The salt trade is a government monopoly, from which they reap enormous profits; and if the British government had made war upon China for the purpose of establishing a trade in that article, and not in opium, they would, instead of destroying and demoralizing them, have conferred a vast benefit upon the Chinese, and benefited themselves.
Salt at E-ching, upon an average, is of the same price as the common rice (the staple article of food in China), seldom selling for less than three taels (one pound sterling) per picul (130 pounds weight). A few hundred miles farther up the river, though of the commonest and dirtiest sea description, it is frequently sold at more than double that price. Of course, where an article of such immense and important consumption is declared contraband, and monopolized by the government, a large amount of smuggling exists. Until the Yang-tze-kiang was opened to foreign trade, little, if any, smuggling was effected upon its waters; but upon the advent of Europeans, many of them made large profits by secretly conveying salt, even sometimes in their steam-ships, while numberless sailing craft—usually the semi-European, semi-Chinese lorchas—were solely occupied in this illegal traffic.
Soon after passing E-ching we came upon the Ti-pings at a place in the vicinity of Nin-gan-shan, a village some short distance inland, formed by a sharp bend of the river to the northwards. This elbow they had just fortified with a rather heavy, formidable-looking battery. The guns, however, were very inferior, being of the usual clumsy Chinese make and fitting. The river at this point was considerably reduced in width, being little more than half a mile across, and the south bank being formed of cliffs, some two hundred feet high, and being also in the hands of the Ti-pings, rendered the position highly favourable. From this point both sides of the river were in Ti-ping possession; therefore, whenever we required to stop we could do so, and land with perfect safety and immunity from insult.
Above Chin-kiang the country gradually assumes a more massive and imposing formation. High ranges of mountains are visible inland, and in some places descend even to the river's edge; while generally the country becomes of a more undulating, diversified appearance. In the neighbourhood of Nin-gan-shan the hilly part of the soil presents strong indication of auriferous qualities. I afterwards went over the spot with an old Californian miner, who declared the place was full of gold; but, unfortunately, we had no time to try it.
At Nankin I remained but a short time, barely sufficient to obtain the necessary permit from H.M.S. Centaur, stationed there to represent the British interests at the Ti-ping capital. The Centaurs seemed on good terms with the Ti-pings, for their ship was crowded with them. Several boats put off from the shore with provisions for sale, and one official came on board with a request for us to remain and trade. This was impossible, for though we much wished it, and though the foreign merchants were entirely dependent upon the Ti-pings for silk, and a great proportion of tea, yet the British government in its Elgin treaty (June 1858, by articles IX. and X.), had completely placed a veto upon trade with them; though afterwards they asserted that the Ti-pings would not trade. Of course, had we attempted to trade as the Ti-pings desired, we should have been seized and prevented by H.M.'s representative on board the Centaur, for breaking the treaty with the Manchoo emperor of China.
After purchasing a few fowls and some eggs, we proceeded on our voyage to Han-kow.
Some forty miles above Nankin we passed between the East and West Pillars, two immense masses of rock nearly a thousand feet high, and projecting, with a sheer descent, some little distance into the river. Both were in the possession of the Ti-pings. The summits were fortified, and at the foot of each strong batteries were erected. These two giant sentinels are termed by the Chinese the gates of the upper river; beyond them the flood tide ceases to be perceptible.
When off the city of Tu-ngliu some 380 miles from the mouth of the river, we were compelled to seek a sheltered anchorage, and to remain there several days through stress of weather. Even at such a considerable distance inland, the storms are sometimes so violent, and the waves of the river so disturbed, that smaller vessels are unable to brave their fury; the swiftness of the current adding considerably to the danger.
The sheltered nook we sought already contained a weather-bound vessel. Our fellow-captive proved to be an English schooner upon a trading cruise about the river. She was manned by Chinese sailors, but the owners and another European were in charge. The three days we remained at anchor passed pleasantly enough, our position being perfectly sheltered, and the boisterous state of the river affecting us but little; while each day we visited the schooner's people, or they came to us.
I made several shooting trips ashore with our companions, and we always returned well rewarded for our trouble, the place literally swarming with pheasants. The country was mostly of a low hilly formation, and being uncultivated, the hills, full of low shrubs and gorse, made a capital cover. We shot pheasants even in the farm-yards of the few houses about, and the inhabitants told us we might catch them at night roosting all round their dwellings. My companions from the schooner, who had been in California and Australia, declared the hills about Tu-ngliu contained gold; they also stated the whole river was full of it, and showed me some large specimens they had washed at a place named Hen Point, some twenty miles below the city of Ngan-king.
We fully intended to test the Tu-ngliu soil, but the weather clearing rendered necessary our immediate departure.
Some miles before reaching the treaty port of Kew-kiang, we passed a remarkable rock termed the Little Orphan. Several hundred yards in circumference at the base, at the distance of thirty fathoms from the north bank of the river it rises perpendicularly about four or five hundred feet. The summit is crowned by Budhist temples and idols, the only communication being by means of a stair cut in the sides of the rock by the priests. When passing this singular place once afterwards, my Chinese crew informed me no European could ascend the rock and live, it being protected by some Chinese demon, or genii, peculiarly averse to "foreign devils."
A few hours before arriving at Kew-kiang we passed the entrance to the Poyang Lake, a channel considerably broader than the river itself. The clear transparent waters of the lake afforded a pleasing contrast to the thick and muddy current of the river, and we steamed about a mile into it, for the purpose of obtaining a good supply and filling all our available casks. The appearance of this lake is magnificent in the extreme. Lost in the far distance, its limpid surface is surrounded by tall impending cliffs, in some places terminating abruptly at the margin of the water, while in others the intervening space is filled up with a most luxuriant growth of under-wood, overshadowed by the bending branches of gnarled and giant trees. The numerous valleys formed by the hills contain the summer resting-places of many of the Chinese nobility, whose handsome palaces fill every appropriate situation. The cloud-enveloped summits of one high range of mountains on the western shore, are crowned with eternal snow, presenting a most fantastic appearance, and affording many a wild and weird theme to Chinese romancers.
Kew-kiang we found in the direst state of confusion. The Imperialist troops had declared their determination to massacre the hated "Yang-quitzo," or drive him off their soil; and all the European residents were blockaded in their quarter. An English gunboat, and one of the large merchant steamers, were lying off the concession, prepared to render their assistance and protection, and when we arrived, at the request of the consul—who expected his consulate would be attacked again that night—we moored in a position where our guns would prove effective in case of danger. The night, however, passed off pretty quietly, and the braves only made a further demonstration by smashing the few remaining panes of glass they had left whole upon a former assault. A day or two previously they had made a grand attack upon the settlement, destroyed several new buildings of the merchants, and very nearly demolished the British Consulate; but when the residents, in self-defence, were compelled to shoot a few of them, they retreated for the time. The mandarins, as