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Ethnology.
Poverty of the people.
Kueichou.
Agriculture.
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to take larger figures than these. Possibly the population might grow if immigration were rendered more feasible by improved communications, and if capital were introduced and mining enterprise encouraged. But many years will probably elapse before the congested districts of Ssuchuan find an outlet in the sparsely peopled provinces of Yunnan and Kucichou.
A word on the ethnology of Yunnan is important if, as Mr. Bourne contended in his earlier report, the non-Chinese races do not buy foreign goods, the purchasers being well-to-do Chinese, that is, those with eight dollars a month or more, who wear foreign goods because such clothing is a sign of respectability. Except in the cities, the mass of the people consists of indigenous races, Shans, Miaotzu, and Lolos. These last appear to be allied with Tibetan races, and some of them are strong enough to retain complete independence of China. The Lolos are extensively settled in the north-east, the east, the west, and the south, the Shans in the east, south, south-west, and west parts of Yunnan. The proportion of aboriginal tribes is variously estimated at one-half to two-thirds, but the number of the Chinese is said to be increasing. The non-Chinese mainly occupy the hills, while the Chinese are in possession of the plains, and do the business of the province. But in large towns a great mixture of races is found. M. Boutmy. à French missionary, says that the indigenous tribes treat foreigners well, and would, in case of invasion, side with them against their ancient enemies, the Chinese. He regards them, however, as less intelligent and also as more indolent than the Chinese. Baber said that the Yunnanese were noted for laziness, and Mr. Bourne ascribes to this cause the slow recovery of the pro- vince from the losses of the rebellion. Mr. Bourne suggests that the laziness is due to opium, but Mr. Turner, of the Arracan Company, says that the people appear to be none the worse for their indulgence in the drug. Dr. Henry thinks that the Yunnanese lack nervous energy, and that there is an unreality in their industry.
Whatever may be the causes, the people have a poverty stricken appear- ance, and they are not fed, dressed, or housed with anything like comfort. Owing to the poverty of its people, Yunnan does not contribute enough in taxes to meet its expenditure, and, like the other two poor provinces of China, Kweichou and Kwangsi, it is assisted by contributions from Ssuchuan and other richer provinces. The assessments levied on Yunnan are interesting as furnishing a clue to the relative prosperity of the different divisious from the point of view of the Government. The west pays one-half of the total assessment, the south one-fourth, the central and the east one-eighth each. The sources of revenue are land tax, taels 300,000, salt wells duty, taels 320,000, likin on merchandise, tacls 300,000, likin on native opium, taels 30,000, and miscellaneous duties, taels 100,000.
Like Yunnan, Kueichou is a plateau traversed by mountain chains. This plateau, with an elevation of 5,000 feet, is a prolongation of that of Yunnan. Kueichou has been described as a "veritable sea of mountains "with very few intervening plains. The Miaotzu rebellion and malaria have kept down the population, the industry, and the commerce of the province, which is less developed than Yunnan and is indeed one of the poorest of Chinese provinces, although in closer proximity to the Yangtze, and therefore better situated for trade. The Miaotzu, Lolos, and Shans, constitute probably one- half of the total population; they are mainly agricultural, not very diligent, and have no taste for luxuries. The Chinese have partly immigrated from neighbouring provinces to reside in the towns and villages, and take up the lands, that were desolated by the rebellion.
(2.) Agriculture, Mining, and Manufactures.
It follows from the physical features of Yunnan that it is capable of no great agricultural development. The heights are usually barren, but the lower slopes of the mountains and the plains are often fertile and carefully cultivated, and dotted with numerous villages. The plains of Tali-Fu aud Yunnan-Fu are specially noteworthy. Owing, however, to the vast areas covered by mountains, the total amount of cultivable land is greatly circumscribed. But vast tracts of land, including land once cultivated in terraces, have lain waste in the north and west since the rebellion, and it is said that the land actually under cultivation is small in proportion to the
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population. It does not seem to have been noticed that in a province with such bad communications an unusually large proportion of the people must be devoted to transport work. The Chinese are skilful in irrigation works, and the plains in which irrigation is not costly are well cultivated and fruitful. But in the dry season irrigation is difficult, while in the rainy season torrents devastate the mountain slopes. The great mass of the people are cultivators, though the Chinese inhabitants (including the Ssuchuanese immigrants) generally engage also in retail trading or some other occupation. The lands, however, are so subdivided that the share of each individual barely suffices for sustenance.
