Items

• Chinese Druggist
  Older Chinese druggist at a stall with a carved wooden statuette and several medicines on a counter in front of him.
• Statue of Confucius
  Statue of Confucius placed centrally in an unknown temple.
• Christian Church in Chengdu
  Church operated at Sichengci Street, Chengdu, by the Canadian Methodist Mission with an all native Chinese congregation. One can see a blend of Christian and Chinese iconography. There are twelve male and female members of the choir in total, and they are all wearing brown robes.
• Emaciated Group of Beggars
  A fairly large group of emaciated beggars, several with children. The three beggars in the foreground appear to be an older woman, a mother and child.
• Young Chinese Barber
  Young Chinese boy giving another boy a haircut on the street next to the storefronts, with several onlookers.
• 07 Drying Clothes at Bowles' Yangtze River Wreck
  Portrait of six of the missionaries standing in the sand bank of the Yangtze in front of their drying clothes. The ones on the left look a little perturbed due to the event that just happened, whilst the others look giddy despite the event. Newton Bowles stands to the far left. He comments that he looks "the most like a tough," with his hat cocked to the side. The exact location of the Bowles' junk accident is unknown; however, we do know it occurred in the region now flooded by the Three Gorges Dam.
• 06 Bowles Yangtze River Party at Wreck Site
  Picture shows the missionary ground gathered around the items they salvaged from the wreck, such as straw, crates, a dresser, some picture frames, and an assortment of books and papers strewn across the ground. The clothes are drying on lines in the background, and far in the back is a forest. The exact location of the Bowles' junk accident is unknown; however, we do know it occurred in the region now flooded by the Three Gorges Dam.
• 05 Bowles Wrecked on the Yangtze River
  In the foreground on the rocky river bank are some clotheslines held up on sticks drying the clothes that were soaked in the accident. The missionaries are gathered in front of the damaged junk, which the trackers are maintaining. The exact location of the Bowles' junk accident is unknown; however, we do know it occurred in the region now flooded by the Three Gorges Dam.
• 04 Trackers on Shore Preparing for the Gorges
  When the Bowles's houseboat reached the entrance to the Three Gorges above IChang (Yichang), the captain hired extra trackers who lived in this region specifically to perform this job. Sometimes over 100 trackers were needed to literally pull boats up the rapids.
• 03 Yangtze River View Showing Sheer Cliff
  Scene of a cliff within one of the Yangtze River gorges with a single tree atop it. A houseboat in the lower left foreground provides a sense of scale to the rock faces on both sides of the river.
• 02 Rapids Through the Yangtze Gorges
  Image shows two Chinese junks riding on the rough rapids of the Yangtze. Pictured in the background are the sides of the gorges with trees on them.
• 01 Dangerous Rapids on the Yangtze River
  Image of Yangtze shoals. This refers to the German steamer Sui Hsiang which, on its maiden voyage in 1900, struck this rock and sank within 15 minutes. Two CIM missionaries who were on board were saved by the Chinese lifeboats that were stationed here due to the frequency of accidents at this place (Davidson 1905).
• Horse Carriage in Victoria
  Photo shows Newton Bowles in a group of people riding on a horse-drawn carriage through a residential street in Victoria, British Columbia. Three houses are captured in the background. This shows North American transportation at the port where the "Victoria Eight" were about to board the ocean liner, the Empress of China, on their inaugural journey to their chosen mission field in West China.
• Bowles and Friends at Whitby
  Portrait shows 18 women and 6 men at Whitby, Ontario. The group is posed in front of a large tree on the grounds of a church or school visible in the background. The women are lined up with their hands on each other's shoulders. The men are sitting on the ground in the foreground. Two of them are holding up a sign that says, "CHINA." This probably represents a going away party for 6 of the "Victoria Eight" in Bowles' hometown of Whitby, Ontario.
• Six of the Victoria Eight
  Group portrait of six graduates of Victoria College of the eight who joined the Canadian Methodist Mission to China in 1906. Front row (left to right): Newton Bowles, Edward Morgan, Charles Jolliffe; Back row (left to right): William Sibley, Harold Robertson and Edward Wallace.
• 1906-1907 Bowles' First Yangtze River Journey
  Bowles was a member of the "Victoria Eight," graduates of Victoria College at University of Toronto who pledged to become missionaries in China. These six did so, several of them featuring prominently in Bowles' narrative.
• 15 Houseboat with Sail on Yangtze River, 1911
  Looking across the front of a houseboat, the photographer captures two crew members on the deck looking over a placid river to another houseboat is making its way through the gorges. If it is 1911-01-02, then the Johns' would be heading upstream for the first time and the Abrey's would be aboard the companion boat to the Johns'. If Dr. Charles Service and his wife were passengers, then it would be late 1911 or early 1912 when the missionaries were evacuating on the way downstream toward Shanghai and safety from the Nationalist Revolution.
• Captain and Crew of a Yangtze River Houseboat, 1911
  Shot from the back end of a houseboat looking toward the bow, five crew members pose while the captain stands with his back facing the camera, looking towards the companion houseboat, said to be the one with fellow missionaries aboard, which is stuck on a sandbar. Note the rope extending up into the cliffs where the trackers are using it to pull the boat.
• 17 Rapids through a Narrow Pass of the Yangtze River Gorges
  A lone missionary wearing a pith helmet stands on a rocky shore next to a narrow passage of water between two cliff faces.
• 16 Rapids with Missionary Standing on Rocky Shore
  A lone missionary wearing a pith helmet stands on a rocky shore overlooking a river rapids with mountains in the background. Passengers or crew members on the bows of both boats watch the procedure.
• 09 Johns' and Abreys' Houseboat Beached for the Night between Hankow and Ichang
  Houseboat with sail down anchored at a rocky shoreline with a calm Yangtze River and rocky opposite shore in background. Inscription on the back describes the scene. The location is likely the first overnight stop on the houseboat after leaving the steamboat at Hankow (current Wuhan), which would have been near present day Yanziwo, Hubei. Frederick William Baller wrote grammar books with Wade-Giles romanization.
• 19 A Chinese Cemetery with a Wealthy Man's Grave in Foreground
  Scene shows a hillside covered with graves. In the foreground is a very large mausoleum with three tiers, said to be the grave of a wealthy man. A lone leafless tree stands on the grave partially obscurring a mountain range in the background behind.
• 14 Trackers Pulling Johns's and Abrey's Houseboats
  A large group of men called "trackers" on a rocky shoreline pull a junk (Chinese houseboat) up river by means of long ropes. These trackers are probably the crew of the junk who would also row the boat when conditions permitted. Further up river in the Yangtze Gorges, up to 100 additional local trackers were needed to get the boats through the rapids.
• 11 Houseboat Stuck on Sandbar with Military Men in Foreground
  Seven men with various guns and amunition stand on the shore in the foreground. In the background dozens of men are attempting to dislodge a large houseboat from being stuck on a sandbar. A group of passengers stand on board awaiting the outcome. The boat flies a Canadian flag of that time period.
• 10 Two Houseboats on Yangtze with Four Missionaries
  Two houseboats are seen anchored on the shore with two missionaries standing in foreground - Gordon Jones on right and unknown on left. Two missionary women are on the boat on the left. Also on that boat can be seen a Chinese mother and child, and many crew members on the deck. Similarly, the crew on the right boat are out on the deck, probably preparing and eating a meal.