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SCIENCE. 



[Vol. XIII. No. 328 



miles has been completed: viz., Tientsin to Tongku, 27 miles ; 

 Tongku to Lutai, 35 miles ; and Lutai to Tongshian, 29 miles. In 

 addition, there are 5 miles of sidings and branches. The line is a 

 single one, the rails are of steel, and the gauge throughout is the 

 4 feet SJ inches common in Great Britain. The four passenger 

 and seven tank locomotives were, with one exception, imported 

 from England. 



Financially there is every reason for believing that the new rail- 

 way will be a success. The small Tongshan line has already paid 

 a dividend of 6 per cent, and the extension will add enormously to 

 its profits, tapping as it does a populous stretch of country and a 

 busy centre of commerce like Tientsin. An additional feature is 

 the extreme cheapness with which the line has been constructed. 

 The country through which it passes is flat and marshy, and in 

 certain seasons of the year liable to inundations. In consequence 

 of this, an embankment of 8 feet in altitude was in some places re- 

 quired, some fifty bridges had to be constructed, and an extensive 

 system of water-channels was found necessary. Bearing this in 

 mind, the total cost so far — viz., a million and a half of taels, or, 

 say, under ■£^,t,oo, per mile — is exceedingly small, and reflects the 

 greatest credit on Mr. Kinder and his staff. 



A comparison between the Japanese and the Chinese is a favor- 

 ite theme with travellers, who never tire of contrasting the former's 

 rapid strides with China's timid steps along the path of progress. 

 No doubt Japan is far ahead of China in all modern improvements, 

 but her pioneering has been expensive work, and China has profited 

 by her experience. The first railway in Japan, from Tokio to Yo- 

 kohama, a distance of 18 miles, was completed in 1880, at a cost 

 of ;£34,263 per mile. The difference in cost of the two railways is 

 certainly remarkable, but the detailed items of expenditure are not 

 sufficiently numerous to enable one to form an accurate compari- 

 son. The engineering difficulties of the Japan line were apparently 

 no greater than in Chma, and the gauge was only 3 feet 6 inches, 

 as opposed to the 4 feet 8^ inches of China. On the other hand, 

 the line was a double one ; but, after every allowance is made, it 

 seems evident that the Japanese were heavily fleeced in their first 

 railway contracts, and that the Chinese have profited by the expe- 

 rience of their neighbors. 



In the numerous troubles and even riots that arose as the rail- 

 way pushed its way past mouldering graves and through the well- 

 tilled fields, the viceroy found an able ally in Wu Ting-fang, a man 

 of great tact and energy. Combining the suavzier in modo with 

 the fortiter in re, he managed with success to conciliate the 

 prejudices of the small farmers, the bones of whose ancestors he 

 was about to disturb. Wu Ting-fang spent some years in Eng- 

 land, and qualified himself with honors as an English barrister-at- 

 law. The management of the railway is now virtually in his 

 hands, and his foreign experience should stand him in good 

 stead. 



At the end of September the new line was opened for traffic, and 

 trains are now running daily over the whole distance. Tickets 

 have been printed, a time-table published in the Chinese Tiines, 

 and crowds of natives are already availing themselves of the novel 

 mode of conveyance. The engine-drivers are as yet Europeans ; 

 but the Chinese have shown a remarkable aptitude for work of 

 this kind, and may soon be expected to replace their foreign com- 

 petitors. 



On the 9th of October, Li Hung-chang made his first journey of 

 inspection. He was received at the Tientsin station by the foreign 

 engineers and by an imposing array of Chinese officials clad in 

 their robes of state. A body of foreign- drilled troops was stationed 

 for some distance along the line, and, by their smart appearance 

 and soldierly bearing, formed a striking contrast to the native 

 braves, armed with ancient gingals and bows, and dressed in taw- 

 dry uniforms of black and yellow. The viceroy entered the hand- 

 some saloon carriage built for him, and, amidst a feii de joie from 

 the soldiers, steamed out of the station at 8 a.m. The carriage is 

 provided with a bedroom, a lavatory, and rooms for the viceroy's 

 suite. The teak furniture was supplied by a firm of upholsterers 

 at Shanghai, and the general decorations are tasteful and hand- 

 some. The viceroy showed a lively interest in the new work, and, 

 to facilitate his inspection, the train proceeded slowly ; but during 

 one part of the journey he was bowled along at the rate of fifty 



miles an hour, and this speed could easily have been increased. 

