<h2><SPAN name="CHAPTER_VI" id="CHAPTER_VI"></SPAN>CHAPTER VI</h2>
<p class="smaller">French aspirations in Tonkin—Margary receives his
instructions—Work already done on the Yang-tse—Margary
is insulted at Paï-Chou—He awaits instructions in vain
at Lo-Shan—The Tung-Ting lake—A Chinese caravanserai—The
explorer leaves the river to proceed by land—He
meets a starving missionary—Kwei-Chou and the
French bishop there—A terrible road—Arrival at the capital
of Yunnan—Armed escort from Bhâmo—Meeting between
Margary and Colonel Browne—Threatening attitude of
natives—Margary crosses the frontier alone—Colonel
Browne's camp surrounded—Murder of Margary outside
Manwyne—Importance of Yunnan and Szechuan to
Europeans.</p>
<p><span class="smcap">Whether</span>, as has been asserted by more than
one French writer, it was the French operations
in Tonkin which so roused the jealousy of the
British as to determine them at all risks to render
those operations futile in the opening of a direct
route from Yunnan to Burma, or whether they
were merely pursuing their usual astute policy of
making exploration precede the flag, there is no
doubt that the tragic fate of the young explorer,
Margary, whose adventurous journey deserves relation
here, was fruitful in most important political
<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_119" id="Page_119">[119]</SPAN></span>
results alike to England and to France. The
French, who looked upon Tonkin as their own
special key to China, had meant to make the
Song-coi, or Red River, which is its chief artery,
the outlet of the wealth of Yunnan; the English
succeeded in making the Yang-tse that outlet by
the concessions they wrung from the Chinese as
part of the indemnity for the murder of their
explorer.</p>
<div class="sidenote">MARGARY'S INSTRUCTIONS</div>
<p>It was in 1874 that Augustus Raimond Margary,
an <i>attaché</i> of the British Embassy at Pekin,
received instructions from Sir Thomas Wade, then
Minister Plenipotentiary to China, to go to Bhâmo,
and there meet Colonel Browne, who was about
to start on an expedition across Western China,
with a view to open the overland route between
Burma and the Celestial Empire. Margary, who
knew the natives well, and had on many occasions
given proof of his tact in dealing with them, was
to act as interpreter and guide to the English
party.</p>
<p>Already the Yang-tse, the great river at the mouth
of which Shanghai is situated, had been opened
to foreign trade as far as Hankow, that is to say,
for 600 miles, but the difficulties of communication
with the interior were still immense, so bad were
the roads, and so ignorant the people of the
districts those roads traversed. What was really
needed in the interests of British trade was a
continuous route partly by water and partly by
land from the port to Burma, and Margary was
<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_120" id="Page_120">[120]</SPAN></span>
to test the practicability of such a route, although
the brutality of the natives to foreigners was well
known, and much of the district he had to traverse
had never before been visited by a European. Even
now, as those who have read Marcel Monnier's
account of his adventures in Yunnan in the pages
of the French journal <i>Le Temps</i> know full well,
there is anything but a cordial feeling for foreigners
in Yunnan, and a quarter of a century ago the
traveller who ventured far from Hankow must
have carried his life in his hand.</p>
<div class="sidenote">MARGARY IN DANGER</div>
<p>Nothing daunted, however, by all he knew of
the perils before him, the gallant young explorer
left Shanghai in a little American steamer on
August 24th, accompanied only by one English
servant and a Chinese secretary. Arrived at Hankow,
which, now that it is to be connected with
Pekin, Russian Siberia, and Tonkin by rail, has a
great future before it as a commercial centre, the
little party left the steamer and hired boats from
a native banker for the further voyage. They
started again on September 4th, and on the 6th
cast anchor off Paï-Chou, a picturesque town rising
from amongst magnificent trees. This town turned
out to be extremely well built, and prosperous, and
to be surrounded by well-cultivated plantations,
yielding quantities of valuable produce. Margary
and his secretary wandered about for some time,
noting everything, and at first the natives were
very civil; but when the visitors approached the
quay, to which the junks of the inhabitants were
<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_121" id="Page_121">[121]</SPAN></span>
moored, the crowd became insulting, and followed
the travellers to their vessel, hooting them and
dancing round them with menacing gestures. They
escaped without injury, however, and pushed on
to Lu-Chi-Ku, where they saw a big war-junk,
with no less than twenty-one guns. On September
11th they reached Lo-Shan, where a halt
was made to await a reply to a telegram sent by
Margary to Sir Thomas Wade. No answer came,
however, and a whole week was wasted, during
which Margary nearly lost his life in a fracas with
the natives. The heat was intense, and but for the
shade of the fine mulberry trees on the banks of
the river, would have been almost insupportable.
