

 Yangki river, 221

 "_Yang kweitze_", 18, 25, 228, 229

 Yanglin, 145

 Yangpi, 224

 Yang Yu-ko, Imperialist general, 203, 204

 Yeh, of the Chinese Boundary Commission, 224

 Yehtan rapid, 19

 Yenwanshan, 193

 Ying-wu-kwan, 193

 Yuenchuan, 60

 Yungchang, the city of, 234, 235

 Yunnan, the city of, 147-183; its converts, 177; the province of, 85-88; its converts, 178

 Yunnanhsien, 196

 Yunnan Yeh, 193

[Illustration: ROUGH SKETCH-MAP OF CHINA AND BURMA SHOWING AUTHOR'SROUTE FROM SHANGHAI TO RANGOON. ]

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