bidden ground for foreign agents or foreign shipping, will shortly become a new and profitable mart for barter, at least in all the staple articles of China trade.

The British concession-ground at Kiu-kiang, duly secured upon the usual favourable terms under lease in perpetuity, was selected owing to the height of the ground, and from its position at the angle formed by the junction of the Lungkai Creek with the main river, thus giving a water-frontage on two sides. It formed a portion of a ruined suburb. Its dimensions are 1650 feet along the river, by a depth of 660 feet, the area being twenty-five acres. The ground has been divided into thirty lots, for which there were at once as many applicants.

Hankow. This town, situated in an alluvial plain on the north or left bank of the Yang-tze, 137 miles further up than Kiu-kiang, and 677 miles from Shanghae, is the most considerable and important of the three consular stations which have been opened to trade on that river. Hankow is universally looked upon as the great central emporium of trade of the empire; its water-communication extends up and down the Yang-tze, and through its tributaries, some of which lead into the Tung-ting Lake. The river Han, coming from the north-west, here also forms its junction with the Yang-tze, and is navigable up to the city of the same name, situated 250 miles up its course, and the point of transhipment for merchandize conveyed to and from Peking and Tien-tsin. Opposite, on the south or right bank, is the very considerable city of Woo-chung, the residence of the Viceroy, some description of which is hereafter given, and the small town of Hangyang, adjoining Hankow, the whole forming a cluster of cities which would form but one gigantic area of human habitations if unintersected by the Great River, and its tributary, the Han.

Hankow, which is situated at the junction of the Han and Yang-tze, extends for a mile down the left bank of the Yang-tze, and is continued up the left bank of the Han, at which latter part of the town is the safest anchorage, usually crowded with vessels of all kinds. The banks of the rivers are raised above the country at the back, and from July to October the whole neighbourhood is flooded to within a mile of the town; the soil is, therefore, not under regular cultivation, and about once in every four years great inundations occur, which drive the inhabitants to the hills. The climate is, nevertheless, stated to be healthy. Hankow is not a walled town, but there is a small fort and ditch at the eastern extremity. The streets are numerous, and in the best Chinese style. The town has the appearance of a great emporium of trade. British cotton manufactures have been long known here, having been imported hitherto from Canton. The mineral products of Sze-chuen here find a mart, and native opium grown in West Sze-chuen and in the province of Hoopeh is sold in considerable quantities, and at a far cheaper rate than Indian (Malwa) opium, which, however, was in the market.

The native trade is represented as enormous, with districts in the west of Hoopeh and Sze-chuen. The prices at which British cotton goods are offered for sale in the shops at Hankow would tend to disprove the general belief that inland duties in transitu from Canton were inordinately onerous. On comparing, also, the prices of the native grey cotton cloths with British cotton manufactures, it is reported by the intelligent British merchants who accompanied the expedition, that the prices of the former cannot be considered low. It was fully expected that the whole of the Hoopeh teas will

be brought next year to Hankow for shipment, if the immediate vicinity of this district is undisturbed by the insurgents, the passage down the Great River being not only far more expeditious, but making in the cost of transport of tea, as far as Shanghai, the considerable difference of eight taels per picul less than by native boats through the inland creeks. It is not alone, however, from the Hoopeh districts that it is anticipated the tea merchants will find their way to Hankow, but also through the Tung-ting Lake. This lake, said to be 220 miles in circumference, receives the waters of several southern rivers, which find their way through it into the Yang-tze, and serves as the great reservoir for the numerous tea cargoes and other products brought into it by the native junks navigating the rivers and creeks of that rich and extensive district of Central China. To the south of the lake are some hills, on which are grown tea of an incomparable quality, for the especial use of the Emperor, said to be worth a guinea per lb., but which cannot be bought for money. To the westward are large forests, and to the south extensive black tea districts. This, indeed, is the region of lakes; for, from the east of Tung-ting Lake, over an area of 158 miles east and west, and 80 miles north and south, the course of the Yangtze lies between a series of lakes almost touching one another, which_circumstance gives to the provinces of Hoopeh and Hoonan their names, these words meaning north and south of the lakes.

If, then, the tea and other products of these vast regions are directed to Hankow as the most convenient depôt for barter and shipment both by foreign merchants and native dealers, this, it may be presumed, will tend, in due time, to diminish the prices of tea when it reaches the hands of the consumer in Great Britain. Yow-chow, at the entrance of the lake, and 157 miles up the river from Hankow, is surrounded by tea-growing districts. It was taken by the rebels in 1853, 1855, and again in 1857, and has now sunk into decadence, but its position would ensure a revival of its former prosperity under more favourable circumstances. This town was the extreme limit of the expedition up the Yang-tze, under Sir James Hope, in the spring of this year, but the Taeping rebellion, necessarily so frequently referred to in this report, unfortunately renders the full development of all reasonable expectations of extended traffic, both import and export, in the ports opened to foreign trade on the Yang-tze-kiang contingent upon the power of the Imperial Government, by a judicious organization and distribution of its military forces, to ensure protection and confidence to the native merchants of at least the larger commercial cities.

