THE RIVER OF GOLDEN SAND.* Tax Gold-Sand River, or Chin-
Sha-Chiang, from which Captain Gill's interesting book derives its title, as he followed its course with but few derivations during twenty-four of his marches from Bat'ang to Ta-li-fu, takes its rise somewhere about 90° E. longitude, and is, in fact, the upper or Tibetan portion of the great Yaug-Tzn, which passes near its source under many different appellations, such as the Mongol one of Murui-ussu, "Winding Water," and the Tibetan Burei-chn, "the River of the Yak Cow." A little lower down, it is heard of as the N'joh-chu, but from Bat'ang to Fuchow it is constantly called the Chin-Sha, from the quantity of gold-dust found in the sand of its bed, and by this name also it is more widely known. By looking on the map, we find that this magnificent stream crosses the most populous parts of the Chinese Empire ; the lower portions of it have been often described, but Captain Gill seems to be the only traveller who has traced it into the Alpine highlands above Cheng-tu, the Min Mountains of the ancient YA-Kung, a region inhabited by the Man-tzu and Si-fau races. This portion of his journey, which he calls a loop-cast towards the Northern Alps, is naturally of especial interest. On con- cluding it, the intention of the author had been to pass through Kan-Su to ICashgaria, proceeding thence to Europe through Russia, a journey upon which he had set his heart, and for which he had. made extensive preparations. The critical state of affairs at that time (June, 1877), and the fear of war breaking out between England and Russia, in which case Captain Gill's cervices might have been suddenly required, induced him to turn his steps most reluctantly in another direction, and to re- turn home as speedily as possible, taking the route by Bat'ang and A-tun-tzn to the Irawadi, thus passing the scene of the murder of the unfortunate Margary, whose memory was honoured precisely in that way which Dr. Anderson declared to be the most fitting tribute to his worth,—the assertion by Englishmen of the right to travel unmolested in those inhospitable border- lands. It was probably wise to refrain from taking sketches of the interesting spot, as the suspicions of the natives are easily aroused ; but we can easily understand that this act of pru- dence was also one of self-denial.
At many stages of his • journeyinga, but especially in the remoter regions, Captain Gill derived much assistance from the Roman Catholic Missionaries, who, as Colonel Yule remarks, have habitually traversed. and. dwelt in this wild country for many years past. The venerable Bishop Ghauveau, in particular, who resided at Ta-chion-lu, on the rise of the great Tibetan plateau, and who had been forty years in China, seems to have made a strong impression on every traveller who has penetrated so far. He died a few mouths after Captain Gill's visit, without having been able to reach the goal of his de- sires, the home of the Dalai Lama, bitterly mourned by his little flock. Although at the time of Cooper's visit, nine years
" The River of Golden Rand. By Captain William Gill, RE., with IntroduetIon by Colonel Yule, 0.B, E, London : John Murray. previously, the good Bishop seemed nearly worn out with con- palate. Buttered tea—a necessity, it appears, in the intense tinted labours, his zeal and intrepidity had in nowise dimin- colii of the Steppes—can, it seems, even by the uninitiated, be ished ; and he was fond of predicting a great future for Lassa, partaken of with relish, and the tea-churn is one of the belong- when it should be in possession of the English, and blessed lugs of every Tibetan community. A mule with a sack of oat- with religious toleration. He entertained Captain Gill and his meal and a churn for every three or four men forms a part of 'companion, Mesny, at breakfast, the buttered tea being every caravan, for tsanba or porridge made with tea is the staple Prepared with the produce of his own dairy. In those provision of the Mongol. In Yunnan the people make porridge rich pasture lands, it is quite possible, the author tells us, of buckwheat flour, and maccaroni from that of rice, while to make butter which rivals that of Alderney or Devon- in central China wheat is used for the same purpose. Captain shire; but this commodity, ivhich might be so delicious, is Gill describes a singular method of striking a light in use on us a general rule, rendered uneatable for Europeans by the Burmese frontier. This is effected by compressed air, the the filthiness of the vessels used in its manufacture. How- apparatus being a small wooden cylinder, containing an air- ever poor and however dirty the Tibetan may be, there tight piston, with one end slightly hollowed out, and filled with are two articles do /axe which he will never be without,— a small portion of tinder, which will be found to be alight after his charm-box, and the wooden cup in which he eats his taanba the piston has been sharply pressed down and very quickly with- or