C.O.
41047
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RECO REGE 22 NOV O1
358
No. 4.
Sir E. Satow to the Marquess of Lansdowne.--(Received October 28.)
(No. 335.) My Lord,
Peking, September 7, 1901.
WITH reference to my despatch No. 296 of the 14th August and to your Lordship's telegram No. 280 of the 29th August, I have the honour to transmit herewith extract of an Intelligence Report for the June quarter, forwarded to me by His Majesty's Consul at Kiungchow. Mr. Werner states that the French Vice-Consul is preparing for a six months' journey into the interior.
ERNEST SATOW.
I have, &c.
(Signed)
Inclosure in No. 4.
Extract from the Kiungchow Intelligence Report for June Quarter, 1901.
I.-Political and General,
Growth of French Influence.-Straws showing in which direction the tide of French influence in the island is flowing are to be found this quarter in the shape of a large contribution by the French Consulate to the repair of the roads around Kiungchow—a very sure method of winning the hearts of the people of Hainan—and in the preparations made by M. Blanchet, the French Vice-Consul, for a six months' journey in the interior, accompanied by a guard of six Tonkingese soldiers.
Travel in the interior of Hainan is beset with three chief difficulties—lack of suitable accommodation for travellers in the shape of habitable inns, prevalence of fever, and absence of roads. At this season, too, nearly all the streams and rivers are impassable owing to the heavy rainfall. M. Blanchet intends to attack the celebrated Five-Fingered Mountain—never yet ascended by native or foreigner—which presents an almost insuperable obstacle in the thick brushwood covering its sides, and which the natives, fearing the Great Spirit, will neither ascend themselves nor assist others in finding a way up. M. Blanchet has thoughtfully prepared himself for the journey by making a translation of the Hainan Chih, which he will take with him as a guide book.
(Signed)
C. E. WERNER.
Kiungchow, August 10, 1901.