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It is impossible to give an idea of the number
of boats passing here; they run into the thousands, and each big junk
has from 100 to 120 men on board. They are all hired by the run, which
takes about six weeks. The current wage paid is "Mex." $2 or Gold SI. In
addition they receive their food, two bowls of rice a day. Taking into
consideration that this is the most hazardous occupation I have ever
come across, the wage is certainly low, although in years gone by in our
Chinese lumber yards we only paid from eight to ten cents "Mex." a day,
and the men boarded themselves. But when we take into consideration the
risk, which statistics show to be over one thousand deaths by drowning a
year, it certainly exceeds anything I have yet come across. They all
appeared to be hardy young men, stark naked except that they usually
wore a hat. The captain was dressed, but always bareheaded and
barefooted. The following, copied
from Captain Plant's book, is about as good a description of the
trackers as can be obtained.
"Most interesting it is to watch a big
junk manoeuvring through some difficult passage. Seventy or eighty men
ashore hitched to the stout bamboo hawser by bandoleers of cotton line,
are straining with bent backs and swinging arms, their fingers nearly
touching the ground, whilst the head men as naked as they were born,
armed with split bamboos, rush madly up and down the double row of
trackers, shouting themselves hoarse testing each man's bandoleer as
they run along, by tapping on them with their bamboos, with the
acuteness of a grand piano tuner, and dealing out whacks on the bare
backs of the slackers. Away in the rear of the trackers three or four
men are stationed at intervals along the tow line, and it is their
business to clear from the boulders and projecting rocks, the tow line
which is constantly catching. It is a job involving great risk of bad
falls, broken bones, and drowning. Perched
Upper—CARGO JUNK SHOOTING THE TCHIN TAN RAPIDS
Lower—TRACKERS HAULING JUNK UP STREAM OVER RAPIDS
on the rocks, away out in the swift
running' river those naked men may he seen, ready to wade or swim in the
wake of the tow line, throwing it clear as they go. Powerful swimmers
all of them, they perform the most daring feats, often swimming long
distances.
On our arrival we had a real Chinese
reception—boats decorated with flags, luncheon set out for us, a great
big brass band, and receptions by the Chinese Chamber of Commerce and
other organizations; addresses of welcome and then thousands of lire
crackers. The following is one of the addresses, translated from
Chinese:
"Sir, you are well known in our country.
We have been very anxious to see you. Now you personally pay a visit of
inspection to Chungking and do honour to us. We are very fortunate and
very happy.
"It was very difficult formerly for
passengers and cargoes to pass through the Yangtse River, because there
were very few steamers sailing on it. With a view to helping and
benefiting the passengers and cargoes, you began to build many steamers
and sail them about this river. Only one year more the communication of
waterway from Chungking to Shanghai is much more convenient than before.
Such good results are accomplished by you, Sir, and Harold Dollar. We
have nothing to say but that we hope you and your company are as
constantly prosperous in the abundance as the sun is in its journey
through the heavens."
"Your servants,
"Dah Lai Chuen, "Y. A. Young."
If I had been their long lost brother
they could not have done more. They acted as if I had been acquainted
with them for fifty years, and this was my first visit. Then when I went
over to our office, which is situated on the principal street of the
city, which is about ten feet wide, there was such an explosion of fire
crackers that travel was suspended for a few minutes. There was a great
concourse of people going back and forth all the time. I was ashamed
that they paid so much respect and attention to me. The office is about
five hundred feet from the custom house and eight hundred feet from the
postoffice.
The census shows Chungking to be a city
of 800,000 people, and the size of it fully justifies that number, as it
is solidly built, and the streets are only alleys, mostly from six to
eight feet wide. Its commercial importance justifies a city of that
size, to say nothing of the very rich country that backs it up. While
Chungking is called the head of navigation, it is quite possible for our
steamers to go from 200 to 300 miles further. Two small boats make this
run now to Sui Fu, where the Yangtse changes its name to Kin Sha Ho
River—River of Golden Sands. This river is also navigable for 100 miles.
