THE NORTHERN PORTS
[Sidenote: 1869. Shanghai, Feb. 21.]
_Salamis_ arrived at Shanghai; at anchor off naval yard. When on a
visit to Sir Rutherford Alcock at Peking, in September 1867, he, having
been applied to by the merchants at Chin-kiang on the subject of
opening the Poyang Lake to steam navigation, expressed a wish that, if
an opportunity offered, I should visit and report on its capabilities.
The subject of the new treaty and fresh ports to be opened having been
discussed by the Chamber of Commerce here, and affairs either in Japan
or China not requiring my immediate presence, I decided on gratifying
a long-cherished wish of ascending the Yang-tse-kiang as far as
practicable in the _Salamis_.
Mr. Swinhoe, our late Consul at Taiwan, Formosa, a scholar, linguist,
and naturalist, has been selected by Sir Rutherford to visit and report
on such ports as are most desirable for trade; particularly near that
part of the Great River, the Poyang Lake, and above Hankow, even as far
as the province of Sechuen. In compliance with the Minister’s request,
the _Opossum_ gun-boat waits at Hankow to convey Mr. Swinhoe whither he
will.
The Shanghai Chamber of Commerce, more particularly interested in the
opening of new treaty ports, has selected Mr. Michi, an enterprising
traveller, and well acquainted with the value of teas and silks,
to proceed, at their request, with Mr. Swinhoe. Another gentleman,
Mr. Francis, accompanies them. The Chamber of Commerce at Shanghai
having also got the firm of Jardine and Company to lend their small
steam-vessel, she will be attached to the _Opossum_, with such
surveying officers as Brooker can dispatch from the _Sylvia_. Although
they will hardly have time to complete a survey of the river above
Hankow, they will be able to verify that of Captain Blakiston. On
Monday, February 8, we left the hospitable roof of Mr. Lavers, of the
firm of Gilman and Co., and started in the _Salamis_.
[Sidenote: Flag in _Salamis_, March.]
The space between Shanghai and Hankow is now well-beaten ground, owing
to the Company’s steamers, which start both ways every two or three
days according to the freights they ship, carrying a large number of
passengers, the majority of whom are Chinese. The chief interest to
me is that twenty-seven years ago, when in the _Dido_, we formed one
of a large fleet of upwards of seventy men-of-war and transports, all
of which succeeded in getting up without the use of steam as far as
Nankin, which brought about peace and the signing of the treaty which
bore that name.
[Sidenote: Mar. 9.]
At sunset on Tuesday the 9th we came to off Chin-kiang, promising to
visit Silver Island on our return. On the following morning we found
that Mr. Allen, the Vice-Consul, and several other gentlemen, among
whom was a son of my old friend Carnie of former days at Singapore,
hearing of my weakness that way, had prepared a shooting excursion to
Deer Island, some six miles up the river.
As they could easily return with the current, we took the whole party
on board the _Salamis_, and before noon proceeded up the river and
anchored off the island, a long flat of about seven miles by four, and,
except at the time when we arrived, covered with long and strong reeds,
which the natives were cutting for thatch or fuel, making at same time
temporary, but not uncomfortable, huts to live in. There was no lack
of game or sportsmen, and from the quantity of firing the bag ought to
have been a large one: seven deer, and a few varieties of duck, teal,
and quail, was the result. The deer were what are called “hog,” with a
coarse rough hair and a peculiar tusk protruding, boar fashion, from
the jaw. We had an agreeable day and dined together in the wardroom,
the Chin-kiang party not leaving until late.
[Sidenote: Nankin, Mar. 11.]
Weighed at daylight, and came to off Nankin, but not in time to
perform an excursion to the Ming Tombs; people wishing to visit these
comfortably should write beforehand and have ponies or chairs ready. We
mounted the city wall on the highest point of the hill to the eastward,
the view from whence gives a good idea of the vast extent of water and
of the desolation inside. Fresh-looking ship guns marked U.S.R.M.,
which I read “United States Republic Marine,” were mounted and brought
to bear on the only anchorage fit for ships of any size; they were
about 42-pounders, of a pattern now obsolete, and had evidently been
placed since the visit of the _Rodney_.
