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LIST and Price of Kuan Hsien Medicines.
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know." In fact, this was the reason given me for the practice by one of the merchants themselves.
The following table will show my estimate of the trade of Sungp'an ------
Pei-mu Rhubarb Chung tao Huang-chi Chiang-bo Chuang-hsiung 'T'sc-hsieh Kan-sung Value per catty. Taels. 1.80 0.08 4.50 0.09 0.07 0.08 0.06 0.07Mao Chow. Mao Chow as a trading centre ranks in importance much below either Kuan Hsien or Sungp'an, though, for its size and position, it is a distinctly busy place; it is of note, too, in view of the saltpetre produced there, the leaching of which is under Chengtu Government control. A kind of pipeclay is manufactured at Mao Chow and sold in sticks; it is employed, I was told, for whitening the felt soles of Chinese boots.
A table showing the estimated value of the annual produce of the town is given below.
Description. Classifier of Quantity. Quantity. Value. Taels. Skins- Sheep Goat Cow and yak Furs, sundry Medicines- Kan-sung.. 8,000 Rhubarb Pei-mu Tang-kuei. Sundry Musk L'ang 1,000 12,000 Deer horns- Young Old Live stock- Sheep Gonts Yaks Wool, sheep.. Tobacco Piculs 500 4,000 Pepper (Zanthoxylum bunyei) 130 2,000 Saltpetre.. Goat skins Pieces 10,000 18,000 9,000 Total 45,000 Imports into China. Tea, 20,000 bales at 120 catties.. 27 Silk and woollen goods 30,000 Cotton goods Iron ware and salt 66 Sundries, clothing, provisions, wines, needlos, &c. Total 150,000 Exports into Thibet, 2,000 5,000 5,000 20,000 2,000 4,500 1,000 6,500 60,000 15,000 2,000 Value in taels, 36,000 33,000 20,000 89,000 150,000 512,000 160,000 75,000 20,000 8,000 8,000 18,000 801,000 470Sunyp'an. The total annual value of the trade passing through Sungpan is, as far as I can gather, under 1,000,000 taels. The place itself is a depot from which to draw goods for dispatch into Thibet, and a centre for the collection of the different commodities from that country received in exchange. The chief portion of the business is in the hands of the Ch'a Hao or Government tea monopolists, and the rest may be said to be divided up amongst the number of petty traders who visit Sungpan during the different trade seasons. As regards the different imports from Thibet, the seasons are fixed as follows: 1st, 2nd, and 3rd moons for medicines, 4th, 5th, and 6th moons for skins, 7th, 8th, and 9th moons for deer horns and musk-nothing apparently being brought in during the remaining three months of the year. The business between the Chinese and the tribesmen is entirely one of barter, the latter coming in to exchange their goods for others with the small shopkeepers, and these, in their turn, sell what they have been able to secure to traders who have journeyed up from Chengtu for business. It is the four Ch'a Hao and a few local skin and wool merchants who are able to afford to send agents into the interior for the purpose of trade, and, as a rule, they forward the results, with a view to better profits, to their branch establishments at Chengtu and elsewhere, thus avoiding the employment of a middleman. There are, however, also a certain number of smaller Chinese merchants who, knowing the Hsifan dialects, travel inland on their own account and bring in goods for sale. These find accommodation at the different inns, where they either store their merchandise or send it to shops for disposal. In either case a recognized fee (called "Hang Yung"), averaging about 3 per cent., is charged for such storage, this fee being payable on sale or removal. A most important matter for one to thoroughly understand is the different weight in catties of the picul (I-pai-chin). In Sungp'an rhubarb has 140 catties, pei-mu, kan-sung, and old deer horns have 120 catties, while other medicines have generally 110 catties to the picul. At Kuan Hsien and Mao Chow this difference varies to a greater or lesser degree, and, as far as I could see, the principle obtains for the purpose of imposing on those not “in the know”.
Skins. As will be seen, the trade in sheep-skins passing through Sungp'an is of considerable value, and the skins are almost all sent to Chengtu. The quality, however, is inferior to those procured in Mongolia and Manchuria. They are annually brought down from the Amidon or grass country, the grazing ground of large flocks of sheep. At Sungp'an the skins are packed for transport in bundles of 110, each bundle ("k'un ") containing a more or less proportionate quantity of superior and inferior-dressed skins. The sheep are fine, large animals, long fleeced when full grown. A few of the skins are prepared at Sungp'an, but not so satisfactorily as at Chengtu, whence the better class sheep-skin garments are brought back for sale. The chief supply of goat-skins comes from the Tiechi and Mao Chow districts. Other furs obtained at Sungp'an are not considered sufficiently good or plentiful for the supply to get further than the confines of the Szechuan Province, and consist of the skins of the following animals, mostly of the fox tribe :-
Hu-li, or common yellow fox
Ma-sha, a yellowish grey thick fur
Ma lo-tzu, a tortoise-shell fur
Hung-chun, a brown black-spotted fur
Tu-erh-shih, a browny grey fur
She-li, a light-weighing thick valuable fur of an animal of the linx tribe
Lang, or wolf
Value in taels. 1.60 each. 0.45 0.35 " 1.60 39 1.50 25 5.50 12 1.75 "With the exception of the wolf-skins, which are generally sold whole, all the above skins are cut and divided by the furriers for making up into the various fur garments so dear to the heart of the Chinaman; such finished garments have their special value if prepared with either the fur of the back, chest, or legs of the animal. The mode of securing these different wild animals is by shooting or trapping.
Medicines. The different variety of medicines brought to Sungp'an is well known, and held in great esteem by the Chinese all over the Empire. Those of the vegetable kind grow wild, and are gathered by the tribesmen and Chinese from hill and dale in the surrounding country. Musk is a secretion in the naval of the “Ch'ang-tzu," or musk deer, that are found in herds everywhere along the eastern border of Thibet and
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