[ 178 3 



CHAPTEB XXll^Continued. 



YANGTZE NOTES. 



CHINKIANG. 



By W. K. Carles, C.M.G. F.E.G.S. 



Late H. M. Consul in China. 



'TTHE town of Chinkiang has existed for over 2,000 years, and received its present name 

 * nearly a thousand years since. Many are the changes in the surrounding country 

 which it must have seen in that time. Even since our fleet in 1842 anchored off the city the 

 changes are considerable. The main channel then lay to the South of Golden Island 

 (^ til), a few hundred yards North of which was the city of Kuachou (JR W). Now old 

 Kuachou lies in the bed of the river, and the site on which our ships anchored is covered 

 with villages, among which the trees have grown up so rapidly that it appears incredible 

 that the land can have formed so recently. Fifty years ago almost the whole volume of the 

 river swept between Silver Island (^ llj) and the south bank; now there is a channel 1,000 

 yards wide to the North of the island. In 1863 when the port was opened to foreign trade not 

 a house had been left standing between the river and the city walls; now the whole space 

 is covered, and the population of the suburbs is larger than that of the city. The slaughter 

 which took place during the Taiping Rebellion has left its traces in the surrounding 

 country, in valleys still uncultivated, in ruined villages over-grown with brushwood and 

 brambles, and in lawsuits over lands for which title-deeds are not to be found. 



Where the distress was greatest and the country most deserted tigers and other wild 

 animals appeared on the scene and game multiplied profusely. But the tigers have gone 

 South again and the shooting now is not what it was. Still it is fair and very varied. 

 The North bank of the river has been comparatively little shot over and is much more 

 thickly populated than the South. As far as the eye can reach a low plain intersected by 

 canals stretches North and East. A large tract is below the water level and many terrible 

 inundations have occurred when embankments have given way after heavy rains, but 

 travellers tell of pheasants as numerous and wildfowl are plentiful. Oddly enough hares 

 are said to swarm in parts of the country and to be so tame as to play with puppies. 



