The'two gunboats Ioodenck and Woodlark left here on thursday morning for the West. The weather was dull and rainy but the community and x large number of Chinese were out lo see the start. When Ue boats reach Chungking the excitement will be greater than when they left here. We hope the river will be navigated atceessfally and that the two boats will in duo time reach their destination in the West. I heard the Chinese talking today about the wonderful speed of the boats being able to rench the Chintan (or first large rapid) in one day, a distance of 83 miles.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.