The River of Golden Sand, the narrative of a journey through China and Eastern Tibet to Burmah. With illustrations and ... maps ... With an introductory essay by Col. H. Yule

Front matter

THE EIVEH OF GOLDEN SAND SECOND VOLUME LONDON : PRINTED BY SrOTTISWOODH AND 00., NEW-STREET SQUARE AND PARLIAMENT STREET MAN-TZU HOUSES THE RIVER OF GOLDEN SAND THE NARRATIVE OF A JOURNEY THROUGH CHINA AND EASTERN TIBET TO BURMAH WITH ILLUSTRATIONS AND TEN MAI'S FROM ORIGINAL SURVEYS By Capt. WILLIAM GILL, Koyal Engineers Kflttl) an |ntrobtulorn €ssag Ry Col. HEXRY YULE, C.R., R.E TREADMILL WATKUMIU, IN TWO VOLUMES VOL. II. LONDON JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE STREET 1880 All right* reserved CONTENTS OB THE SECOND VOLUME.

Chapter I

' A RICH AND NOBLE CITY.' PAGK Account of Oh'eng-Tu, as given by Marco Polo — And by Padre Martin Martini — Description of the Modern City — The Rivers, and Probable Changes — Destruction of Documents — Arrival of Mr. Mesny — Political Aspects compel Change in Traveller's intended Route — Decision to travel Homeward via Bat'ang and Bhamo — ■ The Bridges of Ch'eng-Tu — Chinese Temples and Notions of Worship — Ancient Inscribed Stone — The Heaven- Tooth— The City Walls— Visit to the Great Monastery of Wen- Shu- Yiian — Its Buildings and Curiosities — Chapel of Meditation — Antiquities of Oh'eng-Tu — Memorials of Early Events — The History of the Emperor Liu-Pi — Invitation to a Picnic — Notable Guests — The Dinner and its Peculiarities — Table Manners and Customs — Threatenings of Drought — False Notions about the Traveller — The Provision of Currency for the Journey, and Tedious Banking Business — Adieux at Ch'eng-Tu — ' Organisation of Departure ' — Concluding Notices of Ch'eng-Tu and the ' Province of Four Waters ' (Ssu-Ch'uan) ... 1

Chapter II. The Ancient Mahches Of Tibet

To Shuang-Liu — Superstition as to Fires in Towns — Vast Fertility of Country — Personal Criticisms on Travellers — Chinese Idea of Foreigners in general — Hsin-Chin-Hsien — First Sight of the CONTENTS OF PAGE Mountains— Oh'iung-Chou — Memorial of the System of 'Squeeze' — Fine Bridge on the Nan-Ho — Great Coolie-loads — Ta-T'ang-P'u — Tibetan Embassy — Pai-Chang-Yi — Indications of Opium smoking — Paved Road in Decay — Ya-Chou-Fu — Its Commer cial Importance — Cake-Tea — Coolies employed on the Traffic — Close and Beautiful Cultivation — Fei-Lung Pass — Wayside Anecdotes — Hsin-Tien-Chan — Sea of Straw Hats — Yung-Ohing- Hsien — Traffic from Yiin-Nan — Invitation to Breakfast — Ching- K'ou-Chan — Limestone Scenery — Cooper's Mistake about Tea-oil Trees: in reality Rhododendrons — Huang-Ni-P'u — Suspension Bridge — Mountains begin to close round — The Little Pass — Alleged Terrors of the Hills — The Great Pass, and the T'ai- Hsiang Pass — ' Straw-Sandal Flat ' — Ch'ing-Ch'i-Hsien — Diver gence of Road to Yun-nan by Ning- Yuan — Circuitousness of our Route — Pan-Ohiu-x?ai — The Insect Tree and the Wax Tree — Mode of Production of the Wax — The Mountain Crops — San-Ohiao-Ch'eng — Hua-Ling-P'ing — River of Ta-Chien-Lu — Bridge Swept Away — Leng-Chi — Hill People — Lu-Ting-Ch'iao and its Iron Suspension Bridge — Dominoes — Character of People of Ssu-Ch'uan — Toll upon Coolies — Hsiao-P'eng-Pa — Scantier Vegetation— Fragment of elaborate Ancient Road — Arrival at Ta-f'hien-Lu 37

