85
and this we reached at 10.15 a.m.
(2)
Here we were obliged to anchor and have one of the house-boats caulked and tinkered up as she had been leaking badly during the night. At noon we essayed to make a start, but some rapids, at the junction of the Kum Chuck Creek with the West River, proved too much for us, and our launch towing two heavy house-boats could make no headway against them, and so we had to put back and wait for a higher tide. These rapids will prove a very serious obstruction to steamers choosing the Hamilton Creek route, in fact, I should think almost an insurmountable one, and for that reason the Futshan Creek route will probably be the one preferred. At 3.25 p.m. we made another start, the tide being nearly full flood, and this time were successful in getting over the rapids. At last we were on the West River, and a noble river it certainly looked, fully 800-900 yards broad, and a long straight reach before us showed this breadth to be uniformly kept as far as the eye could see.
Still the country on either side was flat and monotonous, but there were hills and mountains in every direction in the far distance.
It was in the afternoon that I noticed the river traffic seemed somewhat to have diminished. Here the West River joins the North River, at 7.35 p.m., when we passed Sam Shui junction. I am told it is a very fine broad river with possibilities of trade nearly as great if not equal to those of the West River. Your Excellency will be glad to know that that pioneer of commerce, Mr. John Andrew, is at present exploiting this river with a view of ascertaining what the prospects may be as regards future trade. The town of Sam Shui itself, from what one could see, seemed a large and important one, in fact, quite the largest and most important from all outward appearances of any of those that we had hitherto come across in our journey.
X'mas morning broke muggy and warm with cloudy overcast sky, but it was fine. On either side were well-wooded hills reaching right down to the river's edge, wonderfully pretty and much resembling some of the prettiest portions of Japan. I did not notice that the river had narrowed much, in fact, it was quite remarkable how uniform it kept its width. I did notice, though, as we went along, how the volume of trade seemed to diminish. I was disappointed not to see more of it. I had been led to expect brisk river traffic right up as far as Wu-Chau-fo, but certainly the epithet "brisk" could not be applied to all that I saw.
In order to have a short walk on shore, we landed after breakfast at a Likin Station called Sa Ching, and there interrogated the Chinaman in charge as to the chief articles of commerce on which he levied duties: he replied "Firewood, medicine and a certain kind of grain." "Is business good?" He replied, "No, it is not." This confirmed what was apparent. Certainly we had noticed many junks loaded with firewood passing us, but if firewood is the chief staple industry, there is not much to be made out of that. I do not lose sight of the fact that possibly we may have chosen an unfortunate time of the year to ascend the river, when the trade was lax. Mr. Fraser, the Acting Consul at Canton, informs me that there is a large trade done in piece goods. All I can say is I did not see much sign of it, neither did my companions.
The Chinese are noted as farmers and tillers of the soil and in the short time that we landed and walked into the country, I observed that every available inch of land was cultivated: the peasants busy at work in the fields, and all seemingly happy and contented and prosperous looking. Everywhere they were exceedingly civil to us, and we exchanged mutual greetings of goodwill whenever and wherever we met them. I can confidently say that farm land in China if put up for sale would not fetch the starvation prices that are now being offered for similar land in England.
At 9.30 a.m., we embarked again and proceeded on our voyage, but there was nothing worthy of interest to relate. The scenery certainly was fine, and it was pleasant to sit on the deck of the launch and watch the ever-varying aspect of the country, with low-lying well-wooded hills, with dales and vales, descending right to the water's edge, and hills behind these, and yet again hills, and mountains topping these, fading away into the far distance.
(3)
At 1.30 p.m. we sighted Wu-Chau-fu, and at 2 p.m. we arrived opposite the town and anchored. It had taken us exactly 27 hours, exclusive of stoppages, to steam from Canton: averaging about 6.5 miles an hour. We considered this fair going, especially as for the last 100 miles or so, the tide had been against us, with, the pilot reckoned, a 2-knot current running.
From the deck of the launch looking at the town, we were certainly disappointed with the size of it. It is situated on only one side of the river—the left bank. There were a great number of junks moored along the shore, and up a creek which skirted the town on one side, but none of them of any great size. Two of them we noticed carrying Messrs. Jardine, Matheson & Co.'s flag and evidently laden with Kerosene oil. We learnt afterwards that Jardines had an Englishman called Watts resident at Wu-Chau-fu, who superintended the sale of the oil and any other merchandise they sent up.
Jardine, Matheson & Co. were the only European firm represented in the town.
We went ashore at 2.15 p.m. to visit and inspect the town. As on our way up we saw telegraph posts all along the river's edge, we concluded the Imperial Chinese Telegraph had an office in the town. We made straight for this on landing, a friendly native guiding us, in order that we might send telegrams, one to Your Excellency from Mr. Whitehead and myself, the other to Sir Robert Hart from Messrs. Bredon, Beauclerk, and Whitehead.
On arriving at the office, after having passed through a most frightful succession of offensive smells in the streets nearly necessitating Mr. Beauclerk's return to the boat, we were astonished to be greeted in the most fluent English by the Chinese clerk. On enquiry, he told us he had been educated at Queen's College, Hongkong, and I must say he did infinite credit to the teaching staff of that college. He was most intelligent. His fellow clerk had also been trained at the same college and spoke English equally well.
On leaving the telegraph office we walked along the city wall to get some idea of the size of the town. It did not strike us as very extensive, and we computed the population to be about 30,000. We then descended into the streets; they were narrow, dirty and exceedingly odoriferous. However, in these respects they were not dissimilar from those in other Chinese towns. The shops, selling the usual heterogeneous mass of Chinese commodities, were small and I did not notice any big hongs: however, doubtless these will follow as the place is opened up.
From the streets we wandered to the foreshore to see if we could discover the site that Messrs. Jardine, Matheson & Co. had bought in anticipation of the opening of the port. We found it after a time, just outside the town, and most conveniently situated, directly on the river's edge with a clear water frontage. I am told that they bought this piece of land for a comparatively trifling sum, their astuteness in being so early in the field should bring them ample reward, as there is not the slightest doubt that the value of land will increase very much as soon as the place is opened to foreign trade. I did not notice any other site so "eligible" as this one. We tried to discover the site which Messrs. Butterfield and Swire had bought, but failed to do so.
It now being late in the afternoon, we retraced our way to the boat. All this time we had been followed by an ever-increasing crowd of natives, mostly children, who were very annoying, as they pressed round us and would not keep a respectful distance. Occasionally the children raised the cry of "fan quai"—foreign devil—and once if not twice, a few stones and mud were thrown, but this was quickly suppressed by the more...