CO129-330 - Public Offices - 1905 — Page 312

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breed, and the cattle markets protected, cattle rearing would become a valuable source of income to the people and revenue to the Government.

At 6 P.M. the "Moorhen" anchored for the night at Ta Huang-chiang (Tai-wang- kong), a busy town on the right bank. This place is locally known as Konghan (river mouth), being situated-as, indeed, with few exceptions, all the principal It is towns on the river at a junction of a tributary with the main stream. characteristically Chinese that, although there are at least three well-known towns on the river called Konghau, no attempt is made to distinguish one from the other by adding, as we should, the name of the river whose mouth is referred to. Probably for the same reason that a well educated Chinaman is prone in conversation to leave his quotations from the Classics half finished, taking it for granted that his hearer knows the rest, so in speaking of Konghau one is expected to know the particular river mouth that is referred to. In the same way a. Cantonese in Kuangsi will inform you that he is going down to the capital, "hsia sheng," leaving you to guess that he means, as a Cantonese, Canton, and not Kueilin, the capital of Kuangsi.

Since the introduction of steam navigation on the upper river about six years ago, a large native passenger trade has sprung up between this place and Wuchow, launches leaving daily for down and up-river ports. In the main street-all these riverine towns have one principal street running parallel to the river bank and always outside the town wall--are several large shops where the display of foreign goods is quite equal to anything I have seen in Wuchow.

At Konghan the river whose course, from our point of view, had hitherto been due west, turned south, and henceforward the course to Nanning was south-

west.

I was agreeably surprised on landing at Konghau, and later at every place we visited along the river, to find that we met with no incivility on the part of the people. They evinced a certain amount of natural curiosity, especially when we stopped to purchase auything at a shop, but, excepting the invariable escort of small children, we were never followed by that jostling, evil-smelling crowd, which in so many parts of China make sight-seeing distasteful and even dangerous. At Kueihsien, which formerly had an anti-foreign reputation, and where before now foreigners have been stoned in the streets, we walked right into the middle of a dragon procession, and stood in a doorway while hundreds of people passed by. I did not hear a single word of abuse, and in fact the only time when we attracted any particular attention was when I spoke to my servant in Mandarin-the fact of a foreigner being able to speak the official language was, as I discovered on more than one occasion, most surprising to "the man in the street."

Leaving Konghau next morning at 8 o'clock, we reached the prefectural city of Isunchow (Tamchau, locally known as Kuaiping after the district of that name in which it is situated) soon after 10. Here the West River divides into two branches and, as far as the Chinese are concerned, loses its identity in the Hung-shui, locally known as North River, marked on most foreign maps as the West River-main branch, as it traverses the entire province and rises in the mountains of Kweichow; and secondly, the Tso Chiang, locally known as South River, a shorter, but Some commercially far more important waterway, leading to Nanning and Posé. 60 miles above Isunchow, the Hung River is joined by the Lau or Lung River, which flows through the mountainous districts of Liuchow and Chingyuan. This country, which produces timber, cattle, and various vegetable oils, has for some years past been overrun with banditti, and is at the present time the scene of sanguinary conflicts between the so-called rebels and the Imperial troops. We did not learn until after our return from Nanning that a day or two before we arrived at Hsunchow two battalions of soldiers had mutinied at Liuchow and joined the rebels, sacked the city, and put all the officials to flight. The Prefect of Hsunchow, whom I interviewed at the time, informed me that all was peaceful in that part of the world, and that the robber bands had been driven back into the hills-a striking instance of the difficulty one experiences in obtaining reliable information from local officials in

China,

The city of Hsunebow is so centrally situated that progressive officials have Tuore than once agitated for the removal of the provincial capital from Kueilin, a town of no commercial importance, hidden away in the north-east corner of the province at the head of an inaccessible river to this place. There the Viceroy made his head- quarters during his three months stay in the province last year, and the Governor, having shortly before spent some months in Wuchow, the rumour that Kueilin, was to be abandoned gained widespread credence. However, nothing has yet been done in the