Chapter III

'THE ARROW FURNACE FORGE.' Ta-Chien-Lu — Legendary Etymology of the Name — Native King — Indian Rupees Current— The Place and People — ' Om Mani Pemi Horn ! ' — A House found for us — The Local Government — Transport Arrangements — The Lamas and the Dalai Lama — The Prayer Cylinder and the Multiform Mani Inscriptions — The Lama Ambassadors — Menaces of our Fate if we entered Tibet The Servants begin to Quail— Chin-Tai, his Greed and his Tempers— Heavy Provisioning for the Journey— Contrast of Tibetan and Chinese Habits— Of Tibetan Simplicity of Fare with Chinese Variety— Tariff at Ta-Chien-Lu— Preparations to meet Cold, and Needless Laying-in of Furs — Kindly Aid rendered by the late Bishop Chauveau — An Interpreter found through his Help— Curious History of Peh-ma, this Christian Interpreter— Civility of the Chinese Officers— Difficulties about Baggage Cattle— Negotiations for Carriage— The New Ma-Fu Visit to a Laraassery — Currency for the Journey — Search for a Horse— Parting Gifts and Purchases— The Tibetan's Inseparable Wooden Cup— Tib left behind— Fresh Selection of Nags Fatality of Small-pox in Tibet ... 7g THE SECOND VOLUME. 7 PAGE 116

Chapter IV. The Great Plateau

I. TA-CHIEN-LU TO LIT'ANG. The Departure from Ta-Chien-Lu — The Loads Distributed — The Cavalcade described — A Supper of Tsanba — Village of Cheh-toh — A Wreck of the Crockery — Tibetan Salutation — Delicious Air ■ — Half-bred Yaks — Splendid Alpine Pastures — Wild Fruits — The Sacred Cairn — Direct Road to Chiamdo — Ti-zu — Delightful al fresco Breakfast — A Land of Milk and Butter — Hot Spring — The Buttered-Tea Churn — Tsanba — Tibetan Houses — Hospitable Folk — An-niang — Wild Flowers — Roadside Groups from the Fair — A Gallop over Turf — Village of Ngoloh — Description of Quarters — An Imperial Courier — Halt at Ngoloh — Pass of Ka-ji-La — Magnificent Alpine Prospect — The ' King of Mountains ' — Pine Forests — Wu-rum-shih — The Margary Proclamation — Illness of the Servant Huang-Fu— Descent towards the Ya-Lung River — Appearance of Green Parrots — The Octagon Tower — Tibetan Horse-shoeing — Ho- K'ou or Nia-chu-ka, on the Ya-Lung River — Tibetan Aversion to Fish, and its Origin — Lights of Pine-Splinter — Ferry over the Ya-Lung — Re-ascent towards the Plateau — Mah-geh-chung — Our Quarters there — A ' Medicine Mountain ' — La-ni-ba — Crest of the Ra-ma Pass — Post of Mu-lung-gung — Female Decorations — Lit'ang-Ngoloh — Description of House and Appliances — Serious Illness of Huang-Fu — Domestic Sketches — Holly -leaved Oaks — Tang-Go Pass — Gold-washing — Cha-ma-ra-don Forest left below — The Great Dogs and their Change of Garb — Deh-re Pass — The Rhubarb Plant — Rarefied Atmosphere — Pass of Wang-gi — Patience of the Ma-Fu — Ho-chu-ka Village — Abundance of Supplies — Shie-gi Pass — The Surong Mountains — Treeless but Flowery Heights — Lit'ang in View — Arrival there — Huang-Fu's Illness

