H. M. S. Kinsha was originally "The Pioneer" and was built to the order of Mr. Archibald Little for commercial purposes on the Upper Yangtze, The Yangtze Trading Company wanted a cargo boat to ply between Ichang and Chungking and so "The Pioneer" was built. in Dumbarton by Win. Denney Bros., shipped to Shanghai in pieces, re-erected at Shanghai in 1900 and began service under Captain S. C. Plant.
Her first trip to Chungking was made in 1900 and, arriving there about April, she was just in time to be pressed into British service for the carrying of refugees from Boxer troubles down the river. Mr. and Mrs. Archibald Little were there at the time and, with their help, refugees and missionaries were brought to the ship and carried to safety, in such huge numbers that, as Mrs. Little has said, meals had to be served all day long in order to get round to everybody. The Kinsha made two trips for refugees and after that, she was sold to the British Government and has, ever since, been carrying out the missions of the country. whose flag she flies.
Everybody knows, perhaps, that the water level at Chungking is 530 feet higher than at Ichang, but perhaps not so many know that on account of this fact and the great depth of water in the upper gorges, it is impossible to anchor a ship upon the tides. Now the river 1s being confined to a narrow channel with stone and bamboo embankments, constructed under foreign supervision, and the Foochow mer-he paid to Japan, and according-and she must, therefore, be tied ly on the next voyage outwards to the bank. And because of the of the East Asiatic Company's fine Kinsha's huge paddle wheels on motorship Fionia, Their Majesties] either side of her bow, she could are expected to be passengers. not tie up, and it was for this very,
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.