Sir,—L have the honour to acknowledge receipt of your despatch of the 24th June, directing me to furnish you with remarks on the effvet of the commercial stipulations (Articles V, and V1.) of the Trea'y recently concluded between France and China upon the trade, vid Canton, with the inland markets of Kwangtuus, Kwangsi, Yunnan, and how far I considered the opening of a'Lreaty port on the Wert River—as, for instance, Wuchow—would countorbalauce the advantages " cured to the French by the present Treaty.
Torave your indulgence as to the time I shall be able to forward the detailed Report, with maps, I am now preparing, and only venture at present to Iny before you certain views formed on the broader and more prominent facts.
I dw not think the stipulations alluded to will have an appreciable eff-ct on the trade, vid Canton, with the inland mar-kate of Kwangtung, Kwangsi, and Yunnan, and Lam inclined to believe that the open ing of "Treaty port on the West River—aay, wt Wuchow—would cow-ter balance the advantages secured to the French by the present Treaty.
The inland trade between Kwangtung and Tonquin is insignificant; it is w very sual] interchange of commodities between the Lien-chow Prefecture in Kwangtung and the Quangyen Province in Tonquin. The Quangyen Province is sparsely in-Tabited, mostly by Hakkas, whose wants) are simple; the few Manchester a eign goods they consume will, I think, hitherto reach them neither fom Canton nor the French ports uin, but from Hongkong, Macao, and Pakho As to the inland trade betw and Yaunan The how far the Lhai-nine, or Langson, river is navigable. It is navigable, at all events, to Kwang-li-chiao, just above Bac-li, Lam told that it is not navigable even to Lan, Above Langaon the country is but spa The populous south-west corner of angst (comprising the Prefectures of -piny, Nan-ning, Chiv-ngan, Tien-cham, and Sz-nyon) will, I think, continue to receive its imp rts by the West River from Hongkong, Macao, and Pi and will discharge its exports vi 1. A southern britich of the West River* is navigable to Lung-chou, and from thence fore gonds are imported into Tonquin through the duty station on the frontier called As to the inland trade between Tonquin and Yunnan, Ido wot think that for many years to come it will assume important Gimensions, doubt whethve it will ever be xe great us the French expect. The Yiiunau Province is riot densely populated, and I do not that more tha portion of its trade is ever likely to p: through Tonqu A great portion of Ytinuan is mountainous and sterile. L hear that many of the plains are uncultivated, and covered with jungle or long grasa, The principal crops are grown on terraces of the lower hills. Pho towns of Yiiuuan are neither uumerows nor very populow great wealth hich lattens the couthem branch of the Wear River.
Ths Teo Riter, an aftuont of the Ngo-yn River of the province ce: are not at present fully worked. Even if the bright hopes the French entertain xs to the mineral wealth and future large population are realized, this will not injuriously 5 while Hoi 1g, Macao, mill be able to compete favour-increased population with the commodities it requires.
With Yunnan the trade routes follow four rivers: the Irrawaddy, the Upper Yang-tse, the West River and its "fluents, the Song-koi.t "The trade by the Irrawaddy only "fleets the extreme west of Yunnan, and is partly carried by the Nan-ta-ping" Rive It is considered that the present trad justify the maki f good roads between Bhamo and Momein (Tengytieb), but that it would not pay to carry these roads on to Tali Fu, as between Tali Fu and Momein there' are rix -lificult ranges of mountains to cross.
The trate by the Upper Yang-tse affects the north of Yunnan, ineludin fecture of Chautms the most populous and richest part of Yunnan; but a few of our goods find their way by that route, even as far south as Yiiunau Fa. hould at Shanghai, Tinnkows tod Tohang, nud then yo through the formidable rapids below and above Chung King Te is still more worthy of remark that the greater po tween Yunnan and the Upp goes by the route followed by ME. Rocher in 1841; that is, the commodities are nysin transhipped at Na-chi Haien, yo up the Yung-ning River j to Yung-i sion whence they are eonveyed by mule-back through a corner of Kweichuw to the various markets in ly nan, iw cust of conveyance from Yung-ning n to Ytiunau Fa is 7 tals per customary picul of 120 catch The lesser portion of the trade only nds way by the easier route of Heir chow. ('The route follow by Mestre.
