CANAL SCENE SOUTH OF SHANGHAI. CANAL SCENE SOUTH OF SHANGHAI.
The plans of the Doctor included a journey up the great river, the Yang-tse. There was abundant opportunity for the proposed voyage, as there were two lines of steamers making regular trips as far as Han-kow, about six hundred miles from Shanghai. One line was the property of a Chinese company, and the other of an English one. The Chinese company's boats were of American build, and formerly1 belonged to an American firm that had large business relations in the East. The business of navigating2 the Yang-tse-kiang had been very profitable, and at one time it was said that the boats had made money enough to sink them if it were all put into silver and piled on their decks. But there was a decline when an opposition3 line came into the field and caused a heavy reduction of the prices for freight and passage. In the early days of steam navigation on[Pg 329] the Yang-tse-kiang a passage from Shanghai to Han-kow cost four hundred dollars, and the price of freight was in proportion. For several years the Americans had a monopoly of the business, and could do pretty much as they liked. When the opposition began, the fares went down, down, down; and at the time our friends were in China the passage to Han-kow was to be had for twenty-four dollars—quite a decline from four hundred to twenty-four.
The boys had expected to find the boats in China small and inconvenient4. What was their astonishment5 to find them like the great steamers that ply6 on the North River, or from New York to Fall River or Providence7. They found the cabins were large and comfortable, though they were not so numerous as on the American waters, for the reason that there were rarely many passengers to be carried. The captain, pilots, engineers, and other officers were Americans, while the crew were Chinese. The managers of the company were Chinese, but they left the control of the boats entirely8 in the hands of their respective captains. One boat had a Chinese captain and officers, but she was a small affair, and, from all that could be learned, the managers did not find their experiment of running with their own countrymen a successful one.
At the advertised time the three strangers went on board the steamer that was to carry them up the river, and took possession of the cabins assigned to them. Their only fellow-passengers were some Chinese merchants on their way to Nanking, and a consular9 clerk at one of the British consulates10 along the stream. The captain of the steamer was a jolly New-Yorker, who had an inexhaustible fund of stories, which he was never tired of telling. Though he told dozens of them daily, Frank remarked that he was not like history, for he never repeated himself. Fred remembered that some one had said to him in Japan that he would be certain of a pleasant voyage on the Yang-tse-kiang if he happened to fall in with Captain Paul on the steamer Kiang-ching. Fortune had favored him, and he had found the steamer and the captain he desired.
Frank observed that the steamer had been provided with a pair of eyes, which were neatly11 carved on wood, and painted so as to resemble the human eye. The captain explained that this was in deference12 to the Chinese custom of painting eyes on their ships and boats; and if he looked at the first boat, or other Chinese craft, large or small, that he saw, he would discover that it had eyes painted on the bow. This is the universal custom throughout China; and though a native may have a suspicion that it does no good, he would not be willing to fly in the face of old custom. In case he should leave his craft in blindness, and any accident befell her, he[Pg 330] would be told by his friends, "Serves you right for not giving your ship eyes to see with."
The steamer descended13 the Woosung River to its intersection14 with the Yang-tse-kiang, and then began the ascent15 of the latter. The great stream was so broad that it seemed more like a bay than a river. This condition continued for a hundred and fifty miles, when the bay narrowed to a river, and the far-famed Silver Island came in sight. It stands in mid-stream, a steep hill of rock, about three hundred feet high, crowned with a pagoda16, and covered from base to summit with trees and bushes and rich grass. At first it might be taken for an uninhabited spot, but as the boat approaches you can see that there are numerous summer-houses and other habitations peeping out from the verdure. A little beyond the island there is a city which straggles over the hills, and is backed by a range of mountains that make a sharp outline against the sky. This is Chin-kiang, the first stopping-place of the steamer as she proceeds from Shanghai to Han-kow. She was to remain several hours, and our friends embraced the opportunity to take a stroll on shore. Here is Frank's account of the expedition:
A CHINESE FAMILY PARTY. A CHINESE FAMILY PARTY.
"The streets of Chin-kiang are narrow and dirty, and the most of them that we saw seemed to be paved with kitchen rubbish and other unsavory substances. The smells that rose to our nostrils17 were too numerous and too disagreeable to mention; Fred says he discovered fifty-four distinct and different ones, but I think there were not more than forty-seven or forty-eight. The Doctor says we have not fairly tested the city, as there are several wards18 to hear from in addition to the ones we visited in our ramble19. I was not altogether unprepared for these unpleasant[Pg 331] features of Chin-kiang, as I had already taken a walk in the Chinese part of Shanghai.
