Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 5.djvu/651

] Ta-kow) on the south-west coast, and Tam-suy (includ ing Kelung) on the north-west and north coast. The foreign trade returns for Tai-wan Foo for 1874 show that goods to the value of 1,678,858 were imported during the year, and that 1,840,016 was the value of the exports during the same period. The Tam-suy returns present much smaller totals; 304,243 represents the value of the imports, and 203,428 that of the exports in 1874. The province of Hoo-pih, &ldquo;North of the Lakes,&rdquo; is bounded on the N. by Ho-nan, on the E. by Gan-hwuy, on the S. by Hoo-nan, and on the W. by Shen-se and Sze- chuen. It occupies an area of 70,450 square miles, and contains a population of 27,370,098. The most important city within its borders is the Treaty Port of Han-koiv, besides which it contains ten other prefectural cities. The greater part of the province forms a plain, and its most noticeable feature is the Han River, which runs in a south-easterly direction across the province from its north westerly corner to its junction with the Yang-tsze Keang at Han-kow. The products of the Han valley are exclusively agricultural, consisting of cotton, wheat, rape seed, tobacco, and various kinds of beans. Vegetable tallow is also exported in large quantities from this part of Hoo-pih. Gold is found in the Han, but not in sufficient quantities to make working it more than barely remunerative. It is washed every winter from banks of coarse gravel, a little above E-ching Heen, oil which it is deposited by the river. Every winter the supply is exhausted by the washers, and every summer it is renewed by the river. Baron von Richthofen reckoned that the digger earned from 50 to 150 cash a day. Only one waggon road leads northwards from Hoo-pih, and that is to Nan-yang Foo in Ho-nan, where it forks, one branch going to Peking by way of Kai-fung Foo, and the other into Shan-se by Ho-nan Foo. Accord ing to the Consular Trade Reports for 1874, the value of the foreign trade at Han-koiv during that year amounted to 9,775,754, of which sum 4,388,113 represents the value of the imports, and 5,387,641 that of the exports. The province of Hoo-nan, &quot; South of the Lakes,&quot; is bounded on the N. by Hoo-pih, on the E. by Keang-se, on the S. by Kwang-se and Kwang-tung, and on the W. by Kivei-choio and Sze-chuen. It occupies an area of 84,000 square miles, and its population is estimated at 18,652,507. The provincial capital is Chang-sha Foo, in addition to which it counts eight prefectural cities within its boundaries. It is essentially a province of hills, the only plain of any extent being that around the Tung-ting Lake, but this extends little beyond the area which in summer forms part of the lake. To the north of Hang-chow Foo detached groups of higher mountains than are found in the southern portion of the province are met with. Among these is the Hang-shan, one of the Woo-yo, or five sacred mountains of China, upon which the celebrated tablet of Yu was placed. The principal rivers of the province are (1.) The Seang- Jceang, which takes its rise in the Nan-shan, and empties itself into the Tung-ting Lake ; it is navigable for a great distance from its mouth, and the area of its basin is 39,000 square miles; (2.) The Tsze-keang, the basin of which covers an area of 10,000 square miles, and which is full of apids, and navigable only for the smallest kipds of boats ; rind (3.) The Yuen-keang, a large river, which has some of its head-waters in the province of Kwei-choio, and which empties itself into the Tung-ting Lake in the neighbourhood of Chang-tlh Foo; its basin has an area of 34,300 square miles, 22,500 of which are in the province of Hoo-nan, and 12,500 in that of Kwei-chow ; its navigation is difficult and dangerous, and only small boats are able to pass beyond Hang-Jcea, a mart situated about 500 le above Chang-tlh Foo; and (4.) The Ling-keang, which flows from the tea district of Ho-fung Chow to the Tung-ting Lake. Its basin covers an area of about 8000 square miles, and it is navigable only in its lowest portion. The principal places of commerce are (1.) Seang-tang, on the Seang-keang, which is said to contain 1,000,000 inhabi tants, and to extend three miles long by five le deep ; (2.) Chang-sha Foo, the provincial capital on the same river ; and (3.) Chang-tih Foo, on the Yuen-keang. The pro ducts of the province are tea (the best quality of which is grown at Gan-hiva, and the greatest quantity at Ping- keang], hemp, cotton, rice, paper, tobacco, tea-oil, and coal. This last is by far the most important of the mineral products of Hoo-nan. The whole of the south eastern portion of the province is one vast coal-field, extending over an area of 21,700 square miles. This area is divided into two nearly equal parts, one, the Luy River coal-fields, yielding anthracite, and the other the Seang River coal-fields, yielding bituminous coal. The people are, as a rule, more generally prosperous than are the inhabitants of the other provinces, and Baron vou Richthofen, in the course of his journey through the pro vince, noticed with surprise the number of fine country seats owned by rich men who had retired from business, which were scattered over the rural districts. Almost all the traffic is conveyed through Hoo-nan by water-ways, which lead northward to Han-kow on the Yang-tsze Keang, and Fan-ching on the Han River, eastward to Fuh-keen, south ward to Kwang-tung and Kwang-se, and westward to Sze- chuen. One of the leading features of the province is the Tung-ting Lake, which has been already described. The province of Shen-se is bounded on the N. by the Great Wall, on the W. by the province of Kan-suh, on the S. by the province of Sze-chuen, and on the E. by Shan-se, from which it is separated by the Yellow River. It con tains an area of 67,400 square miles, and its population was said to number upwards of 10,000,000 before the outbreak of the late Mahometan rebellion. Se-gan Foo is the provincial capital, and besides this there are seven prefectural cities in the province. Shen-se is divided into two parts by a barrier of mountains, consisting of the Foo-new Shan and the Tsing-ling Shan, which runs across the southern portion of the province from east to west. To the north of the mountains lie the basins of the Wei River and of several other tributaries to the Hwang-ho. The position of the Wei basin is peculiar. Cut off from the rest of China on the east by the Yellow River, and on the south by the mountains, it yet forms the great channel of communication with Central Asia. Its position, there fore, in a strategical point of view is at once apparent. Were it in the hands of an enemy the Chinese colonies in Central Asia would be completely severed from the mother country, and hence the eagerness which has been evinced by the Government throughout all history to retain posses sion of the region. For upwards of 2000 years, with the exception of intervals, from 1122 B.C. to 1127 A.D., the city of Se-gan Foo, which lies in the basin, was the capital of the empire. Its walls enclose a square space of six geographical miles each way, and, unlike most Chinese cities, its fortifications are kept in perfect repair. During the late Mahometan rebellion it was closely invested for two years by the rebels, who however failed to make themselves masters of it. From Se-gan Foo radiate a number of roads going east, south, and west. The east road is the great Tung-kwan road, which forms the principal means of communication between Peking and the north-eastern provinces of the empire, and Sze-chuen, Yun-nan, and Tibet. To the south, one road crosses the mountains to Shang Chow, and on to the Tan River, an affluent of the Han River, and is thus connected with the 