When I see the richness of this great
province from both a mineral and agricultural point of view, I am
completely lost in trying to think of its future during the next twenty
or thirty years, as it is only commencing to be opened up to foreign
commerce, which is so infinitesimal that it is not worth being called by
that name. Take the capital, Chentu, 200 miles inland, which had a
system of irrigation introduced before the Christian Era, and is in
perfect condition and in use today. It has been examined by modern
engineers who pronounced it as good as it is possible to build today.
When we consider that the population of the province is about seventy
millions, self-contained and raising and producing everything it wants,
and and does not have to depend on the outside world for anything; and
when one sees so many cities, towns and villages, so thickly populated,
it well reminds one that one-half of the world does not know how the
other half lives. The Chinese cities generally have red filed roofs, but
all the houses in Szechuen Province are covered with blue colored tiles
which give the cities a dull, dark appearance, and at first make them
appear strange.
I learned that in the Roman Catholic
Diocese there are over 50,000 converts shepherded by sixty-five native
priests and forty-two European priests, and that in the province there
are 160,000 converts. T have not the statistics of the Protestants,
which I think must be considerable, so a great start has been made to
christianize that far away province.
Upper—APPROACH TO CHUNGKING SHOWING JUNKS LAID UP
Lower—AT CHUNGKING
There is a fine large arched bridge, as
good as can be seen in any country, across the Little River, which is
navigable for sixty miles. The City of Chang Pei is on the other side of
the river from Chungking. The day I was there happened to be Water
Festival Day, and it was certainly a great affair. Canoes had been
constructed for the occasion, long and only wide enough for two men to
sit abreast, and from fifty to sixty men in each canoe, everyone
paddling and keeping time to the tap of a drum, the captain standing up
and also keeping time by waving a flag. All wore pants but no other
clothing. There were some thirty canoes and over 1500 men. They raced
from the bridge down to the Yangtse and back. The course was in front of
our property, so I had a good opportunity of seeing it. There was an
enormous crowd out, and every point of vantage was taken. But the great
thing was to have a place to stand in tlie water, those farthest out had
only their heads, Visible, then as they approached the shore, the great
rush was to secure a place and get their feet in the water, if possible.
Those in the canoes threw water on themselves. This evidently was the
religious belief that some good luck would come out of being wet with
the river water that day. Great crowds were also in swimming. It looked
as if the whole city had turned out in holiday attire to see the
festival. One canoe preceded them and in its center was a great altar
and a figure on it, which I supposed to be the real dragon himself. Be
that as it may, they certainly had a great holiday.
Evidently it is held in different places
at different times as on the way up the river we saw a small
demonstration, when at Wang Hsing two days after all the people had
turned out; they had about ten or twelve canoes at this place and
possibly 600 men.
The Chinese arranged to give me a banquet
in the city and as the city gates close promptly at sunset and do not
open until sunrise, we arranged to have it between four and six o'clock
in the evening.
I went in our gasoline launch to see the
pontoon we are building. As is usual with gas engines, it decided it had
gone far enough for that day, and refused to budge. After trying for a
long time we got the launch out into the river hoping it would drift
down to the city so that we could attend the banquet, but we failed to
get there on time. Besides I was determined to see our landing place, so
we hired a sampan and got over and saw the landing, and incidentally the
dragon festival. I his completed a very busy day, as it was dark when we
got back to the Robert Dollar II. That was not all, however, as several
Chinese came to talk over future business and I stood it until 11:3() p.
m. before going to bed. Harold Dollar finished the conference at 2 :30
a. m. the next day, and the steamer sailed at 4:30 o'clock.
I noticed some high, well built bridges
around the outside of the wall, providing a roadway between the river
and the wall, which is very high and strong. Across the Yangtse from
Chungking are some godowns and places of business, but not very
numerous. The few foreigners who are located there, live up on the lulls
on this side, but it is very steep and sedan chairs have to be used, and
it takes considerable time to come and go morning and night, which is
quite a disadvantage.
