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20 the "lake district" is covered with ponds and marshes, of which even the industrious Chinese can make but little use. Speaking of Hoo-pe, the Abbé Hue says — "The villages have in general a very poor and wretched appearance. The inhabitants have an unhealthy and rather wild aspect, and are frequently affected by cutaneous diseases. We have nowhere else noticed so much baldness or so many scald-heads, and there is little doubt that these infirmities proceed from the stagnant waters amongst which these unfortunate people pass their lives, and still more from the unwholesome diet to which they are confined. It is said that in the province of Hou-pé the harvest of a year is seldom sufficient for a month's consumption. The great populations of the towns are supplied from the neighbouring provinces, and especially Sse-tchouen, which cannot in ten years consume the produce of one. We remarked, nevertheless, in the province of Hou-pé, some tolerably fine plantations of indigo, cotton, and hemp, besides the numerous rice-fields that border the lakes and rivers."

Se-chuen, although only a single province, is of such extent and wealth that it may justly be regarded as a fourth division of the Empire. It is a large tract consisting of plains and undulating lands, bounded by mountains. The Yang-tsze flows through the province, watering enormous areas covered by rich harvests of wheat and other corn, as well as the white, pink, and lilac flowers of the poppy, for opium is one of Se-chuen's principal products, and one writer is of opinion that, in the course