The summer cultivation is chiefly rice, maize, and sorghum; the winter Crops. cultivation wheat, beans, and opium. Rice is very cheap, but is said to be hardly sufficient for the needs of the population. The products of Yunnan are numerous and varied. All the products of the temperate zone are found, such as wheat, maize, barley, hemp, flax, oats, beans, peas, and potatoes, while fruits and vegetables are everywhere cheap. Millet, sugar-cane, indigo, rhabarb and many other drugs, oil-bearing plants, Nan-mü wood, the vegetable tallow tree, ground nuts, tea, &c., are among its most valuable products. Bamboo grows abundantly and is largely used for paper making, Hemp, the chief fibre-producing plant, grows luxuriantly, the finest being in the hills, especially near Momien and Yungchang. Tanning barks and gall-nuts are utilised as medicines, together with a vast number of roots, barks, and leaves which are used by the Chinese for their real or supposed medicinal qualities, and form a large part of the articles on sale in the shops and bazaars. The castor oil plant is abundant, and the cassia tree frequently occurs. Star anise is grown very largely in the south. Ginger is plentiful in the Yangpi valley. The soy bean is much cultivated and used in various forms. Tung oil is produced and utilised for many purposes. Sesamum seeds, ground nuts, and sunflower seeds are widely grown and eaten, though not used for their oil. Tobacco is grown in considerable quantities in many parts of Yunnan, and is cheaply sold. Its quality, however, is variable, and Ssuchuan tobacco is much used. Indigo and safflower abound in all villages, but aniline dyes are largely imported from Germany.
Puerh tea, a green variety much favoured by the Chinese, grows in the Tea. country south and south-west of Ssumao. Ibang, six marches from Ssumao, is the chief centre of the tea-growing, and the best tea comes from Ibang and from Iwu, Mansa, and the neighbouring heights. It is chiefly exported to Northern China. An inferior tea appears to be produced in Kenghung for consumption in Yunnan. Inferior varieties are also grown near Shunning- Fu and Kuangsichou as well as near Puerh, though the tea so named does not come from that district. Tea for Tibet is largely grown near Yachou.
The most important and, with the doubtful exception of rice, the largest Opium. crop in Yunnan is opium. Mr. Bourne was told that the cultivation of the poppy on an extensive scale in this province began at the end of last century, and a Chinese censor is said to have declared in 1836 that the annual pro- duction of opium was several thousand pieuls. Its cultivation is stated to have become the chief industry of the plateau owing to the destruction of mining, silk-weaving, and other industries during the slaughter and pillage of the rebellion. It was first cultivated for export between 1855 and 1875. As far back as 1878, Yunnan was described as a vast poppy field. The area now given up to opium is estimated at from one-third to one-half of the total cultivable area. Government edicts against the cultivation of the poppy have been fulminated and terrible penalties threatened, but Yunnan has become one of the chief opium-producing provinces of the Empire, and now pays for a large part of its imports with opium. As poppy cultivation yields better returns than wheat and beans it is tending to replace these crops. Owing to the favourable soil and climate, the poppy will succeed where cereals fail. These factors also favour opium cultivation in Kueichou and Ssuchuan, but Yunnan opium is held to be superior and is costlier. This superiority, however, has been ascribed to the more careful manufacture, which is the result of long experience. Linan in the south, Menghua in the west, and Chuching in the east produce opium of excellent quality. Aborigines manufacture but do not use opium. On the basis of the likin
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