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the "pagode" were so little advanced, and my bedroom was empty of furniture but full of chinks.
To the south and west of Chitien is a long ridge with a really fine plantation of tall firs. The railway runs along the level at the foot of this ridge, and part of the embankment is complete. Thence it crosses into a small desolate valley through a very low pass of solid rock, now being cut. From this pass, across the valley, can be seen the Yunnan Plain and Lake—for this (28th May) is the last stage. There are no signs yet of the passage of the line into the plain, though it should not be very difficult; but in the plain itself, here full of pear orchards, work is in preparation for a stone viaduct of 10 metres span. It is in connection with this viaduct that the story went abroad of a demand for Chinese babies—as cement—but these legends are, if only for the moment, happily discredited. Beyond the viaduct I met with no sign of the railway until I crossed the broken hill some 10 miles from Yunnan city. On the western slope a stone quarry has been appropriated, and the fact is announced by an unguarded triangular flag lettered in black on a white ground.
What is being done, or contemplated, in the immediate neighbourhood of the city itself I have elsewhere described. What I have, I find, forgotten to mention is that the line is a single line, and once made could not be doubled except at an expenditure far in excess of its excessive original cost.
The impression most deeply made upon me by my journey was that the "trace" selected by the French for their railway is certainly not less difficult than the line of the road between Têngyüeh and Hsiakuan, condemned by Baber's epigram; but that nevertheless they mean to succeed with it, and will succeed. A route from Kunlong Ferry via Yün Chou, Yünnan-i, and Ch'uhsiung to Yünnan-fu would, I feel convinced, meet with far fewer obstacles, except perhaps between Yün Chou and Mitu. The half of this route that I have traversed (from Hung-ai, 10 miles north of Mitu, to Yunnan-fu) seems to my unprofessional eye not only feasible but, except in some half-dozen places, comparatively easy. That this has not escaped the notice of the French, and that they have no intention of allowing Yunnan-fu to long remain their terminus, is evident if only from the railway chart of "Yunnan-sen" (my inclosure No. 5).* Here will be seen a dotted line sweeping round to the east and north of the city and labelled "Embranchement vers Tali."
Subordinates, and others who have no need to weigh their words, speak openly of French rights to the reversion of Yunnan—of the whole province at least as far west as Tali.
One enthusiastic writer some four years ago declared that Yünnan was destined to make up to French colonists for the loss of Canada. In any case it is the undisguised intention of the Tonquin authorities to establish somewhere, on the line of the railway through "the Plateau," a sanatorium for their employés, civil and military. This may possibly be at the highest point of the line, above the Yang-tsung Lake, not far from the sulphur springs; or it may be in the neighbourhood of Yünnan-fu itself, in our western or northern hills. Whatever may arrive, it is certain that all this money—some have reckoned the probable total cost as high as 330,000,000 fr.—is not being spent in order to facilitate the sale in Yunnan Province of Manchester cottons or of Indian yarn.
As a commercial undertaking the railway cannot pay if it stops short at Yunnan-fu. I do not altogether hold with Mr. Litton that it is "for a strategic line from Laokai to Yunnan city and nothing else." It will in any case tap the plains of Mengtse, A-mi, Posi, and I-liang, besides that of Yunnan-fu; and of these Mongtse and I-liang are not to be contemned. It will, moreover, even without the construction of actual "embranchements," drain all the trade of Eastern Yünnan, and will, unless the Indian Government relaxes its prohibitions, secure the entire carriage of opium destined for Canton. At the same time it is impossible to believe that its projectors did not contemplate its extension beyond Yünnan-fu. Violent Anglophobes, such as Fontenoy's "in the 'Courrier d'Haiphong,'" exult in the thought that this French line will ultimately meet in Szechuan a branch of the Russian railway to Hsi-an, and so shut off India from the Yang-tsze Valley.
These are vapourings, no doubt, but we cannot afford to treat them altogether with contempt. As long as it seemed uncertain whether the project of a French line from Laokai to Yunnan-fu would not be smothered through internal dissensions or Chinese chicanery, an attitude of indifference was permissible to us. We now see and know that the project is being actually carried through, and that Tonquin will, unless something unforeseen prevents, be in railway communication with this city in at most six years—possibly in three. We should not, I submit, continue to sit still, but should without further delay demand a concession from China of the line from Kunlong Ferry to Tali and Yunnan-fu—or, better still, right on to Hankow. I do not think that the Provincial Government here would oppose. They are perturbed at the French advance, before which they know that they are helpless; and the less ignorant among them see that Yunnan Province would have a better chance of preserving its independence, both in fact and in name, if British interests could be played off against French claims.
(Signed) W. H. WILKINSON.
Yünnan-fu, May 29, 1904.