In spite of it the Englishman spent most of his
time shooting the plentiful game, consisting chiefly
of partridges and pheasants. One day he had left
his gun behind him, to go and call on a mandarin,
who held an official post at Lo-Shan. As he was
being carried in a sedan-chair by native porters, he
suddenly met a gang of conscripts bound for
Formosa, who surrounded him, shouting, "Ha!
Ha! here is a foreign devil—let us do for the
foreign devil!" How the "foreign devil" wished
he had had his stout club in his hand, he would
quickly have dispersed the cowardly mob; but
seeing he was absolutely defenceless, the soldiers
seized the ends of the bamboo rods supporting the
chair, and began shaking its occupant about in a
most unpleasant manner. With a quiet smile on
his lips, but hatred in his heart, Margary was
<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_122" id="Page_122">[122]</SPAN></span>
meditating a blow with his clenched fist in the face
of the ringleader, when his servant relieved the
tension of the situation by striking one of the
assailants in the chest with all his force. The
result was magical and immediate, the brave
soldiers all ran away, and the "foreign devil"
arrived safely at the house of the mandarin.
Fortunately that official
proved friendly, and gave
his visitor the escort of
two lictors for his return
on board. Back again
in his own boat, the
explorer harangued the crowd, which still lingered
on the bank, in these words: "Why did you treat
me so roughly? Is this your politeness to strangers?
I had heard that the Chinese were distinguished
amongst other nations for their courtesy. Is this
how you show it? Shall I go and tell my fellow-countrymen
how you treat me?" This speech, in
their own language, greatly astonished the audience,
who received it in silence, and quietly withdrew,
apparently quite ashamed of themselves, the older
amongst them trying to lay the blame on the
younger.</p>
<div class="fig_center" style="width: 441px;"><SPAN name="Fig_33"></SPAN><br/>
<ANTIMG src="images/fig33.png" width-obs="441" height-obs="279" alt="" />
<div class="fig_caption">FIG. 33.—CHINESE PEASANT CRUSHING RICE.</div>
</div>
<p><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_123" id="Page_123">[123]</SPAN></span></p>
<div class="sidenote">THE TUNG-TING LAKE</div>
<p>On September 20th Margary gave up all hope
of hearing from Sir Thomas Wade, and resumed
his voyage, feeling rather out of heart, no doubt,
at the silence of his chief Helped by a strong
wind from the north-east, he succeeded the same
day in leaving the muddy Yang-tse, and entering
the beautiful Tung-Ting lake, of a lovely blue
colour, from which the Great River draws its chief
volume. At the entrance to this lovely sheet of
water is the island of Chün-Shan, celebrated
throughout the Celestial Empire for its tea, considered
the best in China, a portion of which is set
apart for the use of the Son of Heaven, or the
Emperor, and for the chief dignitaries of the province
in which it is grown. The lake, lovely as it
is in appearance, is of little depth, and except for
the clouds of venomous insects which hover over it,
inflicting torture on those who venture to navigate
it, there is but little life about it. A few towns
of no particular importance rise from its banks,
but Margary did not land at any of them. The
natives of the shores of the lake say that the flies
which haunt the surface of the water are the
winged guardians, appointed by the Spirit of the
Lake, to keep away intruders.</p>
<p>On the 22nd the explorer entered the river
Yuen, a stream of transparent waters, and halted
for a brief time opposite the town of Nih-sin-Tang,
<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_124" id="Page_124">[124]</SPAN></span>
where, to his relief, the winged and barbed sentinels
of the lake melted away as rapidly as they had
appeared.</p>
<div class="fig_center" style="width: 294px;"><SPAN name="Fig_34"></SPAN><br/>
<ANTIMG src="images/fig34.png" width-obs="294" height-obs="291" alt="" />
<div class="fig_caption">FIG. 34.—A CHINESE FERRYMAN.</div>
</div>
<p>The banks of the Yuen are extremely picturesque:
instead of the sewers and rugged paths which
generally disfigure the banks of the water-courses
of China, the riverine districts consist of well-cultivated
land,
cotton plantations
alternating
with beautiful
meadows bordered
by venerable
willows. The
farms, too, are
clean and well
kept; men, women
and children
seem to lead
happy, prosperous
lives, and
Margary was
everywhere kindly received. At sunrise, on the
28th, the expedition arrived opposite Tao-Yuen-Hsien,
a large, prosperous, but unwalled town.
