904
LUNGCHOW-MONGTZU
placed in a circular valley surrounded by high mountains, and has a new wall completed in 1887. The population is estimated to number about 20,000. Lungchow, from a mili- tary point of view, is considered, by the Chinese, to be a place of importance and consi- derable bodies of troops are stationed between it and the Tonkin frontier. It was opened to the Franco-Annamese trade on the 1st June, 1889, but so far the little trade existing has been of a very petty description, and will continue so, until reliable and cheap means of transportation are established in Tonkin between Haiphong and the Chinese frontier. A railway is now under construction from Phu-lang-thuong (eight hours by steamer from Haiphong) to Langson, and will probably reach Langson early in 1895. Telegraphic communication exists with Canton and other places down the West River, with Mêngtzŭ in Yunnan, vid Po-sê, and with places in Tonkin. An establishment of the Imperial Maritime Customs is maintained here. The value of the trade for 1893 was Tls. 45,500 as compared with Tls. 38,000 in 1892.
署事領國法大
CONSULAT DE FRANCE
DIRECTORY
Gérant du Consulat-Mee. Dejcan de
la Bâtie
Chancelier-J. J. Beauvais
Writer-Ma Wan-hsiang
Annam Interpreter-Nguyn Van Da
Médecin-Dr. Delay, détaché
JH
Lung-chow Hsin Kuan
CUSTOMS-IMPERIAL MARITIME
Acting Commissioner-C. C. Clarke Assistant-R. de Nully Tidewaiter R. J. White
MISSION DU KOUANG-SI
Mgr. Chouzy, Evêque, Kwei-hsien R. P. Renault, propréfect, Shang-szú Bazin, Lavest, Chanticlair, Poulat, Frayssinet, Humbert, missionnaires
MONGTZU
This is a district city in south-east Yunnan, and together with Man-hao, a village on the left bank of the Red River, was opened to trade by the Additional Convention to the French Treaty of Tientsin of the 25th April, 1886, signed at Peking on the 26th June, 1887. The town is two days' journey from Man-hao and about seven days, from the frontier of Tonkin, and is beautifully situated, being built on a cultivated plateau twenty miles long by about twelve miles in breadth, encircled by picturesque mountains, and 4,580 feet above the level of the sea. It has a population of about 12,000 persons, but before the Mahommedan rebellion was a place of much more importance, as the numerous well-built temples, many of them now in ruins, still testify. It is, however, a considerable commercial emporium even now, and is becoming an important centre for the distribution of foreign goods imported via Tonkin. The French Consul hoisted his flag at Mêngtzu on the 30th April, 1889, and the Customs station was opened in the following August. Up to the end of the same year the value of the imports amounted to Tls. 95,000, that of the exports to Tls. 88,000, and that of the transit trade to Tls. 100,145. The value of the trade for 1893 was Tls. 2,259,494 as compared with Tls. 1,885,420 in 1892, Tls. 1,530,007 in 1891, and Tls. 1,104,007 in 1890. The Chinese merchants avail them- selves largely of the advantages offered by the transit pass system, and the value of goods sent into the interior under transit passes during the year 1893 amounted to Tls. 1,213,668, or almost 82 per cent. of the quantity imported. The climate of Mêngtzu is temperate and salubrious, though every year, principally in the hot season, a disease known as the plague makes numerous victims there and throughout the province among the natives. Only a comparatively light visitation of the plague occurred during the summer of 1893, the number of victims not exceeding 300. During the winter good sport is obtained; snipe and wild fowl being abundant in the plain, and pheasant and partridge in the hilly districts. A new French Consulate was con- structed during 1893, as well as new quarters for the numbers of the Customs Service. These buildings are all outside of the town itself. A new custom-house will probably be constructed in 1895.