WESTERN CHINA 5 



year one or more visit Pingshan Hsien and Kiating Fu, the 

 latter city being about loo miles north of Sui Fu on the Min 

 River. 



The advent of the gunboats had been anticipated early in 

 1898 by a small launch called the Leechuan, commanded by 

 Captain C. Plant and owned by the late Mr. Archibald Little, 

 the pioneer foreign merchant of these regions. The experi- 

 mental test made by this launch took practical shape in 1900 

 when a commercial steamer named the Pioneer, captained by 

 Plant and operated by a British syndicate, in which Mr. Little 

 figured, was placed on this service. She made a trip prior to the 

 Boxer outbreak, after which she was chartered by the British 

 Government and was finally purchased for naval purposes. 



On 27th December 1900, a German merchant ship, the 

 Suihsiang, specially designed and built for the purpose, left 

 Ichang for Chungking, but was wrecked and totally lost below 

 the Tungling Rapid only some 40 miles above Ichang. 



Early in 1910 the task was again taken in hand; this time a 

 powerfully constructed tug named the Shutung, towing along- 

 side a flat for passengers and cargo, was employed. This outfit, 

 owned by a Chinese syndicate, was commanded by the same 

 Captain C. Plant. The venture proved successful, and four- 

 teen round trips were made during the year. It is fitting that 

 the man who pioneered the whole business should succeed in 

 demonstrating the practicability of merchant steam navigation 

 on the Upper Yangtsze. The work, however, is dangerous, 

 exceedingly difficult, and, moreover, costly, and unless some 

 improvements are made in the river-bed, it will be some time 

 before any considerable fleet of steamers ply on these waters. 



Above Pingshan Hsien navigation is only practicable for 

 small native craft in certain short interrupted sections. The 

 river flows for the most part through gorges or between steep 

 mountains, and its course is frequently broken by dangerous 

 rapids and cataracts that produce a seething, foaming swirl in 

 which nothing can live. In the autumn of 191 1 an adventurous 

 French naval officer made an extraordinary j ourney down the 

 Upper Yangtsze to Sui Fu in native boats specially built for the 

 purpose. An account of this journey should prove exciting 

 reading. 