drinks his tea. The latter, always polished and sometimes drawn again. The process requires considerable dexterity lined with silver, conies into his possession as soon as he is able in its management, and Captain Gill naturally preferred to use it, and is carried in his bosom by night and by day during having recourse to Bryant and May, whose matches are being, his whole life. As for the charm-box, even a poor yak-driver, wonderful to relate, sold at Man-Yfin for the incredibly with no home and no worldly possession, will expend as much small price of a penny-farthing a box, just as at Ch'ung- as twenty or thirty taels (from 25 to 29) upon one of them, Ch'ing, up in Ssu Chuan, musical-boxes can be bought made usually of filigree of gold or silver, adorned with a lump for the same price that is charged for them in London. of coral, and containing a slip of paper, on which is written the Coupled with these curious commercial facts is the still sacred formula, " Om Mani-Pe-rai Horn ;" while the women, more singular one that the cheapest fuel in Peking is coal with the love of adornment common to their sex, will have which has been brought from America, and costs from 23 to massive necklaces or bracelets of gold or silver, and large silver 24 a ton, although there is enough of it, we are told, in the plates in their hair, although at the same time their attire may mountains some thirty miles distant to supply the whole world.
be such as to indicate an absolutely sordid degree of poverty. We have, both in Captain Gill's pages and in Colonel Yule's From Captain Gill's book we are able to form to ourselves an extremely good picture of a large portion of the great Chinese The former visited the Russian brick-tea manufactory at Empire. We see in the densely-populated rice plains, or those Hankow, and describes the whole process. This brick-tea is, parts where cereals can be freely cultivated, the long, straggling, it appears, made from the veriest rubbish, a tea-spoonful of soot frequently-recurring villages, with the raised foot-path, lined being added to the contents of each mould, to produce that gloss with a row of trees on each side of the street ; and their mud and depth of colouring which are necessary for the Mongolian
• cottages, picturesquely covered with cucumber or pumpkin market. Another kind. of tea, which is made for the Tibetans, vines. Little patches of rich, green tobacco growing beside in large cakes, and afterwards cut into smaller portions, is pre- each, and the never-failing lark singing in its bamboo cage. pared at Ya-chau from scrubby, straggling trees, and brought There is the busy threshing-floor, the hospitable little inn, in from the country in bundles like brushwood, the branches perhaps a few itinerant vendors of sweets, vegetables, and being simply laid to dry in the sun, and the rubbish used fruit, or a long string of mules or donkeys,, heavily laden without even a pretence at picking, so that it is sold at one- with merchandise, jogging along at a most wonderful tenth of the price paid by even the poorest Chinamen, who, pace; and although the people have never seen a foreigner however, sometimes use as a substitute the dried flowers of a before, and are not only extremely curious, but remarkably- kind of apricot. The tea of China, par excellence, is, however, -outspoken, they always treat the traveller with great civility, the celebrated tea of Pu-Erh, which is sold in annular cakes, At other times we are taken into the region of snow-crowned and should be made in a very particular manner, the first summits and glistening ice-fields, crossing range after range infusion being thrown away, fresh boiling 'water thrown at different altitudes, sometimes in an atmosphere so rarefied as upon the leaves, and this allowed to stand for half-an-hour to make respiration extremely difficult, and descending into or more over a few glowing sticks of charcoal. The aroma valleys where fields of barley divided by loose stone walls are of the Pu-Erh is reported to be delicious, and it is said, more- almost the only attempts at cultivation. Man-Ta. villages (now over, that this kind of tea has no ill-effect upon the nerves. As inhabited by Chinese) are perched in apparently inaccessible Captain Gill is so enterprising a traveller, it is unlikely that he spots, and torrents are crossed by hanging bridges, or perhaps will rest content with what he has been able to do in the way of by an arrangement of ropes, by means of which not only men, Chinese exploration. We may, therefore, hope, with Colonel but many kinds of merchandise, are conveyed across,—a terrific Yule, that he will penetrate at some future time into those very -sight, when human beings are in question, since the river interesting northern regions which, on this occasion, were lies perhaps two hundred feet below, and cruel-looking, jagged unfortunately closed against him, and give us an account of road often protrude themselves above its surface. In his further discoveries.