This was the first important place without fortifications
which Margary had visited. The
inhabitants seemed very independent, and their
chief industry was the making of pottery; every
house, of whatever size, was decorated inside and
out with tasty vases, serving as pots for the dwarf
<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_125" id="Page_125">[125]</SPAN></span>
orange trees and other stunted plants in which the
Chinese take so great a delight.</p>
<p>Beyond Tao-Yuen-Hsien the river narrows, and
flows between rocky gorges, beyond which low
conical hills, covered with sombre pines, rise one
above the other, none of them more than about
200 feet high, the effect of which is, nevertheless,
extremely fine. From the description given of the
scenery by Margary, it must greatly resemble that
of Civet in the Ardennes, immortalized by George
Sand in her poetical romance, <i>Malgré tout</i>.</p>
<div class="sidenote">AN OLD FRIEND</div>
<p>The province of Hunan, so rich in geological
interest, and in which such terrible convulsions
must have taken place in the remote past, was now
entered, and the important town of Yuping-Hsien
was soon reached, where the drooping spirits of
Margary were cheered by finding the chief magistrate
to be an old friend of his, who had formerly
been interpreter in the English legation at Pekin.
The native official received his former colleague
with a salute from three guns, and, better still,
wished him to spend a few days with him at his
own residence. Margary gladly accepted the hospitality
offered, donned his dress-uniform, and was
carried in state to the Yamin or house of the
magistrate, where a great crowd was assembled to
witness the arrival of the foreigner.</p>
<p>Refreshed by his rest, the English explorer soon
started again, and on October 27th reached the
important town of Chen-Yuan-Fu, at the entrance
to which is a very fine bridge of six arches, which
<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_126" id="Page_126">[126]</SPAN></span>
would be considered a work of art even in Europe.
Round about the city rise rocky heights, which give
it a very picturesque appearance. Margary landed
near the bridge, for he would now have to travel
by land, and accompanied by his own servant and
four men who had been told off to protect him, he
made his way to a house where he hoped to be
able to spend the night. It was not exactly a
hotel, but a stopping-place where travellers could
hire sedan-chairs, coolies, and horses; in fact, all
that was needed for the further prosecution of his
journey. As there are generally several such
establishments in every important place, the
Chinese proprietors always send agents down to
the landing-stages to secure the custom of travellers
just as do their brethren in Europe.</p>
<div class="sidenote">A RAGING MULTITUDE</div>
<p>Now the messenger who had got Margary to promise to
patronize his master's house, had disappeared as
soon as he had transacted the business in hand,
leaving the English traveller and his men in the
lurch. It was only with the greatest difficulty that
the little party made their way to the caravanserai
chosen, through the crowds assembled to stare at
them. Arrived there, they found a clean, comfortable-looking
shelter, but no one to receive them.
The next thing to do was to get the baggage of
the expedition under shelter, but to this the crowd
outside objected so very vigorously that Margary
was obliged to give up the attempt. He determined,
however, to seek the aid and protection of
the Hsien, or first magistrate of the town, and to
<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_127" id="Page_127">[127]</SPAN></span>
force his way to him in spite of all opposition. He
had the door of the caravanserai opened, and faced
the raging multitude outside with head erect and
an air of such determined resolution, that the easily
daunted Chinese recoiled before him, and withdrawing
as he advanced, allowed him to reach the
Yamin unhurt. There he found the chief magistrate,
who must have heard all the noise, for the
caravanserai was only some two hundred paces off,
quietly awaiting events without moving a finger to
control them.</p>
<div class="fig_center" style="width: 298px;"><SPAN name="Fig_35"></SPAN><br/>
<ANTIMG src="images/fig35.png" width-obs="298" height-obs="355" alt="" />
<div class="fig_caption">FIG. 35.—A MANDARIN'S HOUSE.</div>
</div>
<p>Margary could not persuade the official to let
him remain for a night's rest in the town, but he
<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_128" id="Page_128">[128]</SPAN></span>
did succeed in securing four sturdy coolies as
porters, by whom he was carried from. Chen-Yuan,
where he had been so grossly insulted, to Kwei-Yang,
capital of the province of Kwei-Chou,
receiving a kind welcome everywhere <i>en route</i>.</p>
<p>Three days before his arrival at Yunnan, capital
of the province of the same name, as the English
explorer was taking his lunch <i>al fresco</i>, he was, to
his great surprise and delight, accosted by a Frenchman,
an unfortunate missionary, who was bound
for the same place, and was nearly wild with joy
at finding another European in this remote
district. An eager conversation began in Chinese,
but as Margary could speak French, the native
language was soon exchanged for it. Margary
tells how the two sat down to the same "table," and
were to share their meal, but the missionary was
so badly off for provisions that, in the end, the
Englishman gave him half his beefsteak, with all
the bread he had. Then he had an omelette made
for his guest, and gave him a glass of spirits. From
the eagerness with which the food was consumed it
was evident that the poor fellow had been almost
starving. The meal over, Margary told his new
friend of the way in which he had been insulted
at Chen-Yuan, and the Frenchman replied that
most likely the magistrate had taken the explorer
for a Jesuit father, or a Lazarist, that is to say,
a follower of Saint Vincent de Paul. However it
may be in the future, the people of Central China
had in Margary's time no toleration for Roman
<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_129" id="Page_129">[129]</SPAN></span>
Catholic missionaries, and there was little chance
of their doing anything to promote civilization
amongst the natives. Had the magistrate looked
at the Englishman's passport when the latter first
landed he would have been very differently treated.