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matter as far as I am aware. The establishment of the provincial Government at Hsunchow would undoubtedly be of great advantage, both from a military and a commercial point of view. Moreover, when the time comes for the opening of the mines in this province, and the establishment of a mining bureau, the latter institu- tion to be of any practical value could never be placed at Kueilin. The most energetic concessionnaire might well shrink from a month's journey in native boat, with fair chance of capsize in a rapid, to lay his plans before the Board. Hsunchow is but three days by steamer from Hong Kong and Canton.

in

The city of Hsunchow covers the apex of the triangle formed by the junction of the North and South Rivers, the principal business suburb facing the latter. The streets have a busy and prosperous appearance, and there is a fair display of foreign goods in a row of substantial shops in the main thoroughfare. The surrounding country is devoted to rice, and it was here that owing to the failure of the

crops two successive years, that the famine of 1903 first made itself felt. An American missionary to whom I remarked on the healthy and comfortable appearance of the people at the time of my visit, and in particular the unusually large number of babies to be seen at the house doors, told me that in Kuaiping itself all traces of the famine had disappeared, but that in the surrounding villages the people were still miserably poor, having in many cases disposed last year of all their household goods and agricultural implements to keep themselves alive. Asked if, in his opinion, the assistance rendered by the Hong Kong Government last year was appreciated by the people at large, he said he thought it was. He had often heard villagers refer in grateful terms to the "English rice." My own experience was less encouraging. Not one of the officials with whom I came in contact in the course of my journey, and of whom I invariably inquired after the condition of the people, even referred to the Hong Kong Famine Fund, much less expressed appreciation of its charitable efforts. And yet, only a year ago the Colony of liong Kong subscribed close on 50,000 dollars for the relief of the destitute in Kuangsi, and British missionaries gave up their summer holidays, and in some cases, seriously affected their health, by distributing rice and money in the towns through which I passed. I am inclined to attribute this silence not to ingratitude, but rather to ignorance. All the officials I met hal been com- paratively recently appointed to their posts, and it is quite possible-bearing in mind the "mental detachment" which the ordinary local official is wont to exhibit în regard to events which have happened prior to his assumption of office-that these men had really never heard of the Famine Fund and its work.

A seven hours' run brought us to Kueihsien, a district city on the right bank, where we were destined to stay ten days. The river which had hitherto been rising slowly, unexpectedly began to fall; and although a steady, albeit, gradual rise set in after a few days, the "Moorhen," owing to her length and breadth of beam, was obliged to wait until the water-mark on the Canton Guild-house at Kueihsien (4 fect below the top of the basement) indicated that there was at least 3 feet over the rocks in the Great Rapid, 30 miles above. This rapid, locally known as the Fu Po T'ai Tan, is the principal bar to steam navigation on the upper river--not because of its shallow. ness--but because of the narrow channels between the rocks. launches, of not more than 10 feet beam, can cross the rapid with at least 6 feet loss However, 10-knot water than would be safe for the "Moorhen," so I should say the rapid would be navigable for such vessels about six months in the year. During our wait at Kuei- hsien, launches drawing 3 feet passed up daily en route for Nanning. When on the 22nd June we were able to proceed, the dreaded rocks were all covered, and steaming 13 knots, the "Moorhen" passed through in twelve minutes. On our way down, the river was even higher and the rapid was hardly noticeable.

Kueihsien appeared to be a clean, well-built little town; the foreign goods displayed in the shops struck me as being of a commoner and cheaper description than those I had hitherto seen. The district is a poor one, having as recently as three years ago been overrun by brigands, who have left their mark in ruined temples and farm-houses. The river here winds through a broad, treeless plain, dotted every here and there with isolated masses of black rock, obviously of volcanic formation. The principal crop is maize, the soil being too sandy for rice. Fairly good roads cross the plain in all direc- tions, and here, for the first time in the South of China, I saw carts-large two-wheeled vehicles drawn by one or more bullocks-the wheels standing quite 8 feet high and the axle 10 feet broad. These carts are used to bring in the maize and the long grass which

grows in swampy patches between the maize fields. They would, I imagine, prove very useful for military transport; I counted over fifty in the vicinity of Kueihsien city. Cattle--both water buffalo and the “red variety-are plentiful, and

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