Through China with a Camera ... With nearly 100 illustrations

Introduction

. Had the great Venetian traveller, Marco Polo, been able to confirm by a series of photographs his story of the wonders of Cathay, his fair fame would have escaped the discredit cast upon it for centuries, and indeed until comparatively recent investigation confirmed his story. Since the time when I made my first journey into Cambodia to examine its ancient cities, it has been my constant endeav our to show how the explorer may add not only to the interest, but to the permanent value of his work by the use of photography. The camera has always been the companion of my travels, and has supplied the only accurate means of portraying objects of interest along my route, and the races with which I came in contact. Thus it came about that I have always been able to furnish readers of my books with incontestable pictorial evidence of my "bona fides", and to share with them the pleasure ex perienced in coming face to face for the first time with the scenes and the people of far-off lands.

Some parts of this volume have been published in a more costly form. In the present instance the photographs have been reproduced and transformed into printing blocks by a most effective half-tone process, so that nothing in the original plates is lost. The letter-press has been carefully revised and brought up to date and in part re-written. I have kept myself " au

INTRODUCTION.

. VIII c ourant " with the course of events in "Further Asia." But in China and in Chinese institutions there is no well-defined change to place on record. Western civilisation with its aggressive activities appears to be opposed to the genius of the people, who fain would be left alone to follow their time-worn methods social and political. To those of my readers interested in photography I may add a note on my method of working. All my negatives were taken by the wet collodion process, a process most exacting in its chemistry, especially in a land where the science is practically unknown. Some of my troubles are recounted in these pages, and may prove interesting to the amateur who works along the line of rapid plates and films, and who after making his exposure, may retain the plate with its latent image for an indefinite period before development.

With such plates and films ready to his hand the explorer ought to be in a position to produce work of the highest artistic and scientific value. I must here thank my former publishers, Messrs. Sampson Low and Marston, for their courtesy in allowing me to make use of such matter as I required for the present volume. January, 1898. J. Thomson. CONTENTS. Page Chapter I. A brief Sketch of the Condition of China, Past and Present I ,, II. The Chinaman Abroad and At Home . . . . 18 Chinese Guilds — Hongkong — Native boats — Shopkeepers —Artists— Music Halls. „ III. The Chinaman Abroad and At Home (continued). 34 Gambling — Typhoons — The floating population of Hongkong — North branch of the Pearl river. „ IV. Canton and Kwang-tung Province 52 Tea— Foreign Hongs and Houses — Schroffing. „ V. Canton (continued) 62 Its general appearance — Its population — Streets — Mode of transacting business— Signboards — Work and wages — The willow-pattern bridge — Juilin, Governor-General of the two Kwang — Clan fights — Hak-kas — The mystic pills— Dwellings of the poor — The Lohang-tahg — Buddhist monastic life — On board a junk. ,, VI Canton (continued).

Macao. Swatow. Chao-chow-fu — Amoy 85 The charitable institutions of China — Macao — Description ot the town— Its inhabitants —Swatow — Foreign settlement — Chao-chow-fu— Swatow fan-painters— Modellers — Chinese art — Village warfare — Amoy — The native quarter — Abodes of the poor — Infanticide — Manure-pits — Human remains in jars — Lekin — Romantic scenery — Ku-lang-su — The foreign settlement. X CONTENTS. Chapter VII Formosa 106 Takow harbour, Formosa — La-mah-kai — Difficulties of navigation — Tai-wan-fu — The Taotai — His yamen — How to cancel a state debt — The Dutch in 1 66 1 — Sylvan lanes — Medical missions— A journey to the interior Old watercourses — Broken land — Hak-ka settlers — Poahbe— Pepohoan village — Baksa valley — The name 'Isla Formosa' — A long march — The central mountains — Bamboo bridges— ' Pau-ah-liau ' village — The physician at work — Ka-san-po village — A wine-feast — Interior of a hut — Pepohoan dwellings — A savage dance — Savage hunting-grounds— La-lung village— Return journey. ,, VIII.