It will be traders, not preachers of the gospel, who
will be the first to introduce European ideas. Even
manufacturers and engineers who elsewhere often
achieve so much success have little chance in
China, for the people are as content with their own
systems of mechanical production and their clumsy
primitive modes of working their salt and mineral
mines as they are with their religion.</p>
<div class="sidenote">A FRENCH BISHOP</div>
<p>At Hwei-Chow, a picturesque walled city of
great importance, Margary met an old French
bishop and two of his priests who had adopted the
costume of the Chinese, and spoke their language
even better than their own. The bishop, in fact,
had been so long expatriated that he had forgotten
his own tongue, and spoke that of his adopted
country with his visitor. In fact, instead of converting
the natives he had become almost a native
himself, a sad fate for a once ardent missionary.
He lived in a Yamin and used a green arm-chair,
a privilege accorded generally to officials of Chinese
birth only. He was even called Ta-jin, or a great
man, a title reserved, as a rule, for mandarins of the
first class. Though this assumption of native titles
cannot but have been displeasing to the literati and
officials, the fact that the bishop was left unmolested
is a singular instance of tolerance; for what would
<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_130" id="Page_130">[130]</SPAN></span>
be thought in Europe of a Chinaman who should
venture to adopt the uniform of a general or the
robes of a cardinal? Would not steps be taken at
once to despoil him of his borrowed plumes?</p>
<p>It was now three months since Margary had left
Shanghai, and forty-nine days more would be
required before he could reach Bhâmo on the
Irrawadi, where he hoped to meet Colonel Browne,
with whom he was to make the return journey, if
the Chinese authorities would give the necessary
permission. There seemed no reason to suppose
that it would be refused, for nothing could have
been more cordial than the reception of the young
Englishman in the capital of Yunnan.</p>
<p>The road from Yunnan-Fow to Tali-Fow was
really little more than a goat-track, and Margary
gives an amusing account of his own sufferings
and those of two mandarins who made the journey
with him, as he was jolted along amongst the
crowds of carts, mules, and donkeys which blocked
the way, all alike laden with bags of salt. The
Englishmen and the literati had many a laugh together
over their misfortunes, and the way he made
friends with pretty well every one he met speaks
volumes for the tact of the explorer, who deserved
a better fate than that which eventually befell him.</p>
<p>It was now December, and the cold was intense,
but it was impossible to procure winter clothing,
and the travellers had to make the best of what
they happened to have with them. As Chen-nan
was four days' journey from Tali-Fow, the mandarins
<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_131" id="Page_131">[131]</SPAN></span>
did all they could to dissuade Margary from
going further, assuring him that the people of the
last-named town were very hostile to foreigners;
but the Englishman, anxious to ascertain the truth
about native feeling for Europeans from actual
observation, was not to be deterred. On the 16th
December he boldly entered the city of inhospitable
reputation, and wrote in his journal: <i>Veni, vidi,
vici!</i> He was unmolested, and weary though he
was, he remained but one night to rest, pushing
on the next day for the Burmese frontier. He
reached Manwyne, the scene soon afterwards of
his assassination, on January 11th, and there found
an escort of forty soldiers from Burma sent to him
by Colonel Browne to protect him from attack by
the tribes of the frontier districts through which he
had now to pass. It is very probable that the
sudden appearance of all these armed men was
really the cause of Margary's death. Alone, the
gallant young explorer would have conciliated the
friendship of the natives as he had so often done
before, but surrounded by his guard he naturally
became an object of suspicion.</p>
<div class="sidenote">MARGARY REACHES BHÂMO</div>
<p>Margary did, however, succeed in reaching Bhâmo,
and suspecting no danger, he and Colonel Browne
started on the return journey early in February,
reaching on the 18th of that month the last post in
Burma, just beyond the Chinese frontier. There
the travellers learnt that the pass into Yunnan was
blocked by an armed band of Kakhyens, whose
