Directory_and_Chronicle_1850 — Page 439

1850.

Topography of S2 chuen

401

"This fire produces no smoke, but has a strong bituminous odor, which is perceptible at the distance of two leagues. The flame is reddish like that of charcoal; it does not stick close to the mouth of the tube like the flaine of a lamp, but it begins about two inches above it, and rises up nearly two feet. In the winter, poor people dig a hole in the sand about a foot deep to warm themselves; a dozen of them sit about it and set the gas on fire in the hole with a handful of straw, and having warmed themselves as long as they like, fill it with sand, and put out the fire.

"The inhabitants, both pagan and Christian, are extremely afraid of this fire, for they believe it to be an exhalation of the flames of hell; and yet there are no greater villains or robbers in the province. The Christians themselves are lukewarm and very poor; a solitary mau does not feel much at his ease among them. There is one who owns a well of salt water which produces him about fifty francs per day, but the expenses are great. The other Christians are beggarly venders of vegetables, or are employed in cutting grass on the mountains, for feeding the cattle employed in drawing the water."

XXIV.

The inferior department of Mei lies on the R. Min be- tween Chingtú and Kiáting fú, to the latter of which it once belong- ed. Though sinall, it is one of the best situated prefectures of the province. The origin of the name of Tungshin hien, one of its dis- tricts, is explained on page 314.

XXV. The inferior department of Kung is situated northwest of Mei chau, and west of Chingtú fu, and mostly within the limits of the same plain spoken of when describing the latter place-the number of whose towns is an index of its populousness and fertility. Kung chau lies north of Kiáting fú, and east of Yáchau fű.

XXVI. The inferior department of Lú lies east of Siichau fú on both sides of the Yangtsz' kiáng, adjoining Kweichau on the south. The chief town is eligibly located at the junction of the R. Chung with that stream, here called Tá kiáng ★ L. Great R., but it does not attract so much trade as Süchau fú, for the R. Chung is a com- paratively small stream. All the cities in Sz'chuen on the Yangtsz' are long settled places, as Süchau, Lú, Chungking, Pei, Chung, Kweichau, and many smaller ones; most of them are often mentioned in the Annals of Confucius, the History of the Hán dynasty, and other ancient works.

The reliable knowledge we have of the province of Sz'chuen is meagre, and we fear must remain so for some time. In 'natural his- tory especially, more extended researches are necessary. The Let- tres Édifiantes and Annales de la Foi contain nearly as many letters written from this province as all the other seventeen put together, yet we can glean very little from them on this last subject, or on the commercial resources of the region. One of the missionaries thus gives a general idea of the country, as it appears to a traveler -

VOL XIX NO VIII.

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