The imy of Hsiakuan, at the south of the Tali Valley, as a centro both of foreign and native trade cannot fail to strike the traveller; it is the com-' mercial capital of West Yunnan, and if we can insist on respect being paid to transit passes from Burma, will soon become the largest market in the province. The likin is one of the best in the province, the amount collected chiefly on native opium being from 40,000 taels to 50,000 taels per annum. The town is increasing rapidly, and rents are far higher than at Tali the restor part ofthe latter city being still in ruins. Hsiakuan has a population of over 12,000, nearly all of whom are engaged in trade; the town is situated on both sides of a small river which flows out of the south-west corner of the Erhhai or Tali Lake, and runs west into the Yangpi River, and so to the Mekong. The ruins of the old Rivau, "x fortified wall, which ran from the foot of the mountains to the lake, are still standing in picturesque dilapidation on. the north bank of the river.
Not only is Hsiakuan a resort of merchants of all_kinds—dealers in foreign goods from Tengyuch, cloth-sellers and opium buyers from Huan (South Yunnan), Canton opium buyers, pedlars from Szechuan, Tibetans, and Lichiang traders with ponies, mules, woollen' cloth, drugs, and musk to exchange for tea, walt, sugar, and cottons—but it is an_important centre of opium production and general consumption. estimate that at least half of the imports from Burma go up to Hsiakuan.
The mountains press olaso on the east shore of the lake, while on the west the feet of the great Tsangshan range are only 15 hi, or 4} miles from the water, but the Tali plain, though narrow, is very thickly populated, and to the north and south of the lake are a series of rich agricultural valleys. 'The district of 'l'aihohsien, which comprises only the plain between lake and mountain, and between Hsiakuan and SI say, 4} miles by 30 miles—has nearly 250 villages, besides the towns of Tali' and Heiikuan; and the population can hardly be under at the south end of the lake and of Teng-100,000. The sub-prefecture of Chaochou chuan at the north head of the lake have a large area of rich agricultural land and an abundant supply of water; further south are the plains of Menghua, 20 miles by 4 miles. and Hungai, 18 miles by 5 miles, which resemble the valleys of Szechuan in their richness; while to the north of Tengchuan are the plains of Langk'ung, Chienchuan, Hochit.g, and Lichiang.
(To be continued.)
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.