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the "pagode" were so little advanced, and my bedroom was empty of furniture but full of chinks.
To the south and west of Chitien is a long ridge with a really fine plantation tall firs. The railway runs along the level at the foot of this ridge, and part of the embankment is complete. Thence it crosses into a small desolate valley through a very low pass of solid rock, now being cut. From this pass, across the valley, can be seen the Yunnan Plain and Lake-for this (28th May) is the last stage. There are no signs yet of the passage of the line into the plain, though it should not be very difficult; but in the plain itself, here full of pear orchards, work is in preparation for a stone viaduct of 10 metres span. It is in connection with this viaduct that the story went abroad of a demand for Chinese babies--as cement--but these legends are, if only for the moment, happily discredited. Beyond the viaduct I met with no sign of the railway until I crossed the broken hill some 10 miles from Yunnan city. On the western slope a stone quarry has been appropriated, and the fact is announced by an unguarded triangular flag lettered in black on a white ground.
What is being done, or contemplated, in the immediate neighbourhood of the city itself I have elsewhere described. What I have, I find, forgotten to mention is that the line is a single line, and once made could not be doubled except at an expenditure far in excess of its excessive original cost.
The impression most deeply made upon me by my journey was that the "trace" selected by the French for their railway is certainly not less difficult than the line of the road between Têngyüeb and Hsiakuan, condemned by Baber's epigram; but that nevertheless they mean to succeed with it, and will succeed. A route from Kunlong Ferry via Yün Chou, Yünnan-i, and Ch'uhsiung to Yünnan-fu would, I feel convinced, meet with far fewer obstacles, except perhaps between Yün Chou and Mitu. The half of this route that I have traversed (from Hung-ai, 10 miles north of Mitu, to Yunnan- fu) seems to my unprofessional eye not only feasible but, except in some half-dozen places, comparatively easy. That this has not escaped the notice of the French, and that they have no intention of allowing Yunnan-fu to long remain their terminus, is evident if only from the railway cliart of "Yunnan-sen" (my inclosure No. 5).* Here will be seen a dotted line sweeping round to the east and north of the city and labelled "Embranchement vers Tali.
Subordinates, and others who have no need to weigh their words, speak openly of French rights to the reversion of Yunnan--of the whole province at least as far west as Tali,
One enthusiastic writer some four years ago declared that Yünnan was destined to make up to French colonists for the loss of Canada. In any case it is the undisguised intention of the Tonquin authorities to establish somewhere, on the line of the railway through "the Plateau," a sanatorium for their employés, civil and military. This may possibly be at the highest point of the line, above the Yang- tsung Lake, not far from the sulphur springs; or it may be in the neighbourhood of Yünuan-fu itself, in our western or northern hills. Whatever may arrive, it is certain that all this money-some have reckoned the probable total cost as high as 330,000,000 fr.-is not being spent in order to facilitate the sale in Yunnan Province of Manchester cottons or of Indian yarn.
As a commercial undertaking the railway cannot pay if it stops short at Yunnan- fu. I do not altogether hold with Mr. Litton that it is "for a strategic line from Laokai to Yunnan city and nothing else." It will in any case tap the plains of Mengtse, A-mi, Posi, and I-liang, besides that of Yunnan-fu; and of these Mongtse and I-liang are not to be contemned. It will, moreover, even without the construction of actual "embranchements," drain all the trade of Eastern Yünnan, and will, unless the Indian Government relaxes its prohibitions, secure the entire carriage of opium destined for Canton. At the same time it is impossible to believe that its projectors did not contemplate its extension beyond Yünnau-fu. Violent Anglophobes, such as Fontenoy' "in the "Courrier d'Haiphong," exult in the thought that this French line will ultimately meet in Szechuan a branch of the Russian railway to Hsi-an, and so shut off India from the Yang-tsze Valley.
These are vapourings, no doubt, but we cannot afford to treat them altogether with contempt. As long as it seemed uncertain whether the project of a French line from Laokai to Yunnan-fo would not be smothered through internal dissensions or We now see Chinese chicanery, an attitude of indifference was permissible to us. and know that the project is being actually carried through, and that Tonquia will,
* Not reproduced.
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unless something unforeseen prevents, be in railway communication with this city in at most six years-possibly in three. We should not, I submit, continue to sit still, but should without further delay demand a concession from China of the line from Kunlong Ferry to Tali and Yunnan-fu-or, better still, right on to Hankow. I do not think that the Provincial Government here would oppose. They are perturbed at the French advance, before which they know that they are helpless; and the less ignorant among them see that Yunnan Province would have a better chance of preserving its indepen- dence, both in fact and in name, if British interests could be played off against French claims.
(Signed) W. H. WILKINSON.
Yünnan-fu, May 29, 1904.
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