Lagree and Garnier L am informed that the prefer ing route is due to the hoary imposts levied at Ta Kwan, ings depended entirely wcopeayior he trade by the West River would,
siderations, affect only the east of Yunnan, There are two branches of the West River flowing together at Ling-an Haien by which ce wuisication can be had with crane "is the hui River, Iam informed some formidable rapid: there mas formerly a great local trottie 01 that this trafic has at prevout, nostly censed is coneidere' due rather to the depopulati ed by disorders than to the difficulties of navigation, and it is believed that now order has been restored the teallic will revive.
On the Ngo-vii River there is very large trafic. It gable by large boats to Pai wand thence by small boats or canoes, carrying 1 ton or 80, i-tin, Chinese merchants at Pai-hsieh state that the import trade to that mart last year amounted in value to; 2,100,000 taels, one-half of which was for-nearer the town of Kwei-chow According to} M. Dupuis, Pai-hsieh Ting is nineteen, according to General Mesny twenty-two days from Yiauan Fu. The cost of Lido wot mentivu the Yuan River. Suwiug into the Tavgting Lake, though it was the route ben by Mr. Misferyn tecsuse the lous land Joutuey actin Kel chen bate castings of cvaiadltios The main branch of the Song-koi River would be the natural outlet of the trady of south and central Yiiuna On the other hand, Ido nut think its eastern effluent the Chin-ho and Nan-si Ho, can be thi wilised t The Ching-ho, of Bing River, has its source in the hills above Kai-hwa, and flows into the Song-koi River just above Sontay. Only a very small portion 2 is navigable, but Kai-hwa it clu irely with Pai-hsien a very poor place, and the little
og on the Wear River by way of Kwang-nan.
The of a few not formidable rapid above Lnokui, is navigable, except in very dry sone sous, in December and Tnuuary, by large boats xe far as Mong-hwa (or Man-hie, Mong-ko, Mau-bai, &e., as it is variously of juncture of the eu rivers The Ho-ti River is, by landing cargo at rapids, navigable by akilf or canoes to Pakan; where there a cristo is custom-house is about 30 miles south-west of Liu-ngan and atour south-east of Vu through Pa-urh, the most southerly dis trict of Yunnan, which produces the cele: brated Pu-uri tex mentioned in my Ichang Trade Keport for 1883. The Li-seen River is only navigable by akiffs and ¢: and 1 have not ascertained how far it is naviga able by them.
Moat of the trade between Tonquin and Yunnan will, thing, be by water as far as Monghwa, and thenes by porter or mule back to the various matta in Yumunn.
From Mong-hwa to Yunnan Fu the journey by nnd is easy, and occupies, neoording to M. Dupuis, eight anys; ave cording to others, eleven. 1w cust of cons nce of the customary picul of 120 ent. ties is about 3 taels or ssu. Closw to Mong. hwa there are the rich lin mines of the net, which ary uow in fair order, Yut Pai-hsieh Ting, in spite of its distance, absorbs al present most of the produce of these mines, The conclusion I am tempted to draw from the above facts that in China geographical often less important factors of routes of trade than financial arrangements, and con sidering algo that for various rowens it will not be to the interest of the provincial authorities of Yunnan to favour the route by the So koi Kiver, most of the trade vith Yunnan will be conducted by the West Kiver.
With rogerd to the desirability of open~ ing a Treaty port on the West River, think if this is done Wu-chow ahouid th t selected. In the first place bo-cause Lam told that Wu-chow is about the highest point of the West River easily rexchable by steamers, Secondly, because Wa-chow is situated at the junction of the West River and the Fu River.
The Fu. River f an_ important, y Howing through " rich ing various populous town as Kwei-lin, ce. ts importance was greatly increased sume years avo by the dig-sal connecting it with the The Canton boats 1 sum at Ichang in 1873 had come taum Canton by the above route, The opening of Wu-chow as a Treaty port would possibly cause "loss in trade to Canton in exports, expecially tox, and to kow in both imports and exports.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.