Chapter V. The Great Plateau

continued. II. lit'ang io bat'ang. Departure —Quit the Lit'ang Plain— To-Tang— Dreary Aspects- Desolate but Healthy Region— Lassa Pilgrims— Characteristic Plant— High Pass of Nga-ra-la-Ka— Cold Granite Region- Alarms of Robbers— Dzong-da— Pine-clad Valleys again— La-ma-ya— The Cairns and Mani Inscriptions— The Man-ga-La —Stupendous Alpine Scene— The vast Snowy Peak of Nen- CONTENTS OF PAGK 158 da — Tibetan Mode of Building — Surpassing Scenery — The ' Yiin-nan Bridge ' — Charming Halt at Rati, or San-Pa — Reminiscences of Hue and Gabet's Journey — The Guide's Head turned with Wonder — Sublime Aspect of the Mountains — Rhododendrons — Beautiful Valley of Pines— Unpeopled Tract — Ta-shiu — Manifold Uses of Raw Hide — Striking Picture — The J^Ra-ka-La — Savage Desolation — Our Guide — Our Quarters at Pung-cha-mu — Descent towards the Chin-Sha River — Wild Independent Tibetans — Ba-jung-shih — Welcome on Arrival at Bat'ang — Chao the Magistrate, and Favourable Impressions — AbbS Desgodins —Discharge of our Suite — The Name of Bat'ang — The Plain — Possibilities of Navigation on the Rivers — Earthquakes — The Great Lamassery — Number of such — Causes that fill them — The Lamas a Curse to the Country — Eccentric Chinese System of Accounts — Property in Alpine Pastures — Slavery and Cattle-holding — Gradual Depopulation of Tibet — The Tibetan Chief of Bat'ang — Hostility of the Lamas — Alleged Muster to bar our Advance — Quarters at Bat'ang — Cordial Hospitalities of Chinese Officials — Lively Banquet at Shou's — Noisy Game of Monu — The Wondrous Bath — A Night Alarm

Chapter VI. Region Of The River Of Golden Sand

I. BAT'ANG TO SHA-LU. Departure fiom Bat'ang — Adieux to MM. Desgodins and Biet — Broad Features of the Geography, and Relation between Road and Rivers — The 'Tea-Tree Hill' — Chinese Rendering of Foreign Names — Valley of the Chin-Sha or Golden Sand — A False Alarm — Journey along the Chin-Sha — Cross and Quit it — Fine Scenery of the Kong-tze-ka Pass — Lama Oppression, and Depopulation of the Country — Quarters at Jang-ba Growth of our Escort — Armed Opposition on the Lassa Road Kia-ne-tyin — March through Woods of Pine, Yew, and Juniper — Clean Quarters at Dzung-ngyu — The River of Kiang-ka — Hospitable People — Desolated Country — Chu-sung-dho (Cooper's ' Jessundee ') — Nieh-ma-sa — Continued Depopulation — Ma-ra and Tsaleh — Conversations with Magistrate Chao — 'The Boy the Father of the Man' — Watershed between the Chin-Sha and the Lan-T'sang — Camping Ground of Lung-zung-nanw The Bamboo Seen Again — The Gorge of Dong — Parallel Fissures from North to South — The Town of A-tun-tzu (Cooper's Atenze)— The Oppression of the 'Lekin'— Evil Character of A-tun-tzu — Prevalence of Goitre — Water Analysis — Farewell PAGE THE SECOND VOLUME.

Visits from Chao and the Native Chief — Ceremonies of Adieu — Prevalence of Opium-smoking in Yiin-nan — Patience Exer cised — Long and Moist March — Passes o£ Mien-chu and Shwo — Difficulties of March in Darkness — Torchlight — Reach Deung-do-lin— The Word ' Lamassery ' — AbbtS Renou— T. T. Cooper — Carrier Difficulties — Taking it Easy — Change of Climate and Scenery — New Glimpse of the Chin-Sha— Sha-lu Village — Big Tibetan Dog 205