Having been on the top of the great Porcelain Tower when it stood
prominent in its magnificence, I did not care to go now, as travellers
do, to seek for bricks among its ruins.
I have a printed copy of a letter addressed by the Shanghai General
Chamber of Commerce to W. H. Medhurst, Esq., in reply to an application
from our Minister at Peking, in which they enumerate the different
ports they think desirable should be opened. Among them is Wu-hu. Wu-hu
is situated about two miles above the mouth of a tributary stream, on
the right bank of the Yang-tse, about sixty miles above Nankin.
[Sidenote: Mar. 12.]
We anchored off this for a couple of hours on the afternoon of the
12th, when I proceeded up the creek with Swinhoe, Dob Crosbie, and the
pilot, and landed near the walled town. The whole right bank, and part
of the left, had trading junks thickly stowed side by side with ends
on to the shore, which gave proof of a vast amount of commerce; while,
judging from the buildings in progress, both city and suburbs were
gradually recovering from the effects of the late Civil War.
It is curious to note that early travellers in China have described
the country as either a “vast plain” or “an enormous fertile valley.”
More variation of surface, perhaps, does not appear in any country, and
where we should be most inclined to look for such features, namely on
its great artery, it is diversified enough to please the most exacting
of tourists.
Commencing at the mouth of the Yang-tse-kiang, there is naturally a
considerable extent of flat alluvial land, the delta of the river,
where once, no doubt the ocean held its sway. But soon we come to hills
and high lands, and at Chin-kiang the eye is delighted with the steep
and rugged cliffs. About Nankin the country is prettily broken into
ridges and hills, and before reaching far above this, mountains shut in
the river on either side.
[Sidenote: Mar. 13.]
On the afternoon of the 13th we passed close to Nankin (pronounced and
spelt Bankin by our civil and communicative pilot, with a strong nasal
twang), such as might be found in the United States, and to which I
have ceased to object. He had often passed up here during the wars in
1861, in a vessel that was always ready to supply with “munitions” the
side that could pay best.
He pointed out the fort close to the river bank on the east side of
the Pagoda, once in possession of the Imperialists, while the rebels
held the city, the nearest wall of which was not a quarter of a mile
distant. There were also the stern posts to which two rebel chiefs
had been chained until released by death. The city subsequently
surrendered, when every living soul was put to death, and for weeks
after, decapitated bodies infested the river for miles. It was on
passing these batteries that Lord Elgin was fired at, on which occasion
young Birch, who had been one of my youngsters in the _Raleigh_, lost
an arm.
Our pilot not being quite as much at home as those who work the trading
steamers, we always came to in the evening; besides, our hurry was not
such as to prevent one seeing what was to be seen during daylight.
[Sidenote: Mar. 14.]
Weighing on 14th, by a little after 11 o’clock we came up with one of
the most picturesque objects on the river, a rock rising abruptly,
called the “Little Orphan”; but the day was dull and a mist hung over
the adjacent country: the right thing would have been to ascend a small
pagoda on the top and enjoy a splendid view. Shortly afterwards we
saw the Orphan Rock in the entrance of the Poyang Lake, standing in
bold relief, the guardian of the passage. On the left of the entrance
is Hu-kau, a temple within a high picturesque wall, where resides a
Chinese Admiral with his war junks.
The legend of the Orphan Rock, told us by the pilot, is, that in bygone
ages a Chinaman, with his wife and two children, was crossing the
river, when his boat was upset in a storm. The parents at once sank,
but a kind turtle rising to the surface, took the children on his back,
and instead of making for the shore, appears to have swum up stream,
when after a while one of the children slipped off and was drowned,
when there arose the rock now called “The Little Orphan.” The turtle
then made for the Poyang Lake with his second charge, but before he
reached the shoal the other child fell off at the spot where the rock
rose out of the water called “The Great Orphan.” The benevolent turtle
then died too, and his broken heart formed a huge rock not far from the
resting-place of the lost child.
