12
several of the districts regarding which Mr. Shorrock states that he has no information or no reliable evidence. Mr. W. Purdom, an English botanist now engaged in collecting in the province of Shansi, whom I met in Hsi-an Fu, and who arrived there the day before me after passing through the district of Han-cheng Hsien, told me that poppy was being freely and openly cultivated in the valleys in the north-west of that district, which he had visited. And as regards Ha Hsien to the south-west of Hsi-an Fu, of which Mr. Shorrock states, "I cannot find that any opium has been seen in Hu Hsien," the following is an extract from a letter to me from Mr. Purdom, dated the 21st June, from the mountains to the south-west of Hsi-an Fu :—--
"Two days after you left Hsi-an Fu, my preparations were completed, and I started out for Tai-pei-shan along the south side of the river (Wei) towards Hu Hsien (a dirty filthy place). Just 30 li out from Hsi-an Fu, poppy was met with in patches between the grain crops, but after 60 li and onwards, nearly three parts of the valley from the Wei Ho to the Ching-ling range of mountains was taken up with it. The people appeared quite callous to any restrictions put on the quantity grown, and, if it is à fact that now a large portion of the ground is taken up in growing food stuffs, it is certainly difficult to understand how the people lived before. Nearly every man smokes opium and, worse than that, quite a large number of the women folk are addicted to the habit."
Mr. Shorrock mentions the difficulty he experienced in obtaining reliable infor- mation regarding the country between Yu-lin Fu in the north of Shensi and Hsi-an Fu; but as I covered nearly all the ground between these two cities, I have been able to supply the necessary details, and I have also been able to give the conditions prevailing in Feng-hsiang Fu, from which he had received no report, as I passed through that prefecture on my way to Kansu, the province with which I shall now deal.
KANSU.
From the department of Lung Chou, in Shensi, I crossed the mountainous country which divides that province from Kausu, and entered the district of Ching-shui Hsien, and the following is the result of my observations along the road as far as Lanchou Fu, the capital of Kansu :-
Name of district or department~~-
Chring-shui Hsien
Chin Chon..
Fo-chiang Hsien
Ning-yilan
Lung-hei
Wei-yuan
Ti-tao Chon
3
13
(Kung-ch'ang Fu)
77
Sha-ni (Fen) Chon Kao-lan Hsien
Total
Number of
Poppy Fields.
0
31
802
63
5
7
7
180
595
At Lanchou I had two interviews with his Excellency Chang-keng, Viceroy or Governor-General of the province of Shensi and Kansu, who informed me that the cultivation of the poppy in Kansu had been reduced to about 40 per cent. during the year, the first year that the reduction had been seriously taken in hand, and that it would be entirely eradicated in 1911. I casually remarked to his Excellency that on the day of my arrival at Lanchou I had counted 180 fields of poppy alongside the road within 10 miles of his capital, and that there were probably more which had escaped my observation. He was soinewhat perturbed at my statement, and the fact that I was asked to say where I had seen the poppy growing in greatest profusion clearly showed that his Excellency was personally ignorant of the extent of the cultivation, and Peng Taotai, who is the Viceroy's trusted adviser, and was present at both interviews, was no less astonished when I told him that there were plots of poppy in full flower just outside the south wall of the city. They would probably have been still more perturbed and astonished had they accompanied me back to Shensi along the main road to Hsi-an Fu.
From Lanchou Fu I returned to Shensi by the high-road, which runs east by south to the district of Chang-wu Hsien within the Shensi border. I did not expect
13
to find so much poppy as I had met with along the road in the Wei River valley; but
it was even more prominent, as the following figures show :--
Name of district or department—
Kao-lan Ilsien
Chin An-ting Hoi-ning Ching-ning Chou
་་
Lungte Hsion
Ku-yttan Chon
Ping-liang Hsien
Ching Chou
Total
Number of
Puppy Fields.
352
724
28
29
4
0
27
866 6
2,086
Mr. O. R. Coales, of His Majesty's Consular Service in China, who undertook to report on poppy cultivation and opium production in the province of Kansu to the west of Lanchou, wrote to me from that city on the 30th July as follows:-
"The first districts I passed through in Kansu were Wen Hsien and Chieh Chou, but the town of Wen Hsien itself I did not visit. The winter crops throughout had been harvested, and I was unable to find out whether opium had been grown. All enquiries met with a stout denial, not only on the ground of the prohibition, but also of the poverty of the soil. I nevertheless did find the heads of poppies on the road, though I saw no plants growing. The missionary at Min Chou told me that by hearsay he learnt a considerable quantity had been grown in these districts, and that the At Pik'ou prohibition had certainly not been as strictly enforced as at Min Chou. just on the Szechuan border, raw opium was selling for 1,200 cash an ounce, while boiled opium, no doubt of an inferior quality, fetched 800-900 cash for the same quantity. The sub-magistrate of Fik'ou maintained that no opium at all had been grown this year in the Wen Hsien district to which it belongs, but as above stated, I do not believe this to be correct. There appears to be no regulation of the sale of the drug in this district or in any of the places I traversed between here and Lanchou, but the opium dens are supposed to have been closed.
At Chieh Chou (locally Kai Chou) I saw the magistrate who asserted the poppy had been completely eradicated in his jurisdiction, the soil of which he said was poor and not fit for opium cultivation. The latter is true of some parts where rainfall is small, but other parts are very fertile. There are no licensed shops nor a refuge, but anti-opium medicines sent down from Lanchou are distributed free. The dens have been closed. This magistrate had issued in the spring a proclamation to the effect that all poppy seed was to be delivered up to him, in exchange for which good sowing grain would be distributed free of charge. He said this had been done, but outside The magistrate also mentioned that the enquiries did not confirm his statement. import and export of opium into the province having been prohibited, the branch of the Hupeh Government opium li-kin office in Chieh Chou had been closed. Deputies from the Ch'in Chou taotai had visited the Chieh Chou and Wen Hsien districts at intervals investigating opium cultivation,
"After Chieh Chou the road ascends to the high country separating the Yang-tsze and Yellow River basins crossing the water-parting 10 miles before Min Chou at 9,000 feet above sea-level. In these parts only one crop is harvested in the year, and my visit, coincided with the poppy season. My route here was to Min Chou (7,000 feet), thence two days west up the Tao River to Tao Chou (9,000 feet), thence three days over high country to Ti-tao Chou (6,000 feet). During the eight days before reaching the latter place, though traversing much fertile country suitable for opium, I did not see more than a score of fields of poppy. These were mostly in fields adjoining houses, and I was given to understand by the missionary at Ti-tao that the villagers had sometimes been allowed to cultivate a small patch for local consumption.
poppy
"Of the Min Chou magistrate's action 1 received the most favourable reports from the American missionary at that city. He has himself personally supervised the measures for suppressing cultivation of the poppy. The campaign in Kansu seems not to have started till this spring, when the seed was already in the ground. When
land- orders came the magistrate himself went out into the country and had all which is easily recognised even when the seeds have not sprouted-ploughed up, lending a hand himself occasionally. In consequence of his really energetic action, it is estimated that the area under poppy has been reduced to less than 10 per cent; his own estimate
E [2980 c-8]
380
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