As to the trip down the river, we started
as soon as it was daylight. The up-trip had been full of new
experiences, but we had other and far more exciting experiences on this
downward voyage. At Kwei Fu we found that the water had fallen fourteen
feet in the three days since we had passed. This released a great fleet
of junks which were waiting for this favorable turn, as too high water
is extremely dangerous for them. This brought a new menace to the
steamers as we passed junks in every position. One would naturally think
they would be heading straight down stream, but this was not the case,
as they are unable to keep steerage way and the currents and whirlpools
sent them out of their course, and it was no unusual occurrence to find
them crosswise of the channel. For instance, in the narrow crooked
channel of the Tan Rapid, we overtook a junk that had been whirled
around and broadside to the channel and at first it appeared impossible
for us to avoid running it down, but at the last minute, by a fortunate
swirl of the current and by the almost superhuman efforts of the crew at
the fifty-foot bow sweep, we passed them with not more than three feet
to
SITTING ROOM OF SHANGHAI Y. W. C. A. ERECTED IN MEMORY OF MRS, MELVILLE
DOLLAR
Above the mantel is the Memorial Tablet
spare. I could see the captain on top of
the poop jumping and gesticulating like a demon. No doubt, if what he
was roaring had been understandable, it would not have been fit for
Sunday School literature.
Remember, the steamer was rushing down
this rapid with a speed of at least twenty miles an hour. One is apt to
ask, "'Why rush at this breakneck speed?" The current was running at
fifteen miles an hour; therefore, the steamer was only going through the
water at a little over five miles an hour, which was the lowest speed
possible and maintain steerage way on her; moving slower than this, the
current wrould have twisted her broadside to the stream as it had the
junk, which would have resulted in her landing on the1 rocks. The
captain had no choice but to keep right on. The steamer went through one
rapid four miles long in less than ten minutes. The entire distance of
460 miles was made in nineteen hours on the return trip, whereas it took
us three and one half days to go up. We saw a great many temples that we
had overlooked on the way up, all perched in the most inaccessible of
places. How the priests manage to have the necessities of life carried
up to them is a conundrum. There are many pagodas scattered throughout
the country chiefly of seven stories, although in this district I saw
some of eight stories. On a number of high elevations near cities, we
saw great fortifications which are called robbers' castles. Brigands
tenant some, but others are occupied by the Tuchau "generals," therefore
the name is absolutely correct as the Tuchans and their substitutes are
worse than brigands. They are the real curse of China today.
Following are some of the crimes
perpetrated by the robbers with the sanction of the commanding general:
the destruction of the Ichang Chamber of Commerce building by fire as
well as looting it, setting afire hundreds of buildings and
commandeering two steamers to carry away the stolen goods. A few days
afterwards the general demanded money from the chamber. When they
replied that their property had been destroyed and they had no money, he
gave them a few hours' in which to get some or be shot. They gathered
$3000. He was very much displeased at receiving so small an amount and
told them to get ready as he would be back in a few days. As a sequel to
this looting, the soldiers took the steamers to Hankow where 300 of them
boarded a train. Fifty miles out the train was switched on to a siding
and the engine detached. All along the siding, another general who
disapproved of these depredations had his machine guns placed and
riddled the train with bullets. The result was so effective that only
one man, badly wounded, was known to have escaped. Many ran from the
train into a field, but w ere killed. A friend of mine passed there the
day following and counted forty men dead on one side of the track and
ninety-five on the other side, besides those that were killed in the
cars. All this, however, was no lesson to them as the night we were in
Ichang, soldiers broke into four stores that had been overlooked and
helped themselves to what they wanted. To show what a farce was being
enacted, a poor coolie was marched all through the town by the soldiers
(who are the real thieves) and was beheaded in the park because he had
probably stolen something from a soldier.
China will never be herself again until
all the soldiers are disbanded. They are not needed, as the citizens are
peaceable, law-abiding people and soldiers are not required.
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