[Sidenote: Sunday.]
We anchored off Chin-kiang as the bell was tolling for afternoon
service. Our appearance had caused the clergyman to delay the service
twenty minutes, but as we were not informed, his kind intention was
lost on us. This was one of the open ports selected on the river. Like
most of the towns on the southern bank of the Yang-tse, it had been in
the hands of the rebels, the effects of whose ravages were apparent. It
is a neat little settlement, with European-looking houses, a Bund in
front, and the handsome range of Lien-Shan mountains for a background.
The merchants here had long been aware of the advantages to trade that
would accrue by the opening of a port or ports on the Poyang Lakes,
with permission to ply steamers either as traders or tugs. As yet the
Chinese authorities, blind to their advantage, have been opposed to the
use of steam in the inner waters.
[Sidenote: Mar. 15.]
With the assistance of the _Faust_, a small steamboat of about forty
tons, kindly lent us by Jardine Mathieson’s firm at Shanghai, it was
my intention to have explored this lake, and I determined to wait her
arrival. She was to have followed us in tow of one of the American
steamers that run between Hankow and Shanghai. This proposed expedition
caused no small sensation in the settlement. Those who could not get
stowed away on board the _Salamis_, got ready their house-boats; two
started for the scene of action at once, as they knew their craft were
of too frail a construction to stand a tug of a greater rate than three
knots per hour.
While detained waiting for the _Faust_, several shooting parties went
forth, but with small results; those who went prepared only for snipe
fell in with duck, and _vice versa_. However, a little earlier in the
season, game of all sorts must be plentiful. Pheasants, ducks, teal,
and the hog deer were to be purchased.
[Sidenote: Mar. 17.]
The steamer from Shanghai arrived on the 17th, but without the
_Faust_, owing to a defect in her machinery. I therefore determined on
proceeding for Hankow without further delay, promising, if possible, to
explore the Poyang on my return, when we shall have the advantage of
several feet rise of water.
4.15 P.M.--Slipped from buoy to run up as far as we could before dark,
so as to ensure our reaching Hankow on the following day.
[Sidenote: Mar. 18.]
Weighed at five. We soon came to the most beautiful scenery we had yet
met with. High hills rising immediately from the bank, with woods,
a great improvement on the shrubs we had hitherto passed. The Spit
Rock is a peculiar feature in a narrow pass. The high-water line was
distinctly marked on the rocks some twenty feet above where we were.
Among the curious things we met were immense timber rafts, each with
its street of wooden houses. We came to off Hankow. Found _Opossum_
and a Russian gunboat, an old acquaintance of the Gulf of Tartary.
The good people of Hankow are noted for their hospitality, and before
leaving Shanghai, quarters were offered us in both the houses of
Jardine and Mathieson, and Gilman and Co. We had agreed with Mr. Lavers
to go to whichever house we should inconvenience the least, and they
were to settle it between them. We were claimed by Mr. and Mrs. Ramsay,
old friends of Mr. Gilman. A good fellow, Mr. Beveridge of Jardine’s
house, expressed great disappointment at our not going to him, but most
kindly took instead the whole of my staff, including Dob.
[Sidenote: Hankow.]
Hankow is only separated from Wu-chang and Han-yang by the Han and
Yang-tse rivers. The surrounding country is flat, and as I could not
look with commercial eyes on the adjacent cities, with their numerous
junks that lined the shore, especially at the junction of the Han,
where they seemed to form a deadlock, I am afraid I was a little
disappointed with the celestial emporium. On shore, and along the
walls, the high-water mark was clearly defined; about every three or
four years the country is inundated, without, however, affecting the
health of the place. Our countrywomen, and particularly the children,
looked fresh and blooming.