Chapter VII. Region Of The River Of Golden Sand

— continued. II. SHA-I/tJ TO TA-LI-FU. Hazels, Pines, Currants, Rhododendrons — Pass of Jing-go-La — Ka-ri — Houses there — Verdant and Peopled Region — N'doh-sung — Domestic Decoration — Rapacity of the Fu of Wei-si — Chinese Agriculture Reappears — Hospitable Welcome of Ron-sha — Toilsome March in Rain — Reception at La-pu — Our Lodging there — Friendly Activity of our Conductor — Walnut Trees, and Marco Polo's ' Cloves,' i.e. Cassia Trees — Tibet passing into the Background — Village of Jie-bu-ti — The Banks of the Chin- Sha Regained, and Re-appearance of Orange-trees and Parrots — The Mu-su People — March down the Great River — Lamas still Seen — Mu-kkun-do — The Pu-Erh Tea, and How to Make it — Ku-deu — Fine Position — The Mu-sus — European Aspect of some — Honesty of Carriers — Drunken Escort Officer — Ch'iao- T'ou — Tea-Houses Reappear — San-Hsien-Ku — Festive Reception — Shih-Ku, or Stone-Drum Town — Adieu to the River of Golden Sand — Mount Chiu-Ku-P'u — Changed Scenery — Dense Population on Rice-plains — Inns begin again — Oppression of the ' Lekin ' — City of Chien-Ch'uan-Chou — A Henpecked Warrior — Fair Words of the Chou — Road through Populous Rice-lands — Lake Basins — I-Yang-T'ang — Rudeness of Local Officer at Niu-Ohiek — Wretchedness of the People — The Rude Officer Abashed — Position of Niu-Chieh in Lake-basin — Probable Changes in Water-levels — Dilapidated City of Lang- Ch'iung — Civil Landlord — Pu-Erh Tea — Sulphur Spring — Opium-smoking — Damp and Dreary Aspects — The Erh-Hai, or Lake of Ta-Li — Road along the Lake Shore — Arrival at Ta- Li-Fu CONTENTS OF PAOE 299

Chapter VIII. In The Footsteps Of Marco Polo And Of Augustus Margary

I. THE LAND OF THE GOLD-TEETH. Ta-Li-Fu Province, the Carajan of Marco Polo — Tlie Lake and Environs — Pere Leguilcher — The Plain of Ta-Li— The (so-called) Panthes, and the Name — The Mahometan Rebellion — The Mahometans of the Province — Presents of Local Delicacies —Occupations at Ta-Li— The Tao-T'ai— The Ti-T'ai, General Yang, a Remarkable Personage — The Old Troubles about Carnage — Dlustration of the ' Squeeze ' — Departure from Ta-Li — Adieu to P. Leguilcher — Yang and Yang — Marco Polo's Cakes of Salt —Paucity of Present Traffic on Road — Devastated Country — Diminution of Population — Yang-Pi River — Imaginary Bifurcation in Maps — Chain Suspension Bridge — Perversities of the Path — T'ai-P'ing-P'u— Lofty Hamlet of Tou- P'o-Shao— The Shun-P'i-Ho— A Treat of " Bread at Huang- Lien-P'u — Mr. McCarthy's Servants — Dearth of Population — Traces of War — Chestnut and Oak Woods — Descent to Plain of Yung-P'ing-Hsien — The Town Destroyed — We Lodge at Ch'ii-Tung — Topographical Elucidation — Inn at Sha- Yang — Unendurable Smoke — View of the Mekong or Lan-T'sang River — Chain Bridge Across it — Desperate Ascent — Buckwheat Porridge — Ta-Li-Shao — Pan-Ch'iao — Rice Macaroni — Polo's Salt Loaves Again — His 'Vochan' and the 'Parlous Fight ' there — Yung-Ch'ang-Fu — Difficulties about Transport — The ' Squeeze ' again — A General on the March — A Quarrel Imminent, but the General is Drawn Off — Stones and Beads Brought for Sale — The Yung-Ch'ang Market — Difficulties of Marco Polo's Itinerary from Carajan to Mien — Mr. Baber's Solution — Recent Plague on the Road .....

