342

FUTURE OF TIEN-TSIN

CHAP. XX.

It was curious to remark the effect of all this upon the Chinese labourers, who had probably been all their lives located upon the spot. They evidently could not realize the idea that they were really to move off to other quarters. In many instances I observed them busily engaged in putting in fresh crops for the following year! year! They could not comprehend the justice or propriety of being turned out of their houses and lands for the benefit of the public, and that public the foreigner! As the purchase-money had been paid into the hands of the Chinese Government, it had doubtless to submit to a 66 squeeze" before it reached the pockets of the owners of the land.

In drawing to a close my remarks upon the port of Tien-tsin and the country around it, I may state my belief that ultimately this place will prove of great importance as a mart for our manufactures. Next to the opening of the Yang-tze-kiang, it will probably prove the most valuable concession obtained from the Chinese in Lord Elgin's treaty. When the rebellion, which has been raging for years in this unhappy country, has either died out or has been put down, the rivers and canals will once more swarm with boats engaged in active trade. The Grand Canal, which leads through some of the richest and most populous districts of the empire, and which is now choked up in many places with mud, or rendered unsafe by bands of rebels and robbers, will then become the busy highway it once was, and foreigners as well as natives will be

allowed to visit the numerous cities and towns which line its banks. The river which leads from Tien-tsin to Pow-ting-foo, one of the chief towns of the province, will take a large quantity of our manufactures, and the caravans which come to that place will convey them all over the western interior. In addition to all this there is the capital itself, teeming with its many thousands of human beings, all requiring food and clothing, and carrying on an extensive trade with Western China and Tartary by means of camels, droves of which are daily arriving and departing from the city.

Taking all these facts together, we may venture to look forward to Tien-tsin becoming, at no very distant time, a most important mart for our manufactures. Already English houses begin to rise on the new settlement, and ere the world grows many years older a handsome foreign town will be seen on the land which was lately covered with cabbage-gardens, mud huts, and tombs. The Rev. Mr. Edkins and other Christian missionaries have also entered this field; and by their knowledge of the Chinese language, their inoffensive manners, and their blameless lives, do much to remove many prejudices which exist in the minds of the people against those who have come to reside amongst them.

344

FORM OF PASSPORT.

CHAP. XXI.

CHAPTER XXI.

Leave Tien-tsin for Peking-My passport

Mode of travelling —

Carts and wretched roads - Hotel at Tsai-tsoun-Towns of Hoose-woo, Nan-ping, and Matao-Hotel at Chan-chow-wanPoor accommodation - Moderate charges Appearance of the country-Crops and cultivation- Mountains in the distance Walls and ramparts of Peking - Foreign embassies - English Legation Medical missions - Chinese observatory — Views from it Tartar and Chinese cities.

HAVING received permission to visit Peking from his Excellency the Hon. F. W. A. Bruce, Her Majesty's Minister at the Chinese Court, I left Tien-tsin for that place on the 17th of September. A passport, written in Chinese and English, and signed by Her Majesty's Consul, was necessary before I could set out on this journey. As the passport system in China is something new, here is the English portion of the one with which I was furnished :

Passport No. 53.

BRITISH CONSULATE, 16th Sept. 1861. The undersigned, Her Britannic Majesty's Consul at Tien-tsin, requests the Civil and Military Authorities of the Emperor of China, in conformity with the ninth article of the Treaty of Tien-tsin, to allow a British subject, to travel freely, and without hindrance or molestation, in the Chinese Empire, and to give him protection and aid in case of necessity.

Mr.

being a person of known respectability,

is desirous of proceeding to

and this passport is

given him on condition of his not visiting the cities or towns

occupied by the Insurgents.

H. B. M.'s Consul.

This passport will remain in force for a year from the date thereof. Signature of the bearer:

This passport was countersigned by the Chinese authority of the place.

There are two modes of travelling from Tientsin to the capital-by boat up the Pei-ho as far as Tong-chow, and then on by land, or by cart on the common highway. In going up I chose the latter, in order to save time, and also to enable me to see more of the country and its productions. The carts used by travellers are strongly made, and covered over so as to afford protection from sun and rain. They look in the distance like little oblong boxes on wheels, and are generally drawn by two mules.

The Peking road starts from the north gate of the city of Tien-tsin, crosses the Grand Canal by a bridge of boats, and enters a dense suburb which extends across towards the Pei-ho. My troubles now began. The road was one of the worst I had ever travelled upon. It was full of deep holes at every step of our way; now one of my wheels plunged into one of these up to the axle, and it was scarcely up when down went the other. Although I had before starting packed my cart carefully with bedding and pillows, I was every

346

THE SMALL PEI-HO.

kind;

CHAP. XXI.

now and then jolted against its sides with great violence. These carts are not furnished with springs of indeed the strongest springs, if subjected to such jolting, would soon get broken.

any

On our way through the suburb I observed a great number of large hotels for the accommodation of travellers in going to or returning from the capital. Travelling onwards in a northerly direction, we soon reached the banks of the Pei-ho, near a point where another river falls into it. This river is called the "Small Pei-ho," and is the one I have already mentioned as leading up to the important town of Pow-ting-foo, the chief town of the district. Having crossed the river by a bridge of boats, we found that we had left Tien-tsin and its suburbs entirely behind us, and were now in the open country. For many miles the country around was perfectly flat, and covered in all directions with Kow-leang, the tall millet already noticed. Now and then, during the journey, we got glimpses of the Pei-ho as it wound, snake-like, through the plain; and the tall masts and sails of boats showed themselves here and there, in the distance, above the tops of the millet.

During the day we passed through the towns of Puh-kow and Yang-tsoun, and arrived at Tsaitsoun in the evening, having come a distance of eighty-five le, or somewhere about twenty-eight English miles. There are two large inns in this place, and in one of these I determined on putting