Preface to the First Editio7i ix 



invasion of the inner waters of the Empire is strenu- 

 ously resisted. 



In reading this journal, in which I have depicted 

 the existing difficulties of the route, it must be borne 

 in mind that the Yang-tse is not only the main, but 

 the sole road of intercommunication between the east 

 and west of this vast Empire. Roads, properly so 

 called, do not exist in China ; narrow footpaths alone 

 connect one town and village with another, and, 

 except by the waterways, nothing can be transported 

 from place to place but on men's backs. In the far 

 north, it is true, cart-tracks exist, and clumsy two- 

 wheeled springless carts are there in use, but in 

 Central and Southern China, land travel is absolutely 

 confined to paths, so narrow that two pedestrians 

 have often a difficulty in passing each other. Traces 

 of magnificent paved roads, of the ancient dynasties, 

 still exist in nearly every province ; but they have 

 been destroyed by neglect, and have been disused for 

 centuries past. Since the date of the Mongol in- 

 vasion (1279), every incentive to progress has come 

 from without, and every foreign well-wisher of the 

 Empire, especially if resident, is impelled to do his 

 utmost to carry on this progress. 



The rulers of China should take to heart Bacon's 

 words : " Since things alter for the worst spontaneously, 

 if they be not altered for the better designedly, what 

 end will there be of evil ? " Railways have been 

 long talked of, but so far, the short line, built some 