Chapter IX. In The Footsteps Of Marco Polo And Of

Augustus margary — continued. II. THE MARCHES OF THE KINGDOM OF MIEN.

Departure from Yung-Ch'ang — Graves of Aborigines — Hun-Shui- Tang — Fine Ponies and Mules — Fang-Ma-Ch'ang — Pestiferous Valley of the Lu-Ch'iang or Salwen River — Passage by Chain- Bridge — Steep Ascent to Ho-Mu-Shu — Greedy Host — Needless Difficulties of Road — Old Custom of ' Wappenshaw ' and Military Tests — The Lung-Chiang or Shwe-li River — Salutes by the THE SECOND VOLUME. [11] PAGE Way— A Celt for Sale— Ch'in-T'sai-T'ang— The City of Teng- Yiieh or Momein — Things better managed in Ssu-Ch'uan — The Chi-Fu Convention — Mule - chaffering — H'siao-Ho-Ti — Nan- Tien — Reception by a Shan Lady — Her Costume — First Bur mese Priests — Change of Scenery — Kan-N?ai, or Muang-la — The Chief — Passage of the Ta-ping River — First Burmese Pagoda — Lovely Scene near Chan-Ta — Chan-Ta (Sanda) and the Chief there — Oppressions of Chinese — Festival at Chan-Ta — Shan Pictures by the Way — Shan and Kakyen Figures — Road-side Scenes in Ta-ping Valley — Bamboos and Birds by the Way — Lying Litigants — T'ai-P'ing-Chieh or Kara-hokah — Reach Chinese Frontier Town of Man-Yiin (Manwyne) — Visit from Notorious Li-Sieh-Tai — Treatment at Man-Yiin — The Pa-I People — English Goods in Bazar — Letter of Welcome from Mr. Cooper — Scene of the Murder of Augustus Margary — The Kakyen Country — A Shot at the Party ; only Tentative — Kakyen Huts — Meddling with the Spirits' Corner — Fire got by Air-Compression — Buffalo Beef — Grand Forest Scenery — Bamboos and Potatoes — Au Imprudent Halt to Cook — A Ven ture in the Forest — Perils from Ants and from Bullies — Would be Leviers of Blackmail — Benighted — A Welcome Rencontre — Cooper's Messengers and Stores — A Burmese Po-e or Ballet — Embark on Bhamo River — The Irawadi Disappointing — Kindly Welcome from English Agent at Bhamo — Alas, poor Cooper I —Bhamo to Dover — The Journey Ended 347 Appendix A 413 „ B 426 n 0 427 Index ILLUSTRATIONS and MAPS to VOL. II.

Man-Tzu Houses '. Frontispiece Treadmill- Watermill Title-page Route Map. Section H. From Ch'eng-Tu to Ta- Chien-Lu To face page 37 Horizontal Sections between Ta-Chien-Lu and Bat'ang, and between Ta-Li-Fu and Bhamo . „ 77 Route Map. Section III. From Ta-Chien-Lu to Bat'ang „ 117 Route Map. Section IV. From Bat'ang to A- Tun-Tzu ,,205 Route Map. Section V. From A-Tun-Tzu to Tz'u-Kua ,,235 Route Map. Section VI. From Tz'u-Kua to Ta-Li-Fu „ 273 „ „ VII. Fkom Ta-Li-Ftj to Bhamo „ Errata in Vol. IT. Page 52 line 5 from foot,/<u' ' Chin-Sha-Ching* ' read ' Chin-Sha-Chiang.' „ 53 „ 7 from foot,/<»- ' Sun-P'an-T'ing ' read ' Sung-P'an-T'ing.' „ 166 „ 5 from foot,/t»' ' Le-ka-ndo ' read ' La-Ka-Ndo.' ,. 81 „ 4-j „ 185 „ 10 > fin- ' Sieh-T'ai ' read ' Hsieh-T'ai.' „ 196 „ 27 J „ 229 „ 4 from foot, for ' above the Dong' read 'above Dong.' „ 230 „ 4, for 'nestled' read 'which nestled.' " III " oq 1* M ' Chin-Chu ' read ' Chiu-Chu.' ,, J5o fs JiO J „ 259 „ 11*1 " 262 " l\ I •**r ' Kune-Chu ' read ' Shio-gung-Chit.' " 264 "„ 2 J „ 269 „ 13 insert full-stop after diameter ; the word ' rising ' commencing a new paragraph. „ 269 „ 16 alter semicolon to comma after the word ' woods.' „ 278 „ 4, for ' have ' read ' had.' „ 280 „ 19, for ' Chin-Ch'uan ' read ' Chien- Ch'uan.' „ 308 „ 1-3, for ' thereby ' read ' although ;' and for ' Tao-Tai.

