“(1)—That the river to Ichang is navigable for steamers of 7 feet draught and powerful steering apparatus, from the beginning of April to the end of September, and probably, if native report is to be believed, for the winter months also.
“(2)—That the rapids and other difficulties of the River above Ichang, as at present known, are so numerous as to preclude the possibility of steamers of any description navigating this part until a thorough detailed survey is made, and the changes of the river at the different seasons watched and noted by competent persons.
“(3)—That such survey could only be made in the winter months when the river is at its lowest, and would, if carried as far as Ch’ung-k’ing, in all probability, occupy two surveyors for two winters.
“(4)—To particularise or describe any one rapid from the month’s changes, under which I saw them, would be useless, as they are continually altering in danger, as rocks cover and uncover, and doubtless what would be a dangerous rapid in summer, would be dangerless in winter, and vice versâ. In the month of April, the rapids of Tsing-tan and Shan-tou-pien were the worst.
“(5)—As far as my experience on the upper part of the river above Ichang extended, the depth of water is not a difficulty to be apprehended at any time of the year, as the average was seldom less than ten fathoms. Velocity of current, want of anchoring ground, and intricacy of navigation, are the difficulties previously alluded to.”
Since 1869, our knowledge of the upper waters of the Yang-tsze has very much improved. We know that the section between Hankow and Ichang is navigable by steamers all the year round, and we know that the annual rise of the river is not to increase the difficulties of the rapids, but to obliterate them altogether. With respect to the current, it no doubt runs stronger at high water; but, regarding the matter in a practical light, we may say that, if a large heavily-laden junk can be tracked against the strongest current by a hundred men, is it impossible for a full-powered light-draught steamer to follow in its wake? There is one advantage, too, which the upper section of the river has over the lower; its channel never shifts, and, once navigated by a steamer, there is no chance of its being lost. It is not too much to say that, during the winter months, the masters of the steamers running between Hankow and Ichang have to conduct surveying operations every trip, and I have found no one more anxious than these very masters to navigate the river from Ichang to Ch’ung-k’ing, so confident are they of success.
I pass now to the advantages which the opening of Ch’ung-k’ing would afford to British trade. Our manufactures could then be laid down in Ch’ung-k’ing on payment of the tariff duty, and from that point the buyers from the chief cities of the province, as well as from Kuei-chow and Yün-nan, would be able to carry their purchases under transit pass to their ultimate destination, on payment of the transit duty only. No other tax or duty, likin or octroi, would add to the price which the consumer has to pay, and I have no hesitation in stating that, under such an improved system, Ssŭ-ch’uan would soon take a very high place in the markets of the world as a consumer of British manufactures. The improvement of communication would cause an enormous development of the products and industries of the province. I need only mention silk as an example. There is really no limit to the possible development of this valuable product. In almost every homestead in the centre and east of the province, silk-culture is carried on by the women and children of the family, and the development of this and other exports, which would arise from the safer, speedier, and cheaper means of communication between the Upper and Lower Yang-tsze, would greatly raise the buying capacity of the peaceful, industrious, and well-to-do Ssŭ-ch’uanese.
Nor is Ch’ung-k’ing the head of navigation of the Yang-tsze. The section of the river between Ch’ung-k’ing and Hsü-chou Fu, usually called Sui Fu, a distance of two hundred miles, is as suited to steamer navigation as between K’uei-chou Fu and Ch’ung-k’ing, and it is by this stretch of the river that the trade of Northern and Western Kuei-chow and Northern Yün-nan is conducted. West of Sui Fu the trade on the upper waters of the Yang-tsze, which I have descended from a point fifty miles higher than P’ing-shan Hsien—the farthest point reached by the Upper Yang-tsze Expedition in 1861—is insignificant, and above P’ing-shan there are several rapids which would present serious obstacles to a steamer, but the trade is insignificant, and steamers will never be required to run west of Sui Fu.
I may state here that, in Western China, coal is abundant and is found close to the Yang-tsze.