In one section of Mr. Davenport's report there occurs a paragraph which the DI. 0. xpress saw fit to omit, regarding the possible navigation of the Yangizse above Ichang, by steamers. Of the question of power, no word is suid; that is one for experts to decide, and one which engineering science will no doubt solve in the affirmative. The difficulty which Mr. Davenport emphasises is of another character, and one which we do not remember to have seen put forward elsewhere. This is the'extreme risk of collisions. On both sides of the river are boats being towed up with difficulty against the rapid stream, while in the centre are others descending which tax all the power of the junkmen to control them.. What with the strain and chafing against rocks, the tow ropes of the former occasionally give way, when the junk is either swept round and round in an eddy, or is carried down the stream for some hundreds of yards before the crew regain the mastery of her. It is not difficult to conceive what would happen if one of these were carried in its course across the bows of an ascending steamer; the boat would be smashed, and the steamer itself would probably be forced back and wrecked on some one of the sunken rocks which appear to be lying everywhere in wait for such emergencies. Scarcely less would be the risk of collision with boats on their downward course, when under control of the crew. The boatmen "work sufficiently hard with their oars to maintain a little steerage way, keep well in the middle of the stream, fire off innumerable crackers and trast in Buddha and these precautions may serve their purpose while all the upward bound boats keep to the side, and the mid-channel is left clear. But an upward bound steamer would keep mid-channel for the sake of clear water, and in case of moot ing, we imagine both jank and steamer would have hard work to clear ead other in such a current. Lamentablo collisions between junks and steamers occur only too often in comparatively easy rivers, such as the Peiho and the lower Yangtsze, and it can scarcely be denied that the danger would be inten. sifed in therapidsof the upper Yangtsze. The Chinese themselves admit that the native craft are inadequate for the safe navigation of the river, and the efficient transportation of goods between Szochuen and the Eastern provinces; and Mr. Davenport concludes that "if Chung-king (below which most of the worst rapids are situated) were opened to foreign trade, and the dangers of navigation avoided by making use of foreign steamers, a very considerable trade would inevitably spring up." The question is how the risks pointed out can be reconciled with steamer traffic. To quote again the graphic statement of the report, "The downward bound junks with not too much steerage way of: them float down the centro of the current, while one and often both sides of the stream are occupied by the ascending junks which again are apt, at the most critical times and dangerous places, to break loose from all control and swing over the whole river"; and after watching their performances at the most favourable time of the year, Mr. Davenport has come to the conclusion that "unless some arrangement could be made, causing junks to anchor when a steamer was expected, constant collisions with great lost of life and property must unavoidably occur." This may afford a possible solution of the difficulty. Special days might be
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.