The city of Woo-chung-foo, opposite Hankow, is the provincial city of the province of Hoopeh, and the residence of the viceroy of that province, as well as of Hoonan. It is a walled city, and within the walls is the ridge of a hill overlooking the surrounding country. Through a gap in this hill one of the principal streets runs under a belfry tower. The city covers an area of fourteen square miles. The shops in the principal streets are well furnished, and, besides the yamuns or public offices, there is a Confucian temple and an examination-hall, with cells four feet square, for 8,000 candidates. Hanyang, on the same side of the Yang-tze as Hankow, but separated from it by the river Han, is a small city affording no particular advantages in a military or commercial point of view; a hill which runs through it, serves as a refuge for the inhabitants during the period of high floods. The population of these three cities, clustered together in the heart of China at a confluence of water-communication leading to all parts of the

empire, is no doubt most dense and teeming with life; but it is difficult to adopt specific statements in respect to the population of cities in China, which ebb and flow with the approach or withdrawal of exterminating rebel bands. In 1851 the Abbé Huc estimated the united population of Woochung-foo, Hankow, and Hanyang, at 8,000,000 souls, and in 1861, the expeditions which ascended the Yang tze, speak of them as probably containing 3,000,000, exclusive of the multitudes in boats.

It remains only to state that the concession-ground on which the residences of the British community at Hankow will ere long be constructed, is situated at the eastern end of the city, with a fair water-frontage, and vessels of large draft can lay alongside the bank with eight fathoms close at hand. Hankow Reach extends for six miles, with from one mile to threequarters of a mile across, affording ample room for turning. The site was chosen as near the centre of the city as circumstances would permit. As the whole country around is subject to floods, the object was to secure as high ground as possible: a great portion of the settlement will not require to be raised. Its dimensions are 2,750 English feet in length, all waterfrontage, by 1,210 feet in depth; the area being about 76 acres.

New-chwang. This town is situated in Shun-king, the only one of the three provinces of Manchuria remaining intact and unabsorbed by Russia in that quarter, in latitude 41° 20′ 25′′ north, and longitude 122° 41′ 50′′ east. It is reached up the River Lian (which empties itself into the Gulf of Lian-tung), at a point 80 miles up the river, not on its shore, however, but 8 miles up a small affluent. The distance by land to New-chwang from the coast does not exceed 35 miles. The bar at the entrance of the Lian presents some difficulties, but being passed through the right channel, which has 20 feet of water, the river is found to have from 4 to 7 fathoms for 10 miles up, where the town of Ying-tze, in the district of Newchwang, is reached. Here her Majesty's consulate is established in preference to New-chwang itself, for reasons to which I shall presently advert. Passing Ying tze, and 70 miles further up the river, a small affluent runs inland, 8 miles up which New-chwang is built; but foreign merchantvessels of moderate draught could not navigate the river higher up than Tai-tze, 15 miles short of where the New-chwang armlet is reached, and even native row-boats do not find sufficient water at a point two or three miles short of the town. New-chwang was visited by her Majesty's consul upon his arrival to occupy his post in the month of June of this year (1861), and was found to present no signs of commercial activity, but, on the contrary, was falling into decay, although in the early period of the present dynasty it had been a place of considerable trade. Its present local importance is derived from its being one of the garrison towns of the province. Taking into account, therefore, the disadvantageous condition of New-chwang as a mart of trade, and seeing also the impossibility of shipping reaching this town, owing to the shallowness of the river, her Majesty's consul deemed it very desirable to established the consulate and British settlement at Ying-tze before referred to, and with the sanction of her Majesty's minister, and full concurrence, and even wishes, of the Chinese authority, the consulate was there in due form established.

Ying-tze (variously called Yint-tze, Muhkowing, Yinkow, and Newkow), is situated, as before mentioned, ten miles up the river, on its left bank. The reach along which the town lies, varies in depth of water to from four to seven fathoms; and the anchorage-ground is commodious and safe.

The town is estimated to contain about 50,000 inhabitants, and, although surrounded with mud-flats at low tide and marshes, the climate is represented as not unhealthy. The navigation is stopped for four months in the year, i. e., from about the 15th November to the 15th March; but agricultural operations being then arrested, and no other employment found for the cattle, it is during that period that the produce of the surrounding country is brought in carts to Ying-tze, especially from the northern and easteru parts of the province, and from Eastern Mongolia, comprising distances not attained by the river navigation in summer. A large trade is carried on up the river Lian by Shanghai and Ningpo junks as far as Ying-tze, and by Shantung and Tien-tsin junks with Tai-tze, fourteen miles higher up. The merchandise imported by them are coarse domestics of British manufacture, and other staples usually imported into the other ports of China. But with the exception of raw cotton to a very limited extent, these cargoes are re-exportations, partly from Shanghai and partly from Tien-tsin, The importation into Manchuria, through Ying-tze, of nativegrown raw cotton from Shanghae is more considerable, the quantity of cleaned cotton so imported being estimated at 76,000 bales of 83 catties each. The products exported consist in wheat, barley, millet, peas, beans, tobacco, oil, and drugs. Some expectations are also formed that sheeps' wool and tallow may eventually be brought down in sufficient quantities for exportation, to which may be added coal, which is procurable in abundance, and timber, with which nearly all Manchuria is covered. On the whole, I am informed that the mercantile community is inclined to the belief that a direct trade between Great Britain and New-chwang is more likely, in course of time, to spring up to a moderate extent, than from Tien-tsin or Tang-chow.