According ' read ' Tao-Tai, according ' &c. „ 312 „ 7. The date ' October 5 ' should be inserted here. „ 316?-;. The German map is one compiled by Berghaus. „ 327 „ 9 from foot,/<w* 'T'ieh' read 'T'ien.' „ 327 „ 4 „ „ for ' Yang-Pi ' read ' Yung-P'ing.' „ 330 „ 10, for ' Yung-Chang ' read ' Yung-Ch'ang.' „ 360 „ 7 from foot, for ' veiled ' read ' vailed.' „ 368 „ 25, for ' Chin-Ch'eng ' read ' Kan-Ngai-Chiu-Ch'eng.' THE RIVER OF GOLDEN SAND.

Chapter I

' A RICH AND NOBLE CITY.' Account of Ch'eng-Tu, as given by Marco Polo — And by Padre Martin Martini — Description of the Modern City — The Rivers, and Probable Changes — Destruction of Documents — Arrival of Mr. Mesny — Political Aspects compel Change in Traveller's intended Route — Decision to Travel Homeward vid Bat'ang and Bhamo — The Bridges of Ch'eng-Tu — Chinese Temples and Notions of Worship — Ancient Inscribed Stone— The Heaven-Tooth— The City Walls— Visit to the Great Monastery of Wen-Shu- Yiian — Its Buildings and Curiosities — Chapel of Meditation — Antiquities of Ch'eng-Tu — Memorials of Early Events — The History of the Emperor Liu-Pi — Invitation to a Picnic — Notable Guests — The Dinner and its Peculiarities — Table Manners and Customs — Threatenings of Drought — False Notions about the Traveller — The Provision of Currency for the Journey, and Tedious Banking Business — Adieux at Ch'eng-Tu — ' Organisation of Departure '- — Concluding Notices of Ch'eng-Tu and the ' Province of Four Waters ' (Ssu-Ch'uan).

Marco Polo thus describes the plain and city of Ch'eng-Tu-Fu : ' When you have travelled those twenty days westward through the mountains, as I have told you, then you arrive at a plain belonging to a province called Sindafu, which still is on the confines of Manzi, and the capital city of which is also called Sindafu. This city was in former days a rich and VOL. II. b MARCO POLO ON CH'fiNG-TU. 2 CH. 1. noble one, and the kings who reigned there were very great and wealthy. ' It is a good twenty miles in compass ; but it is divided in the way that I shall tell you. ' You see, the king of this province, in the days of old, when he found himself drawing near to death, leaving1 three sons behind him, commanded that the city should be divided into three parts, and that each of his sons should have one ; so each of these parts is separately walled about, though all three are sur rounded by the common wall of the city.

