trade of the Yang-tsze Keang ; and another leads to Han- chung Foo and Sze-chuen. Leaving the west gate of the city two roads lead to Lan-chou) Foo, from which town commences the great high road into Central Asia by way of Leang-chow Foo, Kan-chow Foo and Suh-cJww to Hami, where it forks into two branches, which follow respectively the northern and southern foot of the Teen-shan range, and are known as the Teen-shan pill loo and the Teen-shan nan loo. It was along these roads that the fame of China first reached Europe, and it was by the Teen-sJian nan loo that Marco Polo entered the empire. To defend this line of communication the Great Wall was extended to beyond Suh Chow, and the Kea-yu gate, which is the door of the empire, was built. During the reign of Hea-woo Te of the Han dynasty Chinese colonies and high roads lined with fortified cities were established along this route, and though at times the Government have lost possession of the line beyond the Great Wall, it has always succeeded in re-establishing its supremacy over it, and the earlier emperors of the present dynasty established a firmer hold over the Teen-shan pih loo and Hi than any of their pre decessors had been able to acquire. Occupying a position, then, at the confluence of the roads which connect north eastern China with its western and south-western portions, Se-gan Foo is naturally a city of great commercial import ance. Producing no manufactures of its own, its trade consists principally in the importation of silk from Che- keang and Sze-chuen, tea from Iloo-pili and Hoo-nan, and sugar from Sze-chuen, and in the exportation of these and other articles of commerce to Kan-suh, Russia, and Central ( Asia. Shen-se is purely an agricultural province, and produces nothing for the foreign markets. Its principal products are cotton, wheat, and opium, and these it exchanges with the neighbouring provinces for coal, iron, salt, &c. But besides these, kaou-leang, pulse, millet, maize, groundnut, barley, beans, pease, lucerne, and rape seed are grown. The Wei basin is the greatest agricultural country in the north-west. Being a loess region it is unfit for rice, but for the same reason it produces fine crops of the kinds mentioned at a minimum expenditure of labour. The Shen-se opium is much valued by smokers, and ranks next to the Shan-se drug, which is second only to that pro duced in Kan-suh. Coal abounds in the northern part of the province, but owing to difficulty of transit it is not worked to any great extent. The winters are cold, but short, and though fruit trees abound and are most produc tive, no evergreen trees or shrubs are to be met with
within the province.The province of Kan-suh, which derives its name from the first syllables of the names of the two cities Kan-chow Foo and Suh-chow, is bounded on the N.E. by the Ordo Mongol tribes and the Desert of Gobi, on the E. by Shen-se, on the S. by Sze-chuen, on the S.W. by Kokonor and the Desert of Gobi, and on the N.W. by Kobdo and Hi. The boundary on the N. remains undefined, but the province may be said to occupy the territory lying between lat. 32 30 and 40, and long. 108 to 98 20 , and to contain an area of about 86,688 square miles. The popu lation is estimated at 15,193,125. Kan-suh is for the most part a howling wilderness of sand and snow, but to the east of the Yellow Paver the country is cultivated and to some extent productive. The principal river is the Yellow River, the course of which through the province has already been described, and in the mountains to the south of Lan-chow Foo rises the Wei River, which traverses Shen-se, and flows into the Yellow River at Tung-kivan. The chief products of Kan-suh are cloth, horse hides, a kind of curd like butter " which melts in the mouth," and is known by the Mongols under the name of Wuta, musk, plums, onions,, dates sweet melons, and medicines.
Sze-chuen, " the Four Streams," is the largest province in China. It is bounded on the N. by Kokonor, Kan-suh, and Shan-se, on the E. by Hoo-pih and Hoo-nan, on the S. by Kwei-chow and Yun-nan, and on the W. by Tibet. Its population is estimated at 35,000,000 ; it occupies an area of 220,000 square miles, and contains fifteen prefectural cities, inclusive of Ching-too Foo, the provincial capital. The western portion of the province forms part of the mountain-lands of Central Asia, and the eastern portion, comprising about 100,000 square miles, is. with the excep tion of the plain on which the city of Ching-too Foo is situated, emphatically a hilly region. The boundaries of this hilly region may be described by lines drawn from Lung-gan Foo to Kwei-chow Foo on the N., from Kwei-chow Foo to Yung-ning Heen on the S.E., and from this latter place to Lung gan Foo on the W. The ethnological and commercial boundaries are clearly and sharply drawn by these physical features. The mountain districts are poorly cultivated, and are inhabited by " Ejin," or Barbarians, who are distinguished under the tribal names of Se-fan, Lo-lo, and Man-tsze, and whose allegiance to the Chinese Government sits but lightly on them, while the eastern portion is exclusively Chinese, and is one of the most thriving and populous regions in the empire. Through the southern portion of it runs the Yang-tsze Keang, which is there navigable throughout the year, while it is traversed by three large rivers, the Min-keang, the Tokeang, and the Kea-ling Keang, all of which take their rise in the mountains on its north-west border, and empty themselves into the Yang-tsze Keang at Seu-chow Foo, Loo Chow, and Chung king Foo respectively. The whole province is intersected by numerous but difficult roads. The Ta-pih-loo, or great north road, leads from Ching-too Foo to Peking. From the same centre there branches out one to Chung-king Foo, one to Paou-ning Foo, and one to Ya-chow Foo, while another road connects Chung-king Foo with Kivei-chow Foo on the Yang-tsze Keang and beyond with E-chang Foo in Hoo-pih. From Ya-choiv Foo, again, start two important roads, one leading into Tibet by way of Yung-king Heen, Tsing-ke Heen, Ta-tseen-loo, Le-tang, Pa-tang, and Tsiamdo, and the other to Western Yun-nan via Tsing-ke Heen, Ning-yuen Foo, and Yen-yuen Heen to Ta-le Foo. From Ta-le Foo this road continues through Momien to Bhamo in Burmah. Another road connects Pa-tang and Le-keang Foo with Ta-le Foo, and yet another crosses the southernmost corner of the province connecting Tung-chuen Foo in Yun-nan with Ta-le Foo in the same province.
unlike those of the northern provinces of China, are eminently suitable for foreign export. First on the list stands silk, and of this article of commerce a larger quantity is produced in eastern Sze-chuen than in any other province of the empire. There are few districts in this region in which silk is not produced, and though it is somewhat inferior in quality to that produced in Che-keang yet in strength and durability it is so far superior to it that it is able to compete successfully with the finer kind in the market. Large quantities are exported to Shen-se, Shan-se, Kan-suh, Peking, Yun-nan, Tibet, Kwei-chow, Kwang-se, Hoo-nan, and Hoo-pih, and lately it has begun to figure in the Shanghai returns as an article of foreign export. The cultivation of the poppy is largely carried on in the same portion of the province. The opium produced is, however, of an inferior quality, and the exportation therefore is limited to those provinces which from exceptional circumstances are unable to procure the better description of drug from elsewhere. White wax is another of the most valuable articles of the Sze-chuen trade. It is made exclusively in the department of Kea
ting Foo, the climate of which appears to favour the pro-