Foochow and the River Min 139 The Japanese in Formosa — Cause of the invasion — The River Min — Foochow Arsenal — Chinese gunboats — Foochow city and great bridge — A City of the dead —Its inhabitants — Beggars— Thieves — Lepers — Ku-shan Monastery —The hermit— Tea plantation on Paeling hills— Voyage up the Min— Shui-kow — An up-country farm — Captain Sheng and his spouse — Yen-ping city — Sacrificing to the dead — Shooting the Yen-ping rapids — A Native passenger-boat. „ IX. Shanghai. Ningpo. Hankow. The Yangtsze. . 170 Steam traffic in the China Sea — In the wake of a typhoon — Shanghai — Notes of its early history — Japanese raids — Shanghai foreign settlement — Paul Sii, or 'Su-kwang-ki ' — Shanghai city— Ningpo— Native soldiers— Snowy valley— The Mountains— Azaleas — The monastery of the Snowy Crevice — The thousand-fathom precipice — Buddhist Monks — The Yangtsze Kiang — Hankow — The Upper Yangtsze, Ichang — The Gorges — The great Tsing-tan rapid — Mystic mountain lights — A dangerous disaster — Kwei-fu— Our return — Kiukiang — Nanking; its arsenal — The death of Tsing-kwo-fan — Chinese superstition.

CONTENTS XI 219 275 Chapter X Chefoo. Peking- Tientsin. The Great Wall. The foreign settlement— The Yellow River— Silk — Its production — Taku forts — The Peiho River — Chi nese progress — Floods in Pei-chil-li — Their effects — Tientsin — The Sisters' chapel — Condition of the people — A midnight storm — Tung-Chow — Peking— The Tartar and Chinese divisions of the metropolis — Its roads, shops and people — The foreign hotel — Temple and domestic architecture — The Tsungli Yamen — Prince Kung and the high officers of the empire — Literary championship — The Confucian Temple — The Observatory — Ancient Chinese instruments — Yang's house — Habits of the ladies —Peking enamelling — Yuen- Ming-Yuen — Remarkable cenotaph — A Chinese army — Li-Hung-Chang — The inn of ' Patriotic Perfection ' — The Great Wall— The Ming tombs.

Appendix

. The Aboriginal Dialects of Formosa LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. Frontispiece. The Kwo-tze-keen or National University. Facing page 2. Civil Mandarin in Official Chair. 4. Military Mandarin. 16. Kowloon City, Mainland, opposite Hongkong. 24. The Kwang-tung Slipper-Boat. , 26. Canton Boat-Girl and Chao-chow-fu Female. , 28. Chinese Curio Shop, Hongkong. 30. A venerable Student and Chinese Artist. 32. Chinese Houses, Hongkong. 34. Street Gambling. 36. Cantonese Girl and Pepohoan Woman, Formosa, 38. Group of Chinese Labourers, Hongkong. 40. Chinese Sawyers and Chinese Pedlar. 42. Chinese Bridge, Kwang-tung Province, China. 48. Buddhist Monks. 52. Distant View of Foreign Settlement, Canton. 54. In a Chinese Tea-Hong, Canton. 56. Chinese Tea Dealers. ,, ,, 58. Suburban Residents, Canton. ,, ,, 60. Schroffing Dollars. 62.

Female Coiffure, Canton 64. Garden, British Consular Yamen, Canton. 66. Physic Street, Canton. 68. Opium Smoking. 72. Reeling Silk. 74. a. Pun-shi-Cheng's Garden, Canton. b. Pavilion in Pun-shi-Cheng's Garden, Canton. 76. Buddhist Monk. LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. XIII Facing page 80. Buddhist Monks at Chess. ,, „ 82. Chinese Pagoda, Kwang-tung Province. 86. Macao. ,, ,, 88. Approach to Buddhist Temple, Macao. „ ,, 90. Bridge at Chao-chow-fu. 96. Buddhist Temple, Amoy. „ „ 98. Amoy Natives and Primitive Soldier. 104. Mountain Gorge, Island of Formosa. 112. Chinese Garden-gateway. „ 116. Chinese Street Industries. ,, 134. Right bank of Lakoli river, Formosa „ „ 144. Native Herbalist and Natives, Fukien Province. ,, 146. Foochow Female and Chinese Seamstress. „ 148. Chinese Tomb. ,, ,, 150. Open Altar of Heaven, Foochow. ,, ,, 152.

Szechuan Hermit and Lepers. 156. Yuen-fu Monastery, Fukien Province ,, 158. The Morning Bell — Yuen-fu Monastery, and Opium Smoking. 162. Up-country Farm, Fukien Province. 164. Rapids near Yen-Ping City, River Min. 168. Fishing with Cormorants, and Knife Grinder. 172. Art Dealers and Chinese Coster. 11 ,, „ 182. Wayside Gambling. 192. Our Native House Boat, Upper Yangtsze. 202. My native Boat, Upper Yangtsze. „ „ 204. Mountain Scene, Province of Hupeh. ,, „ 206. Near the Mitan Gorge, Upper Yangtsze ,, ,, 208. Mountain Scene, Szechuan. 231. Night Watchman, Peking and Chinese Archer. 232. Street Scene in Peking, after rain. 11 ,, ,, 234. Chinese Coolies and Collector of Printed Scraps, „ ,, 236. The Great Bell, Peking, and Native Plough ,, „ 238. Gateway in Imperial Palace Wall, Peking. LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS XIV Facing page 242.

