With a river-system unsurpassed by that of any other nation of the world, China relied upon navigation by junks, which crept slowly against the current when urged by strong winds, and lay idle or were towed or poled by men when calms or head-breezes prevailed.  Of steam applied to propulsion, she had no knowledge, until steamboats of foreign construction appeared in her waters and roused the wonder of the oblique-eyed natives by their mysterious powers.  The first steamboat to ascend a Chinese river created a greater sensation than did the Clermont on her initial voyage along the Hudson or her Western prototype, several years later, among the Indians of the upper Missouri.[E] In 1839 the first steam venture was made in China.  An English house placed a boat on the route between Canton and Macao, and advertised it to carry freight and passengers on stated days.  For the first six months the passengers averaged about a dozen to each trip—­half of them Europeans, and the rest natives.  The second half-year the number of native patrons increased, and by the end of the second year the boat, on nearly every trip, was filled with Chinese.  The trade became so lucrative that another boat was brought from England and placed on the route, which continued to be a source of profit until the business was overdone by opposition lines.  As soon as the treaties permitted, steamers were introduced into the coasting-trade of China, and subsequently upon the rivers and other inland waters.  The Chinese merchants perceived the importance of rapid and certain transportation for their goods in place of the slow and unreliable service of their junks, and the advance in rates was overbalanced by the increased facilities and the opportunities of the merchants to make six times as many ventures annually as by the old system.

[Footnote E:  A gentleman once described to me the sensation produced by the first steam vessel that ascended one of the Chinese rivers.  “It was,” said he, “a screw steamer, and we were burning anthracite coal that made no smoke.  The current was about two miles an hour, and with wind and water unfavorable, the Chinese boats bound upward were slowly dragged by men pulling at long tow-lines.  We steamed up the middle of the stream, going as rapidly as we dared with our imperfect knowledge, and the necessity of constant sounding.  Our propeller was quite beneath the water, and so far as outward appearance went there was no visible power to move us.  Chinamen are generally slow to manifest astonishment, and not easily frightened, but their excitement on that occasion was hardly within bounds.  Men, women, and children ran to see the monster, and after gazing a few moments a fair proportion of them took to their heels for safety.  Dogs barked and yelped on all the notes of the chromatic scale, occasional boats’ crews jumped to the shore, and those who stuck to their oars did their best to get out of our way.”]