July 13, 1876] 



NATURE 



229 



viz., in the amount of recognition which he has assigned 

 to the principal pioneer in the department of history 

 on which he writes, I mean, of course, Dr. Wohlwill. 

 Without wishing to imply that von Gebler has inten- 

 tionally minimized the credit he has given to Wohlwill, I 

 certainly think that a person acquainted with the latter's 

 pamphlet only by the former's references, would form an 

 inadequate conception of the extent to which its few and 

 unassuming pages have supplied both materials and 

 suggestions since incorporated and turned to account in 

 the present work. Sedley Taylor 



MARGARY'S JOURNALS AND LETTERS 



The yoiij-ney of Augusttis Raymond Margary from 

 Shanghae to Bhamo, and back to Manivyne. From 

 his Journals and Letters. With a brief Biographical 

 Preface, and concluding Chapter, by Sir Rutherford 

 Alcock, K.C.B. Portrait and Map. (London : Mac- 

 millan and Co., 1876.) 



THE publication of these journals and letters can only 

 serve to confirm and deepen the general regret felt 

 at the untimely fate of Mr. Margary. After looking at 

 the manly, genial, and determined face which Jeens has 

 so faithfully reproduced, and reading the hurried but able 

 and invariably interesting notes which have been preserved 

 of the now famous journey, one burns with vexation that 

 through some possibly preventible misunderstanding or 

 ignorant blunder, so promising and noble a youth should 

 have been sacrificed, just when he had shown of how 

 great things he was capable. We need not here enter 

 into details with which, doubtless, all our readers are 

 familiar through the daily press, and to which we have 

 already referred in connection with Dr. Anderson's recent 

 work (vol. xiii., p. 422), to which the present publication 

 is the fitting complement. 



The Indian Government had determined to make 

 another attempt — Sladen's in 1868 was a failure — to open 

 up a trade route between Burmah and China. A party 

 was to leave Bhamo in January, 1875, cross the frontier, 

 and make its way to Shanghae. It was thought advisable 

 that some one should traverse the rotite in an opposite 

 direction, so as to meet this party on the frontier ; Mr. 

 Margary, who had been for some years in our Consular 

 Chinese Service as interpreter, was selected for the criti- 

 cal but honourable duty, and in accordance with instruc- 

 tions set out from Shanghae in A.ugust, 1874. The 

 energetic youth — he was twenty-eight years of age — 

 eager to be of use in the world, and naturally eager 

 for distinction, rejoiced to have such a splendid opportu- 

 nity, dangerous though he knew the task to be, and with 

 speed and secrecy made his preparations, and set out 

 furnished with a pass from the Chinese Government. 

 He had a journey before him of not far short of 2,000 

 miles, right through the heart of the Chinese Empire, a 

 large portion of the distance over ground not previously 

 traversed by any European. About one half of the distance 

 was in steamer and by boat up the Yang-tse-Kiang, 

 and its tributary, the Yuan. At Chen-Yuan-Fu, in the 

 Kwei Chou province, he was furnished with carriers and 

 baggage animals, and thus safely made his way to his 

 destination, Bhamd, in Burmah, a short distance on the 



other side of the Chinese frontier. Probably no one ever 

 made a journey of such length through any part of China 

 and met with fewer obstructions. It was not the pass he 

 was provided with that alone did it, for in one or two 

 instances the officials of towns could annoy him in spite 

 of it. It was his humanity, his toleration, his geniality 

 and sense of humour and disposition to see the best side 

 of everything and everybody ; it was these qualities com- 

 bined with his perfect acquaintance with the language and 

 knowledge of and respect for Chinese customs, along 

 with a determination to make his mission a success, that 

 carried him safely and happily through circumstances in 

 which ninety-nine others would have come to grief. 



During a great part of his journey, Mr. Margary was 

 almost prostrated by illnesses of various kinds ; yet 

 those are mistaken who think that the book before us 

 contains merely a few meagre scraps thrown together to 

 make up a volume. In spite of illnesses and of the fact that 

 as in duty bound he made all haste to get to the end of 

 his journey, Mr. Margary contrived, by observation and 

 intercourse, to obtain a substantial amount of really 

 valuable information about the country and the people 

 through which he passed. He had of course no time for 

 minute exploration, though a fair acquaintance with 

 geology and botany qualified him for profitable work of 

 this kind ; but his journals and letters contain many im- 

 portant notes on the physical geography and resources of 

 the extensive tract through which his journey lay. He 

 kept eyes and ears open, and his notes show that in this 

 part of China there is plenty of scope for mining and 

 commercial enterprise, and a fruitful field awaiting 

 the scientific explorer. Many important observations 

 will also be found in these remains concerning the 

 people of the various districts and their ethnological 

 relations. Especially do the notes of his intercourse with 

 officials, and non- officials as well, serve to shed a light on 

 Chinese character that we are sure will be new to many. 

 Mr. Margary set himself from the first to understand the 

 Chinese, a task of the greatest difficulty, and came to the 

 conclusion that the common notions on this curious people 

 are far from correct. 



The brief biographical sketch and a few early letters 

 enable one to trace the growth and training of the unfor- 

 tunate youth from his school-days. He was evidently 

 made of excellent stuff to begin with, and took the best 

 possible advantage of his educational opportunities. 

 When only about twenty he was appointed as interpreter 

 to China. Here he speedily acquired a mastery of the 

 language, and did duty at various places before his last 

 settlement at Shanghae. While on the island of Formosa 

 he supplemented his defective scientific education by, as 

 we have said, the acquisition of a knowledge of botany 

 and zoology. On several occasions, moreover, before his 

 final feat, he showed his readiness of resource, bravery, 

 determination, and skill in dealing with men. And yet, 

 through some yet unexplained blunder, this splendid 

 young fellow, so well adapted for long service to his 

 country and to science, was obscurely and brutally mur- 

 dered in a petty Chinese village. The mission under 

 Col. Browne had proceeded on its way some little distance 

 beyond the Burman frontier, when Margary volunteered 

 to go forward with one or two attendants to remove some 

 seemingly small obstruction at Manwyne. No more was 



