May 23, 1859.] CHINA— ASCENT OF THE YANG-TSE-KEANG. 293 



soundings, and anchorages between Shangae and the Gulf of Pecheli, 

 as well as with accounts of that gulf and of the river Feiho.* This 

 officer has not only the talent of clearly developing the geographical 

 features of a country, as well as the characteristic habits, trades, 

 and occupations of its inhabitants, but he does this in such lively 

 and attractive language, that the reader of our Proceedings can now 

 precisely picture to his mind's eye how Shangae has risen to its 

 present state of opulence, can fancy himself lying at anchor in the 

 Gulf of Pecheli, sounding the bar of the Peiho, or disembarking 

 among shoals of canoes while pressed upon by curious Chinese, as he 

 wends his way through Tien-sin, the populous and filthy great port 

 of the capital. 



But of all the operations which have been carried on in China, no 

 one has proved so truly surprising to the geographer as the recent 

 ascent of the great river Yang-tse-Keang by the Earl of Elgin. On 

 this remarkable occasion we are again in company with Captain 

 Sherard Osbom, who, together with his excellent officers, has given 

 us a detailed chart of the river. We have been also furnished 

 with an admirable description of the operations of this successful 

 voyage by our Associate Mr. L. Oliphant, the Secretary of Lord 

 Elgin — already well known in the literary world; so that from 

 the combination of the talents of these gentlemen, documents 

 relating to the course of the mighty stream have been laid before 

 us which are of the deepest interest to the geographer, the statist, 

 and the merchant. 



It may fairly be said that never was an expedition of this nature 

 carried out under such strange and striking circumstances; for 

 never before did a squadron of armed steamers, one of them draw- 

 ing 1 6 feet of water, penetrate into the interior of a great continent 

 for between 600 and 700 miles — a distance equal to the length 

 of the Danube in a straight line from its mouths to near Vienna. 

 Again, when we consider that large portions of the banks of the 

 river were occupied by a hostile rebel force, the batteries of which 

 offered resistance at two critical points of the voyage, and that the 

 whole tract was more or less in a state of ruthless civil war, our 

 astonishment increases. Such an achievement it may safely be said 

 would have been impossible in any other age than the one we live 

 in. On referring to the chart of Sherard Osbom and his naval asso- 

 ciates, we find that this wonderful voyage to and fro, i. e. for a dis- 



* See the account of the statistics of the port of Shanghae. — Proc. Geogr. Soc.,to1. iii., p. 57, 



