The province of Hunan, south of the lake, is one of the most noteworthy in all China. Its people are a vigorous and independent race, and make the best soldiers in China. They are more hostile to foreigners than other Chinese, and the capital of Hunan, Chang-sha, has been of old a centre of opposition to foreigners and of revolutionary agitations.
Even large ocean liners ascend to Hankow, and smaller steamboats to the capital of Sze-chuan. The latter are formidable competitors to the junks, many thousands of which have from time immemorial provided for the transport and traffic on the great river. There are many different kinds of junk. Some are large, others small; some are built for the lower, quieter waters of the river, others for the rapids in Hupeh and Sze-chuan. But they are all well suited to their purpose, and are an ornament to the grand beauty of the constantly changing landscape through which the river has cut its valley.
In some districts the junks are built of cypress wood, in others of oaken planks. This is to make the boats more elastic and supple, and to diminish the risk of springing a leak among the rapids. Where the danger is unusually great a pilot is taken on board, but still it is reckoned that one junk in ten runs aground, and one in twenty is totally wrecked. To go from Hankow to Chungking takes thirty-five days, and to come down in the opposite direction with the stream only nine days. The voyage down the river is much more dangerous, and on this voyage most of the shipwrecks occur.
Every large junk has a small dinghy to convey passengers and goods to and from the shore. A large junk is 40 feet long. It is high at the stern, and here stands a kind of cabin roofed with plaited straw or grass matting. A junk going upstream carries a cargo of two and a half tons, one going down six tons. The vessel is propelled by oars, some of which are so large that they require eight men each. These are needed most in drifting with the current, when the boat must be controlled by the steering oars. The junk has also a mast and sail which is used in going upstream with a favourable wind, and is lowered when coming down with the current. Only the bow is decked.
It may well be asked how it is possible to get such a large heavily laden boat up against the strong river current, for it is evident that however favourable the wind might be, the vessel would be carried down the rapids. A long rope of twisted bamboo a hundred yards long is fastened to the bow of the junk, and with this the vessel is dragged up by some sixty men who run along the bank. The bank, however, is usually steep, with dangerous rocks projecting out into the river, and over these the men have to scramble like monkeys, still pulling at their rope. Often neither the boat nor the river is visible from the rocky path, but the skipper of the boat is in constant communication with the towing men by means of drums on board. Six men are always ready to clear the rope if it catches against any projection, and others, who are stark naked, do the same work in the water. On the cliffs along the river, grooves and marks have been worn out by the ropes, for towing has here been practised for thousands of years. There is always a score of men on board to steer and fend off the boat with poles. They have also bamboo poles with hooks at the end to help in dragging the boat up against the current.
These men work like galley-slaves, and their work is both dangerous and exhausting. Week after week they walk with bent backs struggling under the towing rope. They are covered with bruises, which scarcely heal up before they are torn open again, and especially on the shoulders the marks of the rope are visible. They have a hard life, and yet they are cheerful. They are treated like dogs, and yet they sing. And what wages do they receive for a journey of thirty-five days up the river? Three shillings, besides three meals of rice a day, and meat three times during the journey! For the down journey, when the work is much easier and the time only one-fourth, they receive only a shilling. These labourers earn about 1-1/4d. for ten hours' work.
In February the river is lowest and the water clearest. Then the towns and villages stand 160 feet above the surface of the river. Their walls, staircases, gates, and pagodas stand up in the flat triangles of the valley openings. Every inch of hill and valley is covered with fields or woods. Later in the spring the river begins to rise, and in summer is a huge rolling volume of chocolate-brown or greyish water. At certain places where the valley is narrow the water may rise a hundred feet higher than in February. A voyage on it is then more dangerous, for banks, boulders, and reefs are covered with water and form whirlpools and seething eddies.
Below the towns and villages shoals of junks lie moored waiting for work. Every cliff, every bend has its name—Yellow Hat, Sleeping Swine, Double Dragon, etc. Nor are pirates wanting. They have their haunts among the mountains, and fall upon the junks at convenient points. Sometimes large white notices are seen on projecting rocks. They may be "The waterway is not clear," or "Small junks should anchor here." Thus the boatowners are warned of danger.
The earnings of a boatowner are not large, and he is glad enough if he can bring his boat back to Hankow in safety after a voyage up and down the river. With anything but pleasure he sees the large Russian vessels lying at Hankow and taking in tea. Hankow is the greatest tea port of China, and China is the home of the tea plant. It is not more than 250 years since tea was first known in Europe, where it is now in general use, as also in many other parts of the world. In England and Russia it is a national drink, and the Russians used formerly to transport their tea to Europe by caravans through Mongolia and Siberia. Now the export of tea from China has declined, and the Middle Kingdom has been outstripped by India and Ceylon.