A considerable drawback to the immediate development of the foreign trade at this port exists, however, in the prohibition to export pulse and bean-cake, staple products throughout this region, but the free exportation of which the Chinese Government was loth to admit during the discussions which took place respecting the rules attached to the Treaty of 1858. All nations unversed in the true principles of political economy, are averse to the exportation of products which serve as the chief food of the inhabitants, and unaware to what extent, if a door were opened to exportation, even under restrictions, a province or district might be drained of its chief aliments, and the people thus become driven to disaffection and revolt. The Government of China appears to have adopted the rude expedient of prohibiting the export, in this instance, of the two principal products of agricultural industry in this province, irrespective of the abundance or scarcity of the harvests, even from one port on the seaboard of China to another. Notwithstanding this prohibition, however, a brisk, though unrecognized, trade is carried on in these prohibited articles of export, for foreign vessels in the offing receive their cargoes from Chinese boats, and so depart, taking their chance of landing them at some other port in China where the custom-house officers may or may not prove as indulgent as at the port of lading. The right of exporting pulse and bean cake, the staple products of the two northern ports of Ying-tze (Newchwang), and Tang-chau in Shan-tung, excepting in seasons of dearth, is a privilege which it is to be hoped, in the course of our amicable relations w ith China, may be conceded to the foreign merchant.

From New-chwang to Moukden, the capital of Manchuria, the distance

is 90 miles. The country between these two places is flat, but richly cultivated. The population is considerable, and the villages well built. The country is well supplied with mules and horses of a superior breed to those found in other parts of the Chinese Empire. Inns are found at intervals of every mile and a half. The traffic in summer is carried on by the rivers, and in the winter by the roads, which are frozen in some places to the depth of from 3 to 7 feet. The great trading city of Laon-yiang, latitude 41° 10' north, longitude 123° 27' east, lies in the road between New-chwang and Moukden, at a distance of 45 miles from the latter, and is described as a walled city, the streets wide, and the shops richly furnished. Moukden is laid out precisely on the same plan as Peking, although only half the size; but the streets are even broader than those of Peking, and cleaner. The inhabitants throughout these districts of Manchuria are a bold and athletic race; all are armed as a protection against banditti who infest the country, especially in the winter months, and who are said to be chiefly Mahomedans.

Upon the first arrival of her Majesty's consul and other Europeans, the inhabitants of Ying-tze exhibited a hostile and menacing disposition, but they are now reported to have become civil and respectful; so much so that her Majesty's consul did not consider it necessary that a British vessel of war should continue to be stationed there. From New-chwang by Moukden to Peking the distance is about 580 miles, and practicable by couriers in five days. The Corean envoys bringing tribute arrive annually in Peking by this route. From Tien-tsin to Ying-tze the distance is 420 statute miles, and the road can be traversed by carts the whole way, excepting during the rainy season. In respect to climate, Ying-tze and the district of New-chiwang generally is subjected to less heat during summer than either Peking or Tien-tsin; the winters are, however, very severe, but the houses are built to resist the cold, and fuel is abundant. At Ying-tze her Majesty's consul has secured, on the usual favourable lease, a concession of ground in the most eligible locality, as the place of settlement of the future British community, and the agents of some cominercial houses had already arrived.

Tien-tsin. This city and port in the province of Chi-li is situated 68 miles up the river Peiho by its tortuous windings, although not more than half that distance in a straight line by land; the precise position of Tien-tsin is in latitude 39° 10' north, longitude 46° 32′ east from Peking. From Tien-tsin by land to Peking the distance is 80 miles; by water the journey as far as Tung-chow is usually accomplished in from four to five days, and from Tung-chow Peking is reached on horseback in two hours, and by carts in six hours. The river is usually frozen over from about the 15th of December to the 15th of March, and the local movement of boats and junks is then taken up by sledges, which swarm on the river.

Tien-tsin is a very considerable walled city, and its population cannot fall short of 1,000,000. The markets are abundantly supplied with fish, butcher's meat, vegetables, poultry, and all forts of game. The utmost activity prevails in the streets, and the shops are well stocked with merchandize suited to Chinese requirements. The maximum of heat in the the summer is 106°, the maximum of cold 6° below zero; but the houses, surrounded as they are, wall within wall, are tolerably protected against the cold.

Tang-chow.-Tang-chow-foo, in the province of Shan-tung, department