Travelling Cook and Chiropodist, Peking. 244. a. Chinese Coster and Manchu Tartar Lady. b. Peking Peep-Show. c. Marble Bridge, Peking. 246. Pialo or Memorial Arch, Peking 250. Military Mandarin. ,, ,, 252. Members of the Tsungli Yamen, Peking. 254. Great Gateway, Temple of Confucius, Peking. 256. Ancient Astronomical Instruments on the Wall of Peking. 258. a. Manchu Tartar Lady and Manchu Lady and Maid. b. Tartar Lady and Maid. 260. a. Native Actors. Bride and Bridegroom. b. Manchu Tartar Bride and Maid. ,, ,, 262. a. Marble Bridge, Yuen-Ming- Yuen. b. Bronze Temple, Yuen-Ming- Yuen. ,, ,, 264. a. Female compressed foot and natural foot, and Sculptured Panel on Buddhist Cenotaph, Peking. b. Wo-foh-sze Monastery, Yuen-Ming- Yuen. ,, ,, 266. Buddhist Temple, Yuen-Ming-Yuen. ,, ,, 268. a. Sculptured Terrace, Yuen-Ming- Yuen. b- Mongols and Native Litter, Nankow Pass. ,, ,, 270.

Chinese Bronze Lion, Yuen-Ming- Yuen, and Funeral Bannermen. , ,, 272. a. Avenue leading to the Ming Tombs, North of Peking. b. Temple of Ching-tsoo, Ming Tombs.

Chapter I

A BRIEF SKETCH OF THE CONDITION OF CHINA, PAST AND PRESENT. "The Chinese are so ancient in the world that it fares with them, as to their original, as with great rivers whose source can scarce be discovered." It is over two centuries since this was written by Le Comte, and the origin of the Chinese is still wrapped in the obscurity that preceded the dawn of authentic history. It is held by native scholars that Chinese history sup plies a fairly accurate record of the Kings and Emperors who have reigned for the past four thousand years, and that their annals, dealing with an earlier period are largely mythical. The primitive sovereigns of the race are represented as the sources of the wisdom and probity, which are supposed to characterise the Government of the present day. They were certainly not without influence in moulding the political and social institutions which have kept the Chinese together for so many centuries in independence and isolation.

The cause, however, of the per manency of the Chinese Government, in its main outlines has afforded ample scope for controversy to sinalogues and students of history, some affirming that it is solely due to the principle i of paternal authority that forms the basis of the Chinese System, while others attribute its continuity to the traditional method followed in selecting officials. " It is solely owing to a principle which the policy of every successive dynasty has practically maintained, in a greater or less degree, — viz., that good government consists in the advancement of men of talent and merit only, to the rank and power conferred by official posts." This view Mr. Meadows supports by the authority of Con fucius, who says: — "Good government depends on obtaining proper men. Justice is what is right in the nature of things, its highest exercise is to honour men of virtue and talent." 1 But other maxims are not wanting in the works of Confucius to prove that good government, to be enduring, must be based on the duties of universal obligation between " Sovereign and minister, between father and son, between husband and wife, between elder brother and younger brother, and those belonging to the intercourse of friends."2 It would appear, therefore, that the persistency of the Chinese system of government must be attributed to more causes than one, in some measure to the patriarchal system, as well as to the principle embodied in selecting the most accomplished scholars for the service of the state.

Be that as it may, the reader is probably aware that the system of government examination for civil and military pre ferment is one of the most ancient institutions of the Empire. All official posts, theoretically, are open as the rewards of distinguished scholarship. Examinations are periodically held in the chief cities of the Empire, and the subjects for examination, and methods followed by the examiners, are practically the 1 Meadow's Notes on China. ■* Chinese Classics, vol. I, page 103.— Prof. Legge, CIVIL MANDARIN IN OFFICIAL CHAIR. LITERARY GRADUATES. 3 same as they were two thousand years ago, with this difference, that a thorough scholarly acquaintance with the classics takes now first rank, while the result of the moral teaching of the sacred text-books is hardly recognised, and is left to the some what elastic conscience of the successful candidate for office.

