246 Notes on the Eiver Yang-tse-Kiang. [No. 3, 
tlie most defensible situations ; no artillery larger than a jingall is 
used in this hilly country, and, it is only necessary to construct the 
redoubts so that they may he safe from escalade. If the Chinese 
government had the least energy, the rebels would have no chance 
to establish themselves in a country where the popular feeling is so 
strong in favour of law and order, hut should the present state of 
affairs continue much longer, the feeling of the population will pro- 
bably undergo a change ; finding the government powerless to protect 
them, they will lose their respect for it, and the habit of carrying 
arms will make them less likely than formerly to submit to the exac- 
tions of the authorities ; being by nature industrious and peaceable 
they are the people of all others likely to make good and loyal sub- 
jects to a government strong enough to ensure them peace and quiet- 
ness ; many of the rebels have become so either from necessity or 
compulsion, and would gladly embrace an opportunity of returning to a 
quiet life, and among them would doubtless he found men who, with 
officers in whom they could trust, would make first-rate soldiers. 
The rebels in the West have no connexion with the Tai-pings, hut 
have sprung from bands of robbers, doubtless encouraged by the 
weakness or want of energy of the government ; the provinces of 
Sz’ehuan and Yunnan have always been in an unsettled state, being 
infested, like England in the olden time, by numerous bands of rob- 
bers ; about two years ago, four of their leaders by name “ Lan-ta- 
shun,” “ Li-chwan-tata,” “ Chang-u-mats,” and “ Mou-san-chow” 
collected larger numbers of men than usual, and uniting their forces, 
have since, that time, set the government at defiance ; at the present 
time they occupy a large portion of the province of Sz chuan, and 
are said to have burnt the suburbs of the capital Ching-tu (foo), 
and to be besieging the city ; these bands first became formidable in 
the 9th year of the reign of the present Emperor, “ Heen-Fung 
on the authority of a Mandarin who commanded our Chinese escort, 
they are now occupying the following towns in Sz’chuan ; between 
Wan (hien) and Chingtu Ping-chi, She-kung, Chung-kiang, and 
Shiinking ; between Chungking and Chingtu Ho (chow), Ting- 
yuen, Mien (chow), Nan-ching, and Si-chung ; between Lu (chow) 
and Chingtu Niu-fu-tu, King-yen, and We-yuen ; between Siichow, 
and Chingtu: — Kiading, Kien-we, Yow-ku-tu, Kioh-kili, Manien- 
chang, and Utung-kiow ; the sons of a Moolvee at Chung-king gave 
the following as the names of places occupied by them in Sz chuan ; 
