Directory_and_Chronicle_1920 — Page 1005

Directories & Chronicles 香港指南 All

LUNGCHOW

929

Hanoi ends abruptly in the hills a few hundred yards from the "Porte de Chine" (Namkuan) on the Tonkin-Kwangsi frontier, from which spot Lungchow is distant some 60 kilometres by road, part of which runs over rough and mountainous country and which is practically impassable in bad weather. The journey from the Frontier over this road takes two days by chair, or a day and a half on horseback. Native pony-carts inay at times be had, but this method of locomotion is not one to be recom- mended except under the best of weather conditions and furthermore is only available for some two-thirds of the journey. Telegraphic communication exists with Canton and other places on the West River, with Mengtsz in Yunnan, via Po-sê, and with places in Tonkin. The Chinese Post Office sends daily couriers to Langson in Tonkin and couriers every second day to Nanning overland, with connections to Canton and Pakhoi. An establishment of the Chinese Maritime Customs is maintained at the port, where foreign interests are in charge of Consuls resident on the West River and in Hongkong. France alone maintains a Vice-Consul in Lungchow, who is also Consul for Nanning. The net value of the trade coming under the cognisance of the Maritime Customs for 1918 was Tls. 99,601 as compared with Tls. 57,081 for the year previous. During 1918, 282 motor-boats from Nanning visited the port. The trip up from Nanning usually takes from two to three days, and that down to Nanning about 30 hours according to the water in the river, the level of which is liable to very sudden fluctuations during the prevalence of rainy weather. The climate of the port is damp and very hot for some eight months or more in the year, the hottest period being usually from April to July. Motor boats carry most of the incoming cargo from and vid the West River ports, whilst imports from over the frontier come by junk or raft. The river scenery between Nanning and Lungchow with its succession of gorges is well worth seeing, but at present accommodation for Europeans on board the distinctly Chinese-style motor boats is non-existent.

The chief characteristic of Lungchow is its inaccessibility, both by the existing very poor roads from the frontier and by the Tsokiang during the low water season. Unless good stone roads are laid out and the channels of the Tsokiang improved, it is hopeless to look forward to any trade and, even, to expect any to visit a place which is really well worthy of consideration from a commercial point of view.

Directory_and_Chronicle_1920 — Page 1005

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