These examinations are open to all grades of society, excepting the most depraved sections of the community, and those having no recognised social status. On the surface, this appears to be the one democratic institution of the country, but in its practical operation proves no exception to the purely conservative basis upon which all Chinese institutions are reared. Literary graduates, when selected for the Imperial service, are at once cut adrift from the people, and form a caste by themselves, whose sole interest lies in maintaining the ancient policy of the Government, to the exclusion of such measures of progress and reform as would bring the country abreast of the times, and foster the permanent interests of the community from which they sprang. The system is nevertheless popular, and the examination-hall full of infinite possibilities, affording a strong incentive to parents to educate their children, with the result that the schoolmaster is found in every village in the Empire.

He is himself a student, an expectant, or unsuccessful candidate for office, who is treated with the honour befitting the dignity of his position, and supported with much self-sacrifice by the villagers. Judging from personal experience, few Chinamen are wholly illiterate, while the majority are too poor to procure anything beyond elementary training. It is from this untutored class that our colonial settlements draw their supplies of labour, the class "par excellence" showing capacity and determi nation to adapt themselves to new surroundings and to profit by the methods of Western progress. They are naturally free THROUGH CHINA WITH A CAMERA. from the retarding influence of cultured prejudice, which characterises the Chinese "literati." It is to this humbler section of the race, engaged in trade, and tillage, that one is forced to look for the ultimate regeneration of China, rather than to the accomplished followers of Confucius.

It is within my knowledge that some of these emigrants and their descen dants, the latter having been trained in foreign schools, have risen to opulence and launched successfully, on foreign lines, abroad and in their own country, commercial undertakings of great magnitude and importance. In the hands of such men as these, perchance, lie the destinies of China, which must either move forward, or drift and be dismembered by powers over which she has no control. The experience of the last quarter of a century, and especially the results of the last war are far from reassuring, and do not encourage the hope that China at the eleventh hour will "set her house in order." She would have to re-organise her whole system of administration, ex cepting her Imperial Maritime Customs under Foreign Commis sioners, which might well serve as a model, or an honest foun dation upon which to rear the new fabric of government.

In regard to the pressing necessity for reform of a drastic type, the reader may draw his own conclusions from a perusal ofthe recent "Times" correspondence, or still more recent British Consular Report, on "The Revenue and Expenditure of the Chinese Empire." The political as well as the fiscal outlook are there set down in the most sombre colours. Will China face the position boldly and at once ? A native scholar once remarked that it takes more than a thousand years to introduce a new tone into the Chinese language. Should this estimate afford some clue to the ratio of political and social progress, it is difficult to limit the time required to cast off the chrysalis MILITARY MANDARIN CHINESE PHILOSOPHY. 5 of antiquity in which the Empire is shrouded. Signs of for ward movement, however, have not been wanting, but they are solely due to pressure from without, not unfrequently applied at the point of the bayonet.

There has been no spontaneous advance. The efforts of the Chinese have been spent, and their resources exhausted, in futile endeavours to safeguard their ancient institutions. Arsenals, Naval and Military Schools and Colleges have been founded, a fleet and armaments pur chased, and untold wealth lavished on useless defences which have left the Empire at the mercy of her foes. Still with all these reluctant and costly innovations the Chinese to-day place implicit faith in their time-worn methods of training for govern ment service, civil and military. The nine books of the Classics are the Examination Text-books, just as they were two thousand years ago, and on them they have staked their existence. Five of the books were written before the days of Pythagoras, and the remaining four compiled by Confucius and his immediate disciples.

In these sacred tomes the authors are supposed to have completed the circle of human knowledge, and left to their countrymen a store of wisdom sufficient for all time. All discoveries in Science and Art should conform to, and be tested by these primitive standards, sources which were frozen up during what may be termed the glacial epoch of Chinese progress. Confucian philosophy stands at the opposite pole to that of Bacon, and if not inoperative as a means of cultivating the mind, is useless for all work of human develop ment. It is the modern Great Wall, hedging round the ignorance and superstition of the race. The moral maxims of Confucius " are excellent, but they have not made the Chinese a moral people." ' While his doctrine is full of faultless ethic- 1 The Religions of the Chinese. — Dr. Edkins. al teaching, it is placed on record that the teacher himself failed in his integrity when personal interest was involved "He broke an oath he had sworn at a place called Pfoo, on the plea that it was a forced oath, and the Spirits do not hear such." ' He also enjoined concealment of truth, if by that means a father or friend might escape the consequences of their own misdeeds.

