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two or three times a day.
HIGHWAYS OF COMMUNICATION. 805
Mr. Brereton, who speaks with kindness and respect of
the English missionaries, considers that on the question of opium smoking " the
zeal of their house hath eaten them up."
HIGHWAYS OF COMMUNICATION RAILWAY PROSPECTS TELEGRAPHS.
Thanks to steam, the relations of the coast lands with the rest of the world
have become much easier and more frequent than formerly. But the inland
routes and canals are probably in a worse state than during the Ming dynasty,
some three hundred or four hundred years ago. Except in Shantung, Kansu,
Sechuen, parts of Honan, and in the neighbourhood of the treaty ports, the old
roads are everywhere out of repair, and the bridges in ruins, while in many places
mere tracks follow the line of the former highways. In the rice grounds, which
cover such a large extent of land, most of the routes consist merely of blocks
2 feet broad, and raised at most 3 or 4 feet above the water. Such of the twenty-
one imperial highways as are still in good condition attest the high degree of
civilisation reached by the nation during mediaeval times, and enable us to
understand the admiration with which Marco Polo and other early travellers
speak of that epoch. These highways are cut through the spurs of the mountains,
which are sometimes even tunnelled, and they are carried over mounds and
embankments across the low-lying grounds. Some 70 or 80 feet broad in the
plains, and paved with granite blocks, they are mostly
lined with rows of trees
like the avenues in Europe. Signal towers occur at intervals of 3 miles, and inns,
troughs, regular stages, and military posts for the protection
also met all along the line. Everything is provided
of travellers are
for on these model routes
except an efficient postal service, which is left to an association of merchants.
Dispatches, however, are seldom lost, even when forwarded from one end to the
other of the empire. But outside of such places as Shanghai, the only service
organized on the European model is that of the Russian couriers, who reach
Peking from Kiakhta through Kalgan in twelve days.
" China proper is intersected in every direction by two thousand imperial
highways, which with the great number of navigable streams, and the extensive
system of canalisation, renders the country one of the richest in the means of
communication in the whole world. Unfortunately the State has neglected to keep
either roads or canals in repair, or protect them from the wear and tear of time
and weather, so that they are now partly impracticable. Morrison gives a
deplorable account of the present condition of the Grand Canal, on which Peking
largely depends for its supplies. In 1880 some parts were in such a ruinous state
that the boats could not pass through, and portages were formed at the sides for
discharging and re-shipping farther on.
" The most direct trade route between China and Europe runs from Hankow
through North Kansu and across the Gobi desert to Hami, and thence by the Pe-lu
route through the Zungarian depression, or the alternative Irtish valley, to
Orenburg. The Russians are beginning to see that the future trade route must