306
!
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we constantly met with mares and foals at grass. The ponies which are in general use for travelling purposes, are sturdy little animals of between 10 and 11 hands; one that was hired for our visit to the silver mines, did 30 miles in the day with eleven stone up, without apparent difficulty.
I may here mention that the six soldiers whom the Magistrate sent as an escort on our trip to the mines, walked out and back-a distance of at least 30 miles-at an average pace of 33 miles an hour, showing no signs of fatigue at the end of the day. They were dressed in scarlet cloth coat, blue breeches, putties, and straw sandles, and their equipment consisted of rifle, cartridge belt, water bottle, and bag of rice slung over their shoulders. In addition, each man carried a broad-brimmed straw hat, blue cotton umbrella, and long pipe. They presented an extremely picturesque, and, at the same time, workman-like appearance.
We spent a day visiting the silver mines at Sam Chfasan, which lie 15 miles north-west of Kueihsien. These mines, at present worked by a Chinese Syndicate in Hong Kong, have the distinction of being the only mines in Kuangsi worked by machinery. A local tradition says that the Taipings, who swept down the West River forty years ago. capturing and destroying all the principal riverine towns between Nanning and Wuchow, first discovered the presence of silver in these hills Silver has, when digging entrenchments preparatory to their attack on Kueihsien. at any rate, been worked in this district for the last twenty-five years, but it was not until seven years ago that the Chinese Government would give their consent to the importation of machinery. Since then various Syndicates have worked the mines with varying success. At the time of Mr. Twyman's visit in 1901, the mines presented a busy appearance, and they were working at a profit. This is not the case now. Since the services of a European manager were dispensed with two years ago, the mines have been under purely Chinese control, and it is not surprising that under We saw only one shaft the circumstances matters have gone from bad to worse.
being worked, from which quantities of water were constantly being pumped out. The overseer who showed us round-he had formerly been employed in some Straits tin mines--said the yield only amounted to about 20 taels' worth of silver a-day, the principal income being derived from the sale of ore to the country people, who smelt it in primitive furnaces. The staff numbers about 300, of whom not more than 10 are trained miners; working expenses 6,000 dollars a month, income 4,000 dollars. If the manager is to be believed-and he seemed anxious to impress upon me that things were as bad as they could be--the mines must shortly be shut down. The mining machinery, on which large sums of money have evidently been spent, is being rapidly ruined by mishandling and neglect; the greater part of it was not in working order at the time of our visit. On the other hand, the Syndicate's property is evidently by no means exhausted, and the surrounding hills are known to contain lead, copper, and even gold. Under European management the mines might, I think, even now be made to pay. The Head of the present Syndicate is a leading Hong Kong merchant and a British subject. It is difficult to understand why he does not engage a competent European manager. He surely cannot be deterred from doing so by fears of objections on the part of the French Government. The last English manager, B. F. Howard, did, I believe, complain that he owed his dismissal to French intrigue, but I have reason to know that he was actually dismissed for incompetence and untrustworthiness. In any case, I understand that the British Government does not admit the French claim to exclusive mining rights in this province. Here is a valuable concession rendered useless for lack of proper control. It is a pity one of the big British firms in Hong Kong cannot see their way to taking it over.
French Roman Catholic missionaries have been stationed at Kuci hsien and all the principal towns along the West River for the last twenty years. I made a point of calling at the French Mission at all the places I visited, but, except at Nanning, was unlucky in finding the Fathers absent, travelling in the interior. I may mention that the Protestant missionaries, with one exception, were also away from their posts, but in their case, not on duty, but on their annual summer holiday; the Roman Catholic priests, until they reach the rank of Bishop, apparently never go on leave unless they are incapacitated by illness.
