As was stated in the Daily Mail Mr, Archibald John Little, F.R.G.S., has taken 'a steamer up the Yangtzekiang River as far as Chungking, thus opening the Upper Yangtze to navigation.
Following upon the successful issue the venture a company is to be formed in London, with British capital, to develop the trade.of the river. It will open up the province of Szechuan, which is as large as France, and is one of the richest and most fertile in all China.
Mr. Little is, of course, an Englishman. He is brother-in-law to Mr. Pickering, the artist,.of Regent's-Park. For many years Mr. Little was in the tea trade at Shanghai. Now he is the leading merchant of Chungking,, and after the manner of the country often wears Chinese clothes,. But he is more than a trader.. His: work, Through the Yangtze Gorges, published in 1887, is among the standard authorities on trade. and travel. in Western China. Towards the end of last year he made an excursion into Tibet, but not attempting the Ground of God" he escaped torture. Mrs, Little has written novels, with Western China for the scene.
It.has been the desire of Mr.. Little's life to open.up the Great River of China to trading steamers. The Yangtze is a river of variety.. Big ocean. steamers 9 up to Hankow, and river steamers from Staal to ichang. Above Ichang are 450 ies oF RAPIDS, and beyond them 200 miles of open water. The rapids are of the first magnitude. being drawn up and down the rapids. are pulled by men, about a hundred to eac junk. When the junk tugs the men are dragged into the water and drowned. When. the rope breaks the craft awins round, to be dashed to pieces on. the rocks.
Mr.' Little has always been of opinion that steamers could successfully pass along the rapids. It is ten years or more since ho made his first venture. A syndicate ud was formed and a steamer built.
At the last moment the Chinese refused their sanction tothe experiment. They threatened Mr. Little with choice Celestial terrors. Great monkeys would hurl rocks' at. the steamers and sink them. The earth dragon would conic and swallow them up. Also, the obstructive rocks in the river. wore placed there by 'THER GREAT ANCESTOR; whom they feared, Would his ancestor. ship have put them. there if he intended steamers to snort up the stream cer He appealed tothe British Mr. Little appears to have been un-
Minister of the time, who, being a man of peace, declined to guarantee the safety.of the Britishers if they persisted in: their venture, So, in the end they consented to sell-their ship to the Chinese, and the 7,000 junks retained their undisputed sway.
Things have altered lately. The Chinese concessions on the waterways gave Mr. Little his opportunity. He was ready. with his ship, the Leechuen, a twenty-ton twin-screw lat inch, and he set off to brave the dragon, the monkeys, and the ancestor. He went unscathed through their perils, and took his launch to Chungking. He would have arrived sooner, but that: the river, in a playful moment, had contrived an extra and brand-new rapid.
"Now there will be a fleet of steamers, and British traders will penetrate into the I Heart of Szechuan, rich with its opium, its
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.