[390] It was in these researches that Mr. Margary, of the China consular service, a young gentleman of great enterprise and promise, recently (February 1875) lost his life, and where, also, various employés of the English Mission, which left Calcutta, in December 1874, to explore the country lying between Bhamo and Hankow on the Yang-tse river, were killed by the treachery of the natives, the mission itself having been forced to return before it reached the Chinese frontier.

[391] See an interesting paper on the inundation of the Yang-tse-Kiang, by E. L. Oxenham.—Report of the Proceedings of the Royal Geographical Society, 1875.

[392] When, in September 1858, the question arose as to how far it was possible to declare the River Yang-tse navigable for Europeans, the late Admiral Sherard Osborn undertook to test it by taking Her Majesty’s ship Furious, which he then commanded, accompanied by the Cruiser and two gun-boats, up the river as far as she would go. He was the first to navigate a foreign ship of any kind to Hankow, and the service he thus rendered was a very important one, for it enabled Lord Elgin to insist on this great river being opened to foreign commerce.—See address at the anniversary meeting of the Royal Geographical Society by its President, Sir Henry C. Rawlinson, 24th of May, 1875.

[393] The Scotland sailed from Shanghai with a full cargo for Hankow in June 1860. She drew 17 feet of water. Two light-draught trading steamers preceded her: one an American river-boat, and the other a Russian vessel from the Amoor.

[394] The cargo of the Robert Lowe from Hankow for London consisted of 9568 chests, 234 half chests, and 2064 boxes of black (Honor) teas; 535 bales of cotton, 192 packages of sundries. Her freight amounted to 10,315l., and 480l. passage money.

[395] It may, however, be stated that the chief emigration is from the southern parts of China, and, rarely, north of Amoy. This, on the whole, is a well-regulated trade, and generally carried on in British, American, and German ships, specially chartered for the purpose; all of which, while thus engaged, are under the Hong-Kong Passenger Act, which has been adopted by the consuls at the different Treaty ports. The coolie trade from the Portuguese settlement of Macao, with which it is sometimes confounded, is of an entirely different character, and resembles much more the old and iniquitous slave-trade than free emigration. At Macao and in its vicinity, the coolies are collected, often in large numbers, by coolie-brokers, who are, invariably, men of very questionable, if not of the most depraved, character. These scoundrels, for the most part Chinese and Portuguese, stow these poor creatures away in well-guarded barracoons, ready for shipment; many, perhaps, most of them, not knowing for what purpose they have been collected. Some of them have been actually sold by their relatives to the brokers, or decoyed away from home by false representations; indeed, cases might be produced, where fathers have even staked their children and themselves at gambling-tables, and, on losing their stake, have been, summarily, transferred or exchanged for their price in coin to these still more depraved dealers in human beings. The most usual destination of these unfortunate creatures is Peru, where they are employed on the Guano Islands, and from which, alas, they seldom return.

[396]

Her power and capacity.

The Hankow and three other steamers of a similar class were built for Messrs. Swire by Messrs. A. and J. Inglis of Glasgow, expressly for the trade of the Yang-tse; their dimensions are as follows:—

Pekin and Shanghai.Ichang.Hankow.
Gross tonnage307617813168
Length on load-water line292feet.242feet.308feet
Breadth, moulded42 ”36 ”42”
Depth, moulded15 ”12ft. 6 in.16”
Load draught10 ”9feet.11 ”
Dead weight capacity664tons460tons840tons
Measurement capacity in tons of 40 feet366819723800
Passenger accommodation, Europeans141014
Passenger accommodation, Chinese, 1st16618
Passenger accommodation, Chinese, 2nd164106170
Speed on trial13knots12knots12¾knots
Diameter of cylinder68 inches62 inches72 inches
Stroke12feet.10feet.14 feet
Indicated horse-power145012001840
Pressure of steam27 lbs.33 lbs.35 lbs.
Consumption of fuel at full power (per hour)33 cwt.27 cwt.40 cwt.