 After a short rest at Tongshan, his Excellency returned to Tient- 

 sin, much pleased with the result of his visit. It would have been 

 extremely unfortunate had any thing occurred to excite Chinese 

 fears or prejudices, but happily the trial passed off without a hitch. 

 A formal report has been ordered to be submitted to the Throne 

 and to Prince Ch'un. Its tenor will undoubtedly be entirely favor- 

 able, and the railway system will receive its imprimatur immedi- 

 ately. 



The first railway in China — the Wusung affair was merely an 

 experiment — has thus been brought to a triumphant conclusion. 

 With the record of previous failure before us, we must guard 

 against being too sanguine, but for this railway there is no need to 

 fear such a catastrophe as that of Wusung. It is not a foreign, 

 but a Chinese undertaking, with native directors, who ' will be 

 shrewd enough to protect their own interests ; and obviously it rests 

 on a sounder basis. Its slow growth affords the surer hope of its 

 stability, and it needs no prophet to foretell that once more China 

 is entering on a new era of civilization. Still, it is believed, the 

 growth will be slow, and until the capital is reached it is unlikely 

 that any comprehensive scheme will be adopted. China has as 

 yet only tasted the advantages of Western civilization, but the 

 morsel has been large enough to excite her appetite for more. If 

 Taku were again threatened, troops could now be poured in by the 

 railway, and the capture of the forts would be a more serious mat- 

 ter than it was in 1860-61. But Taku is not the only vulnerable 

 point, and the railway must be extended to Shanhai-kuan, which 

 lies some eighty miles in an opposite direction, before the defences 

 of the capital can be considered complete. It is practically settled, 

 already, however, that the first extension shall be some seventy 

 miles north to T'ung-chou, an old port on the Peiho, fifteen miles 

 from Peking. The provincial officials who are continually travel- 

 ling to and from the capital on business, and the crowd of under- 

 graduates who go there to be examined, can now sail from the 

 south to Taku in a comfortable foreign steamer. As soon as the 

 extension is completed, they will be able to traverse the distance 

 between Taku and T'ung-chou with an ease and rapidity in strik- 

 ing contrast to the painful and tardy journey by cart to which they 

 have hitherto been accustomed. At T'ung-chou they will be forced 

 to disembark, and endure the torture of driving in a Peking cart over 

 the thirteen miles of stone road by which Marco Polo travelled 

 more than six hundred years ago. No one who has not made that 

 journey can realize what it is to be cooped up in a springless cart, 

 like an enlarged dog-kennel placed on wheels, and to be bumped 

 and jolted over these blocks of masonry, one wheel now high in the 

 air, rattling the unfortunate traveller's head against one side of the 

 cart, and anon sinking deep in a bog, to send him flying with a 

 lurch to the other, until, bruised and bewildered, he sees the gates 

 of Peking loom in sight, and, with a sigh of relief, endures a final 

 jolt as he passes under the ponderous archway. That journey will 

 be the motor muscle of railway extension. Human nature, even 

 Chinese human nature, will not long endure the anomaly of spend- 

 ing three hours of peace and comfort over the first 130 miles of a 

 journey, and three hours of pain and torture in covering the last 13 

 miles. The discomfort of it is a blessing in disguise ; and when 

 the Peking station is opened, and the railway-whistle shrieks as we 

 near its ancient walls, we shall draw our rug closer about us, and 

 bless the old road for what it has brought. Once the exclusion of 

 the capital is broken down, who can predict what will follow ? The 

 growth, as has been said, will be slow, and it is well that it should 

 be so. No grand trunk lines will be attempted until repeated small 

 extensions have been proved a success. That success may be con- 

 sidered assured, but the Chinese are right to prove it for them- 

 selves. And as the years roll on, we may conclude that first one 

 province and then another will fall under the sway of the Iron 

 King, until an arterial system of railways shall bear new life and 

 vigor to every extremity of corporate China, and she wakes once 

 more to feel her old strength, but with it a new potentiality for the 

 safety and peace of her people. 



With regard to the results which will spring from the introduc- 

 tion of railways in China, we may find a fair parallel in the benefits 

 which have accrued to India since they were established there. 

 Agriculture will receive a much-needed impetus, rebellions will be 