A GENTLEMAN OF CHIN-KIANG. A GENTLEMAN OF CHIN-KIANG.
"Everybody says that one Chinese town is so much like another that a single one will do for a sample. This is undoubtedly20 true of the most of them, but you should make exceptions in the case of Canton and Pekin. They are of extra importance; and as one is in the extreme north, and the other in the far south, they have distinctive21 features of their own. We shall have a chance to talk about them by-and-by. As for Chin-kiang, I did not see anything worth notice while walking through it that I had not already seen at Shanghai, except, perhaps, that the dogs barked at us, and the cats ruffled22 their backs and tails, and fled from us as though we were bull-dogs. A pony23 tried to kick Fred as he walked by the brute,[Pg 332] and only missed his mark by a couple of inches. You see that the dumb animals were not disposed to welcome us hospitably24. They were evidently put up to their conduct by their masters, who do not like the strangers any more than the dogs and cats do, and are only prevented from showing their spite by the fear that the foreigners will blow their towns out of existence if any of them are injured.
"We bought some things in the shops, but they did not amount to much either in cost or quality. Fred found a pair of Chinese spectacles which he paid half a dollar for; they were big round things, with glasses nearly as large as a silver dollar, and looked very comical when put on. But I am told that they are very comfortable to the eyes, and that the foreigners who live in China, and have occasion to wear spectacles, generally prefer those made by the Chinese opticians. A pair of really fine pebbles25 will cost from ten to twenty dollars. The glasses that Fred bought were only the commonest kind of stuff, colored with a smoky tint26 so as to reduce the glare of the sun.
CHINESE SPECTACLES. CHINESE SPECTACLES.
"We went outside the town, and found ourselves suddenly in the country. It was a complete change. Going through a gate in a wall took us from the streets to the fields, and going back through the gate took us to the streets again. We saw a man ploughing with a plough that had only one handle, and made a furrow27 in the ground about as large as if he had dragged a pickaxe through it. The plough was pulled by a Chinese buffalo28 about as large as a two-year-old steer29, and he was guided by means of a cord drawn30 through the cartilage of his nose. It was a poor outfit31 for a farmer; but the man who had it appeared perfectly32 contented33, and did not once turn his eyes from his work to look at us.
PLOUGHING WITH A BUFFFALO. PLOUGHING WITH A BUFFFALO.
"A little way off from this ploughman there was a man threshing grain on some slats; they looked like a small ladder placed on an incline, and the way he did the work was to take a handful of grain and thresh it against the slats till he had knocked out all the kernels34 and left nothing but the straw. Such a thing as a threshing-machine would astonish them very much, I should think, and I don't believe they would allow it to run.[Pg 333] Labor35 is so cheap in China that they don't want any machinery36 to save it; when you can hire a man for five cents a day, and even less, you haven't any occasion to economize37.
THRESHING GRAIN NEAR CHIN-KIANG. THRESHING GRAIN NEAR CHIN-KIANG.
"The man who brought the bundles of grain to the thresher had them slung38 over his shoulder, as they carry everything in this country; two bundles made a load for him, and they were not large bundles either. Such a thing as a farm-wagon39 is as unknown as a threshing-machine, and would not be useful, as the paths among the fields are very narrow, and a wagon couldn't run on them at all. Land is very valuable in the neighborhood of the towns, and they would consider it wasteful40 to have a wide strip of it taken up for a road. And, as I have just said, labor is very cheap, especially the labor of the coolies who carry burdens. All the men I saw at work in the field were barefooted, and probably[Pg 334] the wages they receive do not leave them much to spend on boots, after they have supported their families and paid their taxes. They must have a hard time to get along, but they appear perfectly cheerful and contented."
CARRYING BUNDLES OF GRAIN. CARRYING BUNDLES OF GRAIN.
From Chin-kiang the steamer proceeded up the river. The account of what they saw was thus continued by the boys:
"The southern branch of the grand canal enters the river at Chin-kiang; the northern branch comes in some distance below. The river is plentifully41 dotted with junks, but this condition is not peculiar42 to the vicinity of the canal. All the way up from Shanghai to Han-kow it is the same, and sometimes twenty or thirty boats will be sailing so closely together as to endanger their cordage and sides. Perhaps you have seen New York Bay on a pleasant afternoon in summer when every boat that could hoist43 a sail was out for an airing? Well, imagine this great river for hundreds of miles dotted with sails as thickly as our bay on the occasion I have indicated, and you can have an idea of the native commerce of the Yang-tse-kiang. Nobody knows how many boats there are on the river, as no census44 of them is taken. The mandarins collect toll45 at the river stations, but do not trouble themselves to keep a record of the numbers. I asked a Chinese merchant who is a fellow-passenger with us how many boats there are engaged in the navigation of the Yang-tse and its tributaries46, and he answers,
[Pg 335]
"'P'raps hunder tousand, p'raps million; nobody don't know.'