This touches upon a phase of national character which accounts for much official malfeasance. The cultured disciples of Confucius have not failed to profit by the few isolated passages which record the back-sliding of the Master, while the scrupulous correctness of his conduct as a whole, and excellence of his moral teaching have had little or no effect in moulding the character of his modern followers. If the ancient rulers of China were remarkable for wisdom and probity, the morality of the modern Mandarin is mainly confined to polite phraseology and posturing. This outer sem blance of virtue and integrity presents a phase of Asiatic character, with which foreigners in their Chinese experience are not unfamiliar. It is the polished husk presented to the outer barbarians with all due ceremony, and which has proved so unsatisfying as to have led to reprisals which have brought China to the verge of bankruptcy.

But foreigners are not the only sufferers by such methods of official procedure. The pro vincial Governors enjoy a quasi-financial independence in the collection and administration of a large part of the Imperial revenue. Foreign and native trade alike suffer from the irre gular mode practised in levying and collecting taxes. The policy of the provincial officials in dealing with the revenue is to retain as much as possible for local expenditure, and to 1 The Chinese Classics, vol. I, p. 101. — Prof. Legge. SALARIES OF MANDARINS. 7 remit as little as possible to Peking. Things are made to appear what they are not; a considerable portion of the revenue never finds its way into the official returns, while many of the large items set down for military and naval expenditure are so mani pulated as to leave a large residue in the pockets of the pro vincial rulers and their numerous retainers.

For this the Govern ment is in some measure responsible, as the official salaries of Mandarins are merely nominal. That, for example, of the governor-general of a province about equals the salary of a city clerk, while his supplementary allowances are indefinite and elastic, affording ample scope for the exercise of predatory habits. It is indeed difficult, and, from the oriental point of view, impossible, for the official to carry on his administration with clean hands. Besides, his tenure of office is short, while his present and prospective wants are immeasurable. The safeguarding of a system that tolerates this state of official corruption accounts in part for the native dread of innovation, and their intolerance of foreigners and foreign intercourse. The one branch of the Imperial service carried on with honesty is, as I have noticed, the Imperial Maritime Customs, under the direction of Sir Robert Hart.

This yields an ever increas ing revenue. The average annual return is over 23,000,000 taels, while the native Customs, with many more stations and irregular imports, produce about 10,000,000 taels, an amount which always remains about the same, irrespective of war, famine, pestilence, or fluctuations of trade. In the Kwang-tung province the foreign Customs collect at four ports 3,000,000 taels, while the native Customs returns from forty ports and stations less than half a million taels. ' The work accomplished 1 Far Eastern Question. — Val Chirol. by the Foreign Commissioners has met with scant appreciation at the hands of the Chinese, and although it supplies the most important item of revenue of the Central Government, has led to no reform in other branches of the administration. Corruption is still the rule, sapping the strength of every modern effort, whether in re-organising the army, founding arsenals, or the purchase of a fleet.

In justice, however, it must be recorded that the ruling classes are not wholly corrupt. There are exceptions ; men in authority who are famed for honesty rather than for stores of ill-gotten gain, and men like the Viceroy of Hupeh and Yunan, Ching- Chi-tung, who, in a patriotic attempt to benefit his country, squan dered his fortune in founding gigantic iron and steel works, which were to provide the railroad plant of a line from Hankow to Peking. The works were to be managed entirely by Chinese, while the foreigner was to look on with mingled envy and appre hension. But, as might have been foreseen, for lack of know ledge the project had to be abandoned. It may be noticed that this Viceroy, so it was said, was not wholly unacquainted with the promoters of the pseudo-republican rising in Formosa, which gave the Japanese some trouble when they entered into possession of that island.

Since the close of the war with Japan, reforms are in the air, just as they were a quarter of a century ago. A new fleet is to be purchased, and the Chinese navy organised under a British officer, Commander Dundas, R.N. The army too, is to be re-modelled by English and German officers. It is to be supposed before this step was taken, that a suitable guarantee was obtained that the officers in question will be accorded better treatment by the Chinese Government than fell to the lot of Captain Lang, who became simply a naval instructor, subordinate to the native officials, who embraced every oppor- CHINESE DEFENCES. 9 tunity of misapplying funds, supposed to be devoted to rendering the fleet efficient. If the new fleet, yet to be purchased, and the army, yet to be formed, are to be of service, the funds set apart for their organisation and maintenance should be ad ministered by Europeans as a guarantee that they will be wholly applied to the purpose for which they are intended.

