KIUKIANG.
Kiukiang is situated on the river Yangtsze, near the outlet of the Poyang Lake, and is a prefectural city of the province of Kiang-si. It is distant about 137 geographical miles from Hankow and 445 miles from Shanghai. Kiukiang was before the Rebellion a busy and populous city; but it was occupied by the Taiping rebels in 1853, and before it was given up to the Imperial troops it was utterly destroyed, presenting one of those melancholy spectacles which these hordes of usurpers so often left behind them. A gentleman (Mr. Laurence Oliphant) who visited it in 1858 speaks of the desolation of the city in the following terms:-"We found it to the last degree deplorable. A single dilapidated street, composed only of a few mean shops, was all that existed of this once thriving and populous city; the remainder of the vast area comprised within its walls, five or six miles in circumference, contained nothing but ruins, weeds, and kitchen gardens." When the foreign settle. ment was established there, however, the population soon returned, and it has con- tinued to increase rapidly: it is now estimated at 53,000.
The city is built close to the river, the walls running along the banks of it for some 500 yards. Their circumference is about five miles, but a portion of the space enclosed is still not occupied. The city contains no feature of interest. There are several large lakes to the north and west of it, and it is backed by a noble range of hills a few miles distant. The foreign settlement lies to the west of the city and is neatly laid out. It possesses a small bund lined with trees, a tiny club, and small Protestant and Roman Catholic churches. The limits of the anchorage for ordinary vessels are from the west end of the city wall to Lung-kai creek.
The idea which led to the opening of Kiukiang was, no doubt, its situation as regards communication by water with the districts where the Green Tea is produced. But the hopes entertained respecting Kiukiang have never been wholly realised. The total quantity of Tea exported in 1884 was 279,001 piculs, of which 44,238 piculs were Green, the export for 1883 being 27,147 piculs. Õpium was imported to the extent of 1,548 piculs in 1884, and 1,618 piculs in 1883. Kiukiang is the port from whence the ware made at the far-famed porcelain factories at Kin-tê-chên is shipped. In 1884 only 13,080 piculs of this ware was exported. In July, 1884, a disastrous inundation occurred at Kin-tê-chên, by which three-fourths of the furnaces engaged in porcelain manufacture were destroyed, together with about one-third of the town. The total value of the trade of the port for 1884 was Tls. 9,204,625, and for 1883, Tls. 9,590,469.
DIRECTORY.
Consulates.
官事領國蘭荷大
** Ta Ying ling-shih-kwan.
BRITISH.
Consul-George Jamieson
Constable-Charles Rowe
**¶** Ta-fah ling-shih-kwan, 官事領法大
FRENCH.
Consul-C. Imbault-Huart
官事領國美大
Ta-mai-kwok ling-shih-kwan.
UNITED STATES.
Consul-I. F. Shepard, residing at Han-
kow
Ta-ho-lan-kwoh ling-shih-kwan.
NETHERLANDS.
Acting Vice-consul-A. N. Hood
****X Ta-ao ling-shih-kwan.
AUSTRO-HUNGARIAN.
Consul George Jamieson
*** Ta-tan ling-shih-kwan,
DANISH.
Consul-George Jamieson
Imperial Maritime Customs. W MI♬ Kiu-kiang hsin-kwan, Commissioner―C. Lenox Simpson Assistants-H. J. Fisher, P. H. King, A.
H. H. Maclean