Untitled

TOPOGEAPHY.
the latest returns this figure has been more than trebled. North of Chung-cheng
the busy town of Ho-cheic occupies a convenient position near the junction of the
three head-streams of the Pa-ho. In the neighbouring hills is a fatty earth, which
in times of distress is kneaded into small loaves, baked on charcoal fires, and largely
consumed in all the surrounding districts.
Below Chung-chcng the large emporium of Fuchew, stands at the confluence
of the Kungtan, or Kien-kiang, and thus commands all the navigable waters of the
province of Kweichew. Most of the junks stop at the Kungtan Rapids, beyond
which a few flat-bottomed craft alone ascend as far as Ktrei-yang, capital of Kwei-
chew. This city lies near the source of the river, and communicates across low
water-partings on the one hand with the Si-kiang basin, on the other with that of
the Yuen, an influent of Lake Tungting. In the neighbouring highlands are some
Fig. 101. I-CHASO GORGES.
According to Blakiiton. Scale 1 : 600,000.
independent Miaotze tribes, who have been partly evangelized by the Catholic
missionaries. In a mountain gorge near Nganshun in this region a torrent is
12 Mil
precipitated from a height of several hundred yards.
Here also quicksilver occurs,
probably in greater abundance than elsewhere, and in many places lumps of cinnabar
are
constantly
turned up by the plough. But since the sanguinary outbreak of 1848
the mines have l>een closed, and in 1872 they were still under water.
The pleasant city of Ktceichetc-fu is situated, not in the province to which it
gives its name, but within the Sechucn frontier on the left bunk of the Yang-tsse,
at the upper entrance of the gorges which terminate lower down at I-chnng, in the
province of Hupeh. I-chang, when? is produced the best opium in China,
is the
most inland city opened to direct trade with foreigners. A European settlement
was established here in 1878, and since then its trade has rapidly increased.