"Another says, 'Great many big million,' and he may not be far out of the way, though his statement is not very specific.
A RIVER SCENE IN CHINA. A RIVER SCENE IN CHINA.
"I have heard a curious story of how the foreigners have secured more privileges than are allowed to the native merchants. Every district has the right to tax goods passing through it. At each district there is a[Pg 336] barrier, commanded by a petty official, with a military guard, and here each native boat must stop and pay the transit47 tax. For long distances these taxes amount to a large sum, and frequently are a great deal more than the goods cost originally. These taxes are known as 'squeezes,' and the barriers where they are paid are called 'squeeze stations.' But the foreigners have secured a treaty with China, or, rather, there is a clause in one of the treaties, which exempts49 them from the payment of the transit 'squeezes;' they only pay the customs duties, and the local tax at the place of destination. Transit passes are issued by which goods belonging to foreigners, though carried in native boats, are exempt48 from squeezing, but these passes can only be obtained by foreigners.
"Since the law went into operation, many Chinese merchants have gone into partnership50 with foreigners; the former furnishing the capital and attending to all the business, while the latter obtain the transit passes and give the name to the firm. A gentleman whom we met in Shanghai is associated with some wealthy Chinese; they put in the money, and he furnishes his name and gets the passes, which none of them could do.
"The native junks will always give a free passage to a foreigner who will pretend to own the cargo51, since they can escape the squeeze if he plays his part successfully. The captain says that last year a sailor who wanted to join an English gun-boat at a place up the river was carried through for nothing by a junk whose cargo he pretended to own. He passed as a 'foreign merchant,' but the fact was he had never bought anything in his life more valuable than a suit of clothes, and had sold a great deal less than that.
A NINE-STORIED PAGODA. A NINE-STORIED PAGODA.
"The river above Chin-kiang is in some places very pretty, and the mountains rise out of the water here and there, making a great contrast to the lowlands farther down. There are several large cities on the way, the most important (or, at all events, the one we know the most about) being Nanking. It was famous for its porcelain52 tower, which was destroyed years ago by the rebels. Every brick has been carried away, and they have actually dug down into the foundations for more. There is only a part of the city left; and as we did not have time to go on shore, I am not able to say much about it. But there are several other cities that were more fortunate, since they were able to save their towers, or pagodas53, as they are generally called. These pagodas are always built with an odd number of stories, usually five, seven, or nine; but once in a great while there is an ambitious one of eleven stories, or a cheap and modest one of only three. We saw one handsome pagoda of nine stories that had bushes and climbing-plants growing from it. I suppose the birds carried the seeds[Pg 337] there, and then they sprouted54 and took root. They make the pagoda look very old, and certainly that is quite proper, as they are all of an age that young people should respect.
LITTLE ORPHAN55 ROCK. LITTLE ORPHAN ROCK.
"There is a funny little island—and not so little, after all, as it is three hundred feet high—that stands right in the middle of the river at one place. They call it the Little Orphan Rock, probably because it was never known to have any father or mother. There is a temple in the side of the rock, as if a niche56 had been cut to receive it. Fred thinks the people who live there ought not to complain of their ventilation and drainage; and if they fell out of the front windows by any accident, they would not be worth much when picked up. Away up on the top of the rock there is a little temple that would make a capital light-house,[Pg 338] but I suppose the Chinese are too far behind the times to think of turning it to any practical use. Great Orphan Rock is farther up the river, or a little out of the river, in what they call Po-yang Lake.
"Around the shores of Po-yang Lake is where they make a great deal of the porcelain, and what we call 'China ware,' that they send to America. The captain says he has frequently taken large quantities of it down the river to Shanghai, and that it was sent from there to our country. They dig the clay that they want for making the porcelain on the shores of the lake, and they get their fuel for burning it from the forests, not far away. The entrance to the lake is very picturesque57; there is a town in a fortress58 on a hill that overlooks the river, and then there is a fort close down by the water. Probably the fort wouldn't be of much use against a fleet of foreign ships; but it looks well, and that is what pleases the Chinese."
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1
formerly
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| adv.从前，以前 | |
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navigating
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| v.给（船舶、飞机等）引航，导航( navigate的现在分词 )；（从海上、空中等）横越；横渡；飞跃 | |
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opposition
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| n.反对，敌对 | |
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inconvenient
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| adj.不方便的，令人感到麻烦的 | |
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astonishment
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| n.惊奇，惊异 | |
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ply
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| v.(搬运工等)等候顾客，弯曲 | |
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providence
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| n.深谋远虑，天道，天意；远见；节约；上帝 | |
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entirely
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| ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地 | |
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consular
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| a.领事的 | |
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consulates
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| n.领事馆( consulate的名词复数 ) | |
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neatly
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| adv.整洁地，干净地，灵巧地，熟练地 | |
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deference
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| n.尊重，顺从；敬意 | |
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descended
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| a.为...后裔的，出身于...的 | |
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intersection
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| n.交集，十字路口，交叉点；[计算机] 交集 | |
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15
ascent
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| n.(声望或地位)提高；上升，升高；登高 | |
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pagoda
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| n.宝塔（尤指印度和远东的多层宝塔），（印度教或佛教的）塔式庙宇 | |
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nostrils
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wards
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| 区( ward的名词复数 )； 病房； 受监护的未成年者； 被人照顾或控制的状态 | |
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ramble
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| v.漫步，漫谈，漫游；n.漫步，闲谈，蔓延 | |
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undoubtedly
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| adv.确实地，无疑地 | |
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distinctive
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| adj.特别的，有特色的，与众不同的 | |
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ruffled
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| adj. 有褶饰边的, 起皱的 动词ruffle的过去式和过去分词 | |
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pony
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| adj.小型的；n.小马 | |
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hospitably
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| 亲切地，招待周到地，善于款待地 | |
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pebbles
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| [复数]鹅卵石； 沙砾； 卵石，小圆石( pebble的名词复数 ) | |
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tint
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| n.淡色，浅色；染发剂；vt.着以淡淡的颜色 | |
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furrow
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| n.沟；垄沟；轨迹；车辙；皱纹 | |
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buffalo
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| n.(北美)野牛；(亚洲)水牛 | |
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steer
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| vt.驾驶，为…操舵；引导；vi.驾驶 | |
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drawn
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| v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的 | |
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outfit
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| n.（为特殊用途的）全套装备，全套服装 | |
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perfectly
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| adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地 | |
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contented
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| adj.满意的，安心的，知足的 | |
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kernels
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| 谷粒( kernel的名词复数 )； 仁； 核； 要点 | |
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labor
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| n.劳动，努力，工作，劳工；分娩；vi.劳动，努力，苦干；vt.详细分析；麻烦 | |
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machinery
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| n.(总称)机械，机器；机构 | |
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economize
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| v.节约，节省 | |
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slung
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| 抛( sling的过去式和过去分词 )； 吊挂； 遣送； 押往 | |
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wagon
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| n.四轮马车，手推车，面包车；无盖运货列车 | |
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40
wasteful
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| adj.（造成）浪费的，挥霍的 | |
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plentifully
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| adv. 许多地，丰饶地 | |
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peculiar
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| adj.古怪的，异常的；特殊的，特有的 | |
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hoist
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| n.升高，起重机，推动；v.升起，升高，举起 | |
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census
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| n.(官方的)人口调查，人口普查 | |
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toll
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| n.过路(桥)费；损失，伤亡人数；v.敲(钟) | |
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tributaries
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| n. 支流 | |
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transit
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| n.经过，运输；vt.穿越，旋转；vi.越过 | |
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exempt
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| adj.免除的；v.使免除；n.免税者，被免除义务者 | |
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exempts
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| 使免除[豁免]( exempt的第三人称单数 ) | |
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50
partnership
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| n.合作关系，伙伴关系 | |
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51
cargo
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| n.(一只船或一架飞机运载的)货物 | |
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52
porcelain
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| n.瓷；adj.瓷的，瓷制的 | |
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53
pagodas
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| 塔，宝塔( pagoda的名词复数 ) | |
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54
sprouted
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| v.发芽( sprout的过去式和过去分词 )；抽芽；出现；（使）涌现出 | |
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55
orphan
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| n.孤儿；adj.无父母的 | |
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56
niche
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| n.壁龛；合适的职务(环境、位置等) | |
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picturesque
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| adj.美丽如画的，（语言）生动的，绘声绘色的 | |
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fortress
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| n.堡垒，防御工事 | |
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