and of Liverpool.
I have the honour to be, My Lord,
Your Lordship's Most Obedient, Humble Servant,
SMBowen
Enclosure 1.
The Daily Press.
HONGKONG, MAY 19TH, 1884.
In view of the probable speedy opening to foreign trade of the three southern provinces of China, all our available knowledge of the existing trade routes to Yunnan, and conditions of trade and navigation on that valuable natural highway, the great West River, with its various affluents, tributaries, and channels, have for the time being become of paramount interest and importance. Despite the labours of the French commission in 1869, and the travels and works of poor MARGARY, and of GILL, DUPUIS, BABER, COLQUHOUN, and ROCHER, how very meagre our information on the subject really is! The Chinese officials, with that selfish exclusiveness which is so marked a characteristic of the native character, have jealously guarded the secrets of their waterways, their trade routes, and means of communication. More particularly does this remark apply to the old trade route to Yunnan via the West River. The stoppage, or rather, perhaps, more correctly speaking, the comparative disuse, of this route, has been variously attributed to the Taiping rebellion, the opening of Hankow to foreign steam navigation, and to the exactions and rapacity of lekin and other local officials who are located at many points along the entire course of the river from Yunnan even up to the very gates of Canton, each and every one of whom demands his squeeze more or less legal or illegal as the case may be. M. EMIL ROCHER, in his valuable work on Yunnan, mentions six ways of communication at present open for the transit of traders and their merchandise; of these he says some are long, costly, and difficult, and others impracticable on account of the lekin system; he states that one route only offers a navigable waterway right into the province of Yunnan and unites in itself almost all the desirable conditions, being short and easy, and consequently offering the advantage of great economy of time. This is by way of the Song-koi or Tonquin river. Three of the six routes mentioned are from the Yangtze, and with these we are not now concerned. Another is the route from Bhamo to Tali-fu.
It seems, however, to be now generally conceded, that, although the construction of a railway along this route is not physically impossible, yet the engineering difficulties in the way are so great as to put the project practically out of serious consideration. As Mr. COLBORNE BABER says in his work on the subject of Western China recently published under the auspices of the Royal Geographical Society, "by piercing half a dozen Mont Cenis tunnels and erecting a few Menai bridges the road from Burmah to Yunnan-fu could doubtless be much improved." Mr. COLQUHOUN's route by Zimmé has lately been brought forward, but has still to be explored. M. EMIL ROCHER also mentions the route by the Canton River via Nam-ning-fu, but it is significant that no mention whatever is made of the West River route by means of which Mr. BABER says that foreign manufactures can be conveyed to Yun-nan-fu, so far as the physical obstacles of the country are concerned, with ease and rapidity from Canton.
It is true that the route mentioned by M. ROCHER via Nam-ning is on the lower part of its course by the West River, but the affluent or feeder of this great stream (West River) which is alluded to by M. ROCHER is that taking its course from Peh-sik near the frontier of South-eastern Yunnan and thence by the town of Nam-ning-fu in Kwang-si, ultimately debouching into the West River at Tsun-chau-fu, a departmental city in the same province, distant, following the course of the river, some seventy miles or more above the large trading centre of Wu Chau-fu, and does not in any way communicate with central or even mid-eastern Yunnan, but merely touches a point near the southern frontier of that province at the town of Peh-Shik, which, so far as the Wat-Kong, the stream mentioned, or as Mr. ROCHER terms it Bras Inférieur du fleuve de Canton is concerned, is the terminus and end of its traffic, as beyond this point the river is said not to be navigable even for boats.
On the splendid map of Yunnan which accompanies M. ROCHER's work the West River alluded to by Mr. BABER may be observed crossing the track taken by the late ill-fated MARGARY in the expedition which cost him his life. This river is there marked as Bras Supérieure du fleuve de Canton; but unfortunately M. ROCHER, being probably, and only naturally so too, as a patriotic Frenchman, more immediately concerned with the route through his own territory of Tonquin, does not appear to have given much attention to this Bras Supérieur du fleuve de Canton as he terms it, and his track does not seem to have come near it at any point.
In an article which appeared in these columns on the 19th February last we gave some details of this route, some of which it may be useful here to reproduce with additional information. Mr. MICHAEL Moss, who, at the expense of the Hongkong Chamber of Commerce, undertook an expedition up the West River between the months of April and September, 1870, appears by some unfortunate mis-conception to have left the main stream at the prefectural city of Tsun-Chau. Mr. Moss was in all probability misled by the statements of natives anxious to prevent his obtaining any useful information on the subject of his inquiry; for, in his report of the expedition, dated the 28th October, 1870, addressed to the Hon. P. RYBIE as Chairman of the Committee of the Hongkong Chamber of Commerce, he speaks of the great river down which comes the copper, gold, and silver, the musk and other costly merchandise, as "the Pak-bo, or North River, which flowing down a powerful stream full of rapids, rocks, and shoals from its source in the province of Kwei-chow, passes Liu-chow-fu and running through wild mountainous regions, joins