Each of the three sons was king, having his own part of the city and his own share of the kingdom, and each of them in fact was a great and wealthy king. But the Great Kaan conquered the kingdom of these three kings, and stripped them of their inheritance. ' Through the midst of this city runs a large river, in which they catch a great quantity of fish. It is a good half-mile wide, and very deep withal, and so long that it reaches all the way to the Ocean Sea — a very long way, equal to eighty or one hundred days' journey ; and the name of the river is Kian-Suy. The multitude of vessels that navigate this river is so vast that no one who should read or hear the tale would believe it. The quantities of merchandise also which merchants carry up and down this river are past all belief. In fact it is so big that it seems to be a sea rather than a river. ' Let us now speak of a great bridge which crosses this river within the city.

This bridge is of stone ; it is seven paces in width, and half a mile in lenoth (the river being that much in width as I told you), and along its length, on either side, there are columns of marble to bear the roof — for the bridge is roofed over from end to end with timber, and that all P. MARTINI ON CH'ANG -TU. 3 CH. I. richly painted ; and on this bridge there are houses, in which a great deal of trade and industry is carried on. But these houses are all of wood merely, and they are put up in the morning and taken down in the evening. Also there stands upon the bridge the Great Kaan's Comerque, that is to say, his custom house, where his toll and tax are levied ; and I can tell you that the dues taken on this bridge bring to the lord a thousand pieces of fine gold every day, and more. The people are all idolaters.' Ritter thus writes : 1 Father Martin Martini, who gives us his account of China from the time when the Ming were still reigning, previous to the conquest by the Manchus, and might well have good information regarding Tsching-tu-Fu, since the Jesuits had a mission in that city, which was only abandoned by the fathers in consequence of the advance of the Manchu army, says : ' It is a much frequented commercial city ; the palace of the king was magnificent ; it was four miles in circuit, having four gates, and was placed in the centre of the town.

From the southern gate ex tended a broad street, containing many arcades ar tistically built of stone. ' Throughout the city are navigable canals, revetted on each side with square and cut stones, and crossed by many stone bridges. 'One of the rivers, the To (or Tu-Kiang?) says Father Martini, is a branch of the Min- Kiang, exca vated and led out of its course by the order of the Emperor Yvo [presumably Yau, the famous semi mythical emperor, circa B.C. 2300], as a remedy against the outbreaks and inundations of the Kiang. b DESCRIPTION OF THE CITY. ch. r. ' Thus many of the broad pieces of water and lakes, which in the neighbourhood serve as moats and trenches to the city, have been artificially ex cavated.' * The city of Ch'eng-Tu is still a rich and noble one, somewhat irregular in shape, and surrounded by a strong wall, in a perfect state of repair.

In this there are eight bastions, four being pierced by gates. It is now three and a half miles long by about two and a half miles broad, the longest side lying about east-south-east, and west-north-west, so that its compass in the present day is about twelve miles. A stream, about thirty feet wide, runs through the city from west to east ; parts of this are embanked with perpendicular revetments on either side. At one point it is spanned by three bridges close together, each of stone with a single arch. The one in the centre has at one time evidently been larger and of more importance, for on the other side of the road that lies between the water and the houses, almost buried in the buildings, there is a stone lion with his back to the brook. This has clearly been the former end of the bridge, so that the houses must have advanced some yards since this was built.

This bridge, which is near the southern gate of the im perial city, probably led in former days to the broad street spoken of by Martini. The city is well laid out, the streets, straight and at right angles to one another, well and carefully paved. One of them is very pretty, and runs by the side of the stream that flows through the city. Looking in at the doors of the fine shops on the right, respectable old gentlemen can be dimly discerned in the 1 See Ritter, iv. 415-416. THE RIVERS AT CH'ENG-TU. 5 CH. I. semi-obscurity smoking their long pipes. Overhead a bamboo matting, or a bit of trellis-work covered with creepers, shelters the street from the glare of the sun ; while on the left hand is a strip of garden a yard wide, enclosed on either side by trellis-work, covered with scarlet-runners, whose small red flowers form a pleasing contrast to the fresh green foliage, and through the leaves the brook is seen sparkling in the sun.