The Fathers, whose converts in most places outnumber the Protestants by over three to one, have the reputation of warmly espousing the cause of their church members; in Pingnam I was told that as many cases were heard in the Mission Court as in the Magistrate's Yamên. In this interference-which is not, as one might suppose from a perusal of the letters from Protestant missionaries in the newspapers. invariably ill-advised or malicious-the corruption which reigns in the Yamêns of the
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smaller officials must be experienced to be believed-the French priests are assisted by the Chinese official rank which most of the hold. At Kueihsien the Father has Chinese rank of the fourth class, he dresses and lives in mandarin style. The Kuei- hsien Magistrate, who referred to this gentleman in conversation as the French Consul, informed me that his rank had been bestowed by the late Governor Wang for meritorious services rendered to the provincial Government. He did not explain the precise nature of these services, but it is commonly and uncharitably reported that the Father was honoured for his reasonableness in settling a long-standing case by accepting one-half the amount of compensation originally claimed by the French Consul in Canton! I do not think the French missionaries are popular in Kuangsi; but they identify themselves so thoroughly with the every-day life of the people, that they are able to make themselves feared-and therefore respected-in the Yamêns.
Leaving Kueihsien at daylight on the 22nd June, we passed the Great Rapid at 9.30, and reached Hengchow (Wangchau) at noon. This is a small district city on the right bank, noticeable for its numerous temples and well-built guild-houses. Foreign goods were formerly imported here from Pakhoi viâ Lienchau and Ling-shan Hsieu. (See map.) The district is now supplied from Wuchow. The river banks for miles above Hengehow are lined with black nets, made fast to bamboo poles set at right angles to the bank, which catch the fish spawn floating down the river. This is eare- fully collected and sorted, and then placed in oblong net frames which are towed down to the fish ponds in the Canton delta. Another feature of the landscape is duck- farming: hundreds of men are dotted along the bank for miles, each with a basket cage, a flock of ducklings, and a hoe with which they turn up the grassy bank in search of worms.
Presuming that this industry is not a new one, and that the soft banks have now been broken up in this way
for years, it is extraordinary that any bank remains at all. The constant digging is undoubtedly loosening the foreshore as is proved by the landslips every here and there, and one wonders that the local authorities who are not slow to complain of damage done by steam-launches to riparian property, take no steps to prevent this wholesale destruction of the arable land's only protection against floods.
Twelve miles above Hengchow we reach the small market town of Nan Hsiang-hsü (Nam Heong-hui); here the river touches its southernmost point this side of Nanning. In former days Nan Hsiang-hsü was of considerable importance as the port of transhipment for foreign goods brought overland from Pakhoi viâ Lienchow and Lingshan, destined for Nanning and beyond. The practical desertion of this route, and those to Tengsien and Hengchow above referred to at the present day, shows clearly how completely Wuchow has taken the place of Pakhoi as the distributing centre for Kuangsi. Nan Hsiang-hsü is distant only 60 miles from Kinchow and 85 miles from Pakhoi; the journey used to be made by wheelbarrow in from six to seven days. The proposed French railway from Pakhoi to a point to be determined on the West River would, I presume, have this place as its objective, with continuation to Nanning and
1 possibly junction with the Tonquin system. On the other hand, two French railroad prospectors who visited the province last year returned from Nanning to Pakhoi-at any rate they announced their intention of so doing--via the Tenghsien-Yulin route. The idea may therefore be to run the line via Tenghsien and thence to Kueilin. reference to the map at the end of the Report will show the relative positions of the two routes. I defer to the next section consideration of the effect which these lines-if they are ever completed-are likely to have on the Hongkong-West River trade route.
We passed Yungshun (Wingshun) a small district city on the left bank at 5 r.. and anchored for the night at Ling-li-tsun, distant 40 miles from Nanning.
A
On the whole we noticed in the course of our journey few signs of the disorders prevailing in Kuangsi, but in this place we saw a large village on the river bank standing in ruins, the houses all roofless and not a living creature in the place. I learnt that it was formerly a nest of pirates and had been destroyed by orders of Marshal Su, who, if his enemies speak true, seldom went to such extreme lengths in his dealings with the brigands.
Leaving the following morning (23rd June) at 6 o'clock, we arrived at Naming, and anchored off the city at half-past 10. Nanning, the great trade mart of Western Kuangsi, is distant (approximately) 320 miles from Wuchow and 550 from Hong Kong. The walled city is comparatively a small one, but its suburbs extend for over a mile and a-half along the right bank of the river. On the opposite side is another smaller suburb, with numerous temples and timber yards. With its crenelated wall,