other places, suspension bridges formed of seven iron chains are made to support a regular roadway. Here HODGSON'S INDIAN ESSAYS.* i introduction, some interesting details regarding the tea-trade.
extremely good picture of a large portion of the great Chinese The former visited the Russian brick-tea manufactory at Empire. We see in the densely-populated rice plains, or those Hankow, and describes the whole process. This brick-tea is, parts where cereals can be freely cultivated, the long, straggling, it appears, made from the veriest rubbish, a tea-spoonful of soot frequently-recurring villages, with the raised foot-path, lined being added to the contents of each mould, to produce that gloss with a row of trees on each side of the street ; and their mud and depth of colouring which are necessary for the Mongolian
• cottages, picturesquely covered with cucumber or pumpkin market. Another kind. of tea, which is made for the Tibetans, vines. Little patches of rich, green tobacco growing beside in large cakes, and afterwards cut into smaller portions, is pre- each, and the never-failing lark singing in its bamboo cage. pared at Ya-chau from scrubby, straggling trees, and brought There is the busy threshing-floor, the hospitable little inn, in from the country in bundles like brushwood, the branches perhaps a few itinerant vendors of sweets, vegetables, and being simply laid to dry in the sun, and the rubbish used fruit, or a long string of mules or donkeys,, heavily laden without even a pretence at picking, so that it is sold at one- with merchandise, jogging along at a most wonderful tenth of the price paid by even the poorest Chinamen, who, pace; and although the people have never seen a foreigner however, sometimes use as a substitute the dried flowers of a before, and are not only extremely curious, but remarkably- kind of apricot. The tea of China, par excellence, is, however, -outspoken, they always treat the traveller with great civility, the celebrated tea of Pu-Erh, which is sold in annular cakes, At other times we are taken into the region of snow-crowned and should be made in a very particular manner, the first summits and glistening ice-fields, crossing range after range infusion being thrown away, fresh boiling 'water thrown at different altitudes, sometimes in an atmosphere so rarefied as upon the leaves, and this allowed to stand for half-an-hour to make respiration extremely difficult, and descending into or more over a few glowing sticks of charcoal. The aroma valleys where fields of barley divided by loose stone walls are of the Pu-Erh is reported to be delicious, and it is said, more- almost the only attempts at cultivation. Man-Ta. villages (now over, that this kind of tea has no ill-effect upon the nerves. As inhabited by Chinese) are perched in apparently inaccessible Captain Gill is so enterprising a traveller, it is unlikely that he spots, and torrents are crossed by hanging bridges, or perhaps will rest content with what he has been able to do in the way of by an arrangement of ropes, by means of which not only men, Chinese exploration. We may, therefore, hope, with Colonel but many kinds of merchandise, are conveyed across,—a terrific Yule, that he will penetrate at some future time into those very -sight, when human beings are in question, since the river interesting northern regions which, on this occasion, were lies perhaps two hundred feet below, and cruel-looking, jagged unfortunately closed against him, and give us an account of road often protrude themselves above its surface. In his further discoveries.
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