BETWEEN TWO CAPITALS From May 2—June 12 AVING found the province of Yunnan and the journey thither very different from my expectations, notwithstanding that I had read almost everything written on the subject, I think others may lke to hear more about this unique region and to read the fresh impressions made upon an old traveller in visiting this sequestered corner of the empire. The province of Yunnan is farther of special interest at the moment, since its boundaries have become coterminous with those of the British Indian and of the French Indo-Chinese empires; and that a race has set in between the two Powers for the development of their respective interests in this land of great potentialities—a race in which undoubtedly so far our French friends are a good first.

在兩個首府之間

從5月2日到6月12日

儘管我已閱讀了幾乎所有關於雲南省及其旅行的相關資料，但當我真正踏上這片土地時，發現它與我的預期截然不同。因此，我認為其他人可能也會想了解這個獨特地區，並讀一讀這位老旅行者造訪這個帝國偏遠角落時的新鮮感受。此時的雲南省尤為引人注目，因為它的邊界現已與英屬印度（British Indian）和法屬印度支那（French Indo-Chinese）的邊界重合。兩大列強正在這片充滿巨大潛力的土地上展開競賽，以發展各自的利益，而在這場競賽中，無疑法國的朋友們目前已經取得了領先地位。

14 ACROSS YUNNAN

From the capital of Szechuan to the capital of Yunnan, a distance of 700 miles by the nearest road, but of little more than five degrees of latitude, the time occupied by us in the journey was exactly forty days. The water in the branch of the Min river that washes the walls of the provincial capital being, at the time of our departure, the end of April, very low, in consequence of the irrigation requirements of the great Chéngtu plain; we started out from the city by the land route to Kia-ting, proceeding thence by boat to Sui-fu and thence again for the remainder of the journey by land, there being in Yunnan no alternative choice of water carriage such as we find in so many of, if not all, the other provinces of China, and notably in the well-watered province of Szechuan.

從四川的省會到雲南的省會，最近的道路距離為700英里，但僅跨越了五個多緯度。我們花了整整四十天完成這段旅程。由於我們出發時正值四月底，為了灌溉廣袤的成都平原，流經省會城牆的岷江支流水位非常低。因此，我們選擇從成都走陸路前往嘉定（Kia-ting），然後改乘船到綏府（Sui-fu），接著再走陸路完成剩餘的旅程。與中國其他省份，尤其是水系發達的四川不同，雲南並沒有可供選擇的水上運輸途徑。

We travelled to Kia-ting by way of Mei-chou, a district artificially irrigated in the simple but marvellously effective manner devised by the hydraulic engineers of old—the westernmost arm of the Min river, as it descends from the high mountains to the north of Kwan-hien, being utilised for this region. A barrage of boulder crates, over one mile in length, laid diagonally across the stream, holds the water up ten feet above its natural level and diverts it into a network of channels skilfully planned to cover the whole plain between Hsin-tsing (New ford) and Kia-ting, a distance north and south of about sixty miles.

我們途經眉州（Mei-chou）前往嘉定（Kia-ting），這片地區是由古代水利工程師設計的簡單卻極其有效的人工灌溉系統所滋潤的。這裡利用的是岷江（Min River）的西支流，該支流從灌縣（Kwan-hien）北部的高山流下。工匠們在河流中斜鋪了一道長達一英里的石籠壩（boulder crates），將水位抬高了十英尺，然後將水引入一個巧妙設計的渠道網絡，覆蓋了新津（Hsin-tsing，意為新渡口）和嘉定之間的整個平原，南北距離約六十英里。

BETWEEN TWO CAPITALS 15

The vegetation was wonderfully varied in this district. We saw at once rape being reaped, buckwheat in full flower and looking like heather in the distance under clumps of trees, wheat ripening to harvest, oats and rye ripe, poppy plants, some in flower, some with their heads already slashed to extract the opium juice; groves of trees, fine Nan-mu in fresh green dress, bamboos sending forth new shoots, funereal cypress with graceful pendulous branches, alders, Hoang-ko trees (Ficus Infectoria), and mulberry trees grown for feeding silk worms. This was before we took to our boats. The Min river was very pretty at times, being beautifully wooded, with many oaks among the trees. We looked longingly on the road leading to magnificent Mount Omi, about thirty miles to the west.

這個地區的植被異常豐富多樣。我們立即看到了正在收割的油菜、盛開的蕎麥，遠遠看去在樹叢下像石楠花一樣，小麥正逐漸成熟待收，燕麥和黑麥已經成熟，罌粟有的還在開花，有的則已被割開提取鴉片汁液。林間樹木繁茂，嫩綠的楠木生機勃勃，竹子長出新筍，垂枝優雅的柏樹、赤楊樹、黃果樹（Hoang-ko，即榕屬的榕樹）以及用來餵養蠶的桑樹構成了一幅美麗的景象。這些是在我們上船之前看到的。岷江（Min River）沿岸風景如畫，森林茂密，樹林中有許多橡樹。我們滿懷嚮往地注視著通向壯麗的峨眉山（Mount Omi）的道路，該山位於西邊約三十英里處。

16 ACROSS YUNNAN

Han-yang-fu we found mostly burnt down, through the over-turning of a candle at the worship of the silkworms, thirteen days before. We had twice before passed this way, and, curiously enough, each time found this city mostly burnt down.

From Kia-ting onwards, our progress was agreeably accelerated by a sudden freshet; the Tung river, which descends from Ta-chien-lu and from Ya-chou in two branches, being at the time in spate: we thus made the 100 miles from Kia-ting to Sui-fu at an average speed of seven miles an hour, shooting a constant succession of fierce rapids, and so reaching Sui-fu in one day’s journey.

Sui-fu is an important distributing mart, situated at the point of junction of the Min with the Kin-sha,—the “small river” as it is styled by the Sui-fu folk, navigation on the Kin-sha, the main branch of the Yangtse, as marked in our maps, ceasing a short distance above Sui-fu; whereas the Min river, in its different branches, is navigable for hundreds of miles, and is the main channel of communication with Chéngtu and all the wide country to the north and west.

我們發現漢陽府（Han-yang-fu）大部分已被燒毀，這是十三天前因敬奉蠶神時蠟燭翻倒引發火災所致。我們之前兩次路過這裡，奇怪的是，每次都發現這座城市大部分被燒毀。

從嘉定（Kia-ting）出發後，由於突如其來的洪水，我們的行程加快了許多。沱江（Tung River），從大渡口（Ta-chien-lu）和雅州（Ya-chou）兩支河流匯流而下，當時水位暴漲。我們以每小時七英里的速度完成了從嘉定到綏府（Sui-fu）的100英里旅程，一路衝過連續不斷的急流，一天內便抵達了綏府。

綏府是重要的集散市場，位於岷江（Min River）和金沙江（Kin-sha）的匯合處。當地人稱金沙江為「小河」，因為在綏府上游不遠處金沙江就無法再通航，而在我們的地圖中它被標記為長江的主支流。相比之下，岷江的各支流可通航數百英里，並且是與成都（Chéngtu）及其以北和以西廣大地區聯繫的主要交通通道。