viii Preface to the First Edition 



With the exception of the ubiquitous missionary, 

 the travellers who have ascended the " Great (and 

 sole) Highway" of China to its. highest navigable 

 point may be" counted on the fingers of one hand. So 

 tedious are the antiquated modes of travel, that of the 

 thousands of European residents at the treaty ports, 

 few have the leisure or inclination to journey outside 

 of the routes covered by our " barbarian " steamers. 

 Of the voyage to Chung-king, up the Yang-tse river, 

 a distance of 1500 miles, 1000 miles are traversed by 

 steamers to Ichang in a week's time. The remaining 

 500 miles occupy from five to six weeks, a longer time 

 than it takes to go from London to Shanghai. Since 

 the execution of the celebrated " Chefoo Convention " 

 in 1875, the placing of steamers on this upper route 

 has been under discussion, but Chinese obstructiveness 

 has thus far succeeded in staving off the evil day, and 

 nothing but strong pressure on the part of the foreign 

 ministers accredited to the Court of Pekin will bring 

 about this much-needed innovation, an innovation as 

 much desired by the native merchants and traders as 

 it is dreaded by the official and literary classes. Apart 

 from the laudable fear of injury to the livelihood of 

 the existing junk-men, anything that leads to further 

 contact between foreigners and the people at large is 

 deprecated as lessening the influence of the profoundly 

 ignorant ruling class ; and thus, notwithstanding the 

 heavy losses in life and property that the present 

 system of navigation entails, this further contemplated 