opposition to the re-entry into China of the white
<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_132" id="Page_132">[132]</SPAN></span>
men, if not exactly instigated was certainly connived
at by the authorities of the frontier town of
Seray, and also by those of Manwyne. Colonel
Browne and Margary consulted together as to what
was best to be done, and the latter, who had just
crossed Yunnan so successfully, assured his companion
that they need fear nothing; he had only
recently been kindly received at both the towns
mentioned above, and he proposed with his usual
enterprising spirit that he should go on alone to
test the accuracy of the various rumours afloat,
promising to send back a messenger with news as
soon as possible.</p>
<p>It was indeed unfortunate that the Colonel
should have agreed to this rash suggestion, and
allowed his unfortunate young colleague to go to
his death. Little dreaming of the approaching
tragedy, however, the two sat over their last meal
together till far into the night, discussing the
probable results of their expedition, regardless of
the noise made by the beating of gongs and playing
of cymbals to be heard from the pass, and of the
fact that they could actually see the Kakhyens
spying upon them from the lofty trees overlooking
their camp.</p>
<div class="sidenote">MURDER OF MARGARY</div>
<p>At sunrise on the 19th Margary crossed the
frontier, accompanied by his faithful secretary, the
servants who had been with him since he left
Shanghai, and a few Burmese muleteers. The next
day Colonel Browne received a letter from him
announcing his safe arrival at Seray, adding that
<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_133" id="Page_133">[133]</SPAN></span>
he had been well received there, and was now on
his way to Manwyne. The rest of the expedition
followed in his footsteps, arriving at Seray on the
21st. No further news was received from Margary,
but Colonel Browne was alarmed by rumours that
he and his people were to be attacked, and by the
fact that the chief mandarin of the place was arming
his retainers. On the morning of the 22nd the
storm burst, the Colonel's camp was surrounded by
armed men, and at the same time letters were
received from some Burmans residing at Manwyne
telling of the cowardly assassination of Margary
in that town.</p>
<p>But for the courage and steadfastness of his
Burmese escort, especially of fifteen sepoys who
formed a kind of body-guard. Colonel Browne
would have shared the fate of his young fellow-countryman,
but after a fierce struggle he succeeded
in re-crossing the frontier with no worse casualties
than three men wounded.</p>
<p>From Bhâmo every possible effort was made to
ascertain the truth about the murder of Margary,
but full details were never obtained. The most
apparently trustworthy account was that given by
a Burmese, who said he had seen the victim at
Manwyne several times on the 21st, once alone and
later walking with several Chinese. According to
this witness, the young Englishman had been
invited to ride out to see a spring of warm water,
and that just as he issued from the town he was
suddenly dispatched with their spears.</p>
<p><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_134" id="Page_134">[134]</SPAN></span></p>
<p>Thus apparently ended the attempt to open the
land route between Burma and China, but as a
matter of fact the death of Margary eventually
did more for the interests of his country than the
peaceful conclusion of Colonel Browne's expedition
could ever have accomplished. The English know
how to turn to account every incident, however
tragic, however seemingly adverse to their own
interests, and the indemnity wrung from the
reluctant Chinese for the murder of the young
Englishman included the opening of another 400
miles of the great river above Hankow, an immense
step in advance towards the realization of the
long-cherished British ambition; the connection of
the Upper Yang-tze with Burma, so justly called
England's land-gate to China. It is, in fact, in the
provinces of Szechuan and Yunnan that the
question of which European power is to have the
supremacy in Central China will be finally fought
out, and therefore every concession won in connection
with them is alike of immense commercial and
political significance.</p>
<hr class="chap" />
<p><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_135" id="Page_135">[135]</SPAN></span></p>
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