Should this precaution fail to be taken, history will repeat itself, as the next war will prove. What has become of the army of 600,000 fighting men, supposed to have existed before the war with Japan, an army sufficiently organised to require regular rations and payments. In travelling all over the country I saw no evidence of the existence of any great military force. In the official pay-sheets it figures as a very formidable host. Apart from the numerical strength named, a considerable force does exist in the North, brought together and maintained by Li Hung Chang, when Viceroy of Pechili. The navy, before the war broke out, numbered about one hundred vessels of all sorts, from sea-going ironclads to torpedo boats. This fleet, which does not now exist, will probably be recreated at great cost, and before officers or men can be trained for service.

But this is a matter, which does not disturb the Chinese mind. I do not know what the last navy cost the Government, but I do know that neither ships, officers nor crews were ever fit for fighting. The Chinese trusted entirely, after the manner of their renowned Chieftains of ancient history, to the outward show of force, rather than to force itself, to defeat their foes. As for the army, on paper it is a costly machine. In the provinces and capital a con siderable part of the revenue is annually expended on this line of defence, and yet in order to make some show of resistance during the war, the force herded to the front was mainly from the fields ; men engaged in tillage, who had never handled a weapon more formidable than a hoe, were pushed forward, musket in hand, and many of them left to raid their own coun trymen for rations, until brought to the shambles on the battle fields, or disbanded.

Reform, one would suppose in the case of China, to be effective, would begin, not in wild schemes for arming the the Empire in defence of the very institutions which are the cause of her impotency, and of a system of corruption which would render her land forces and fleet useless in a struggle against any third-rate power, but begin with the government itself. The system of administration must be made worthy of respect, so as to be supported by the patriotic endeavour of the whole nation. This can never be the case in China so long as the government figures as one in the first rank of Asiatic despotisms, so long as there are no railways, no public press, no public opinion, no modern facilities for intercourse, and no encouragement for the development of great industries, except what China has been forced to concede by Treaty stipulations, notably by clauses contained in the Treaty of Shimonosaki, which has thrown open some new ports to trade.

Under Article VI, it is stipulated that Japanese subjects shall be free to engage in all sorts of industries in the cities and open ports of the Empire, and be free to import all sorts of machinery for manufacturing purposes. By the provisions of the Treaty of Tientsin, Great Britain and all other powers under the most favoured nation concessions, share in the benefits conferred upon Japan. China, indeed, has again been reluctantly thrust forward as the direct result of her own immobility. But in order that she may hold together, and voluntarily proceed along the path of progress, it is essential first that the Government should IMPERIAL MARITIME CUSTOMS. 11 conduct its affairs with honesty and discretion. For this end there should be a central fiscal administration, accountable for the whole income and expenditure of the Empire, and a Court of Exchequer having a thoroughly experienced foreign Chancellor, as a guarantee of efficiency.

This would naturally lead to a com plete revision of official salaries, which would be so supplemented as to remove the necessity for peculation, and would secure the whole revenue for the purposes of the Government, measures which would at once place China in a sound financial position, enabling her not only to meet all the liabilities resulting from the late war, but to have a considerable surplus in reserve. It is estimated that from one-half to two-thirds of the revenue disappears in the process of collection and transmission. Other essential reforms should follow, such as a complete survey of the land, in order to secure a proper adjustment of the land tax and return of the legitimate proceeds accruing from that source. The unification of the whole of the Customs under the present Imperial Maritime Customs Commissioners would sweep away the system of farming inland transit dues, and levying illegal imposts on foreign goods, Lry which they are so burdened as to become unsaleable in many of the inland marts.

The total abolition of native collectorates would add greatly to the internal resources, as returns from those quarters are always much below actual collection. ' The entire revenue of the Central Government of China, roughly speaking, is about one-fourth of that of India, although in area of productive soil and in population India is at a disadvantage, while at the same time the burden of taxation borne by the people under British rule is lighter and less oppressive, and is not subject to fluctuations 1 See British Consular Report. Parl. 1897. arising from the necessity, caprice or avarice of local officials. It must be noted that the money paid to the central Govern ment falls far short of the amount actually collected by the provincial authorities. In India every facility is afforded for the development of the resources of the country, and for the expansion of trade, by a network of railways and trade routes, and by the safeguarding of the interests of the entire population.