The shops in Ch'eng-Tu are very good, with handsome fronts ; every description of goods is sold in them ; there is especially a very large trade in silk, and Ritter quotes Martini as saying : ' In the river Kin, which flows on the southern side of the city, they wash the silk, which thereby attains an extraordinary brilliancy.' The main river still runs at the south side : it is about a hundred yards wide, and crossed by many bridges ; one of them, ninety yards long, has a roof, and, as is the case on nearly all covered bridges, huck sters sit down under the shelter on both sides, as in the days of the old Venetian traveller, and sell what ever they can to passers by. There are still large numbers of junks on this river, which come up from Ch'ung-Ch'ing, and pos sibly some from the ' Ocean Sea.' It is difficult to account for the great difference between the state of the city as it was in the time of the early writers, and the present condition of Ch'eng- Tu.

The hills, however, that enclose the plain of Ch'eng- Tu are of sandstone, and are of course easily worn away by water. The drainage of the basin is by a river of con siderable size, which must in the course of five centuries have deepened its bed at its point of exit from the HISTORICAL CHANGES. CH. I. plain where it is closed in on both sides by the sandstone hills. At the same time it would seem probable that the debris brought down by numerous streams from the surrounding mountains would rather have tended to raise than to lower the general level of the plain itself. Anyhow, when we consider how very flat the plain now is, we should, without the aid of the historian, be almost driven to the conclusion that it was in former ages the bottom of a lake. Martini, hi the passage above quoted, tells us that some of the ponds, lakes, rivers, or canals were arti ficial ; and the river full half a mile in width spoken of by Polo may, in reality, have been a shallow fleet crossed by a causeway, or even by a long bridge such as he describes.

In the course of the last five centuries, as the bed of the river at its exit has been deepened, the plain has gradually been drained : and thus will nature have performed her part of the change.2 It is an historical fact well-known at Ch'eng-Tu that the city formerly covered a very much larger area ; for in olden days, the temple of Wu-Ho-Tzu, now a mile or two outside the city to the south-west, was within the walls. Since the days when Marco Polo travelled this way, the times have been turbulent indeed : the city has been pillaged, lawless bands have roamed with fire and sword across the fertile plain. In the early part of the Ming dynasty (commenced a.d. 1368), the whole province was overrun by a brigand named Chang- Shien-Chung ; he went about ravaging and 2 The fact that an actual bifurcation of waters seems to take place near Ch'eng-Tu (see Richthofen's Qdna, p. 327) — one branch flowing south as the Ta-Kiang, Min-Kiang or what not, to Siu-Chou-Fu, and the other south-east, as the To-Kiang or Chung-kiang of maps,to Lu-Chou renders change in the distribution of the streams about the city highly pro bable.— Y. ch. i. MESNY ARRIVES.

CHANGE OF PROJECT. 7 destroying everything, and is pictured as a devil in carnate ; amongst other things he destroyed all the books, so that the ancient written history of the place is lost ; there is therefore nothing improbable in the total disappearance of the fine works spoken of by Polo. Thus may the hand of man have combined with nature to change completely the appearance of the city of Ch'eng-Tu. June 21. — On the day after my return to the pro vincial capital, I called upon the French missionaries in the afternoon, and when I went home I found that Mesny had at length arrived from Kwei-Yang-Fu, where he had been living for many years. Now the very serious question presented itself, whether I could carry out my intention of travelling through Kansu to Kashgar. My whole difficulty lay in European politics.

Supposing that I had found myself unable to proceed any further towards Kashgar than Urumchi, I could have passed through Russia, if there had been no danger of England bemg entangled in a war with that country. But with England and Russia at war, this of course would have been impossible ; and if unable to enter Kashgaria, I should have had no choice but the dreary journey hi mid-whiter back to Peking ; and even should the road to Kashgaria have been clear, the mountain passes would not have been open, and I must have waited north of the Himalayas until the spring. This would not have deterred me for one moment, but for the critical state of affairs between our country and Russia ; in the event of war it was equally my duty and desire to be somewhere within hail, and I could not feel myself justified in